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It’s star Johnny Depp’s and Tim Burton’s hotly anticipated next collaboration and movie. Seth Grahame-Smith, who made his Hollywood entry writing novels that put a macabre twist to literary classics and historical figures, recently snagged the high profile job of writing the new draft of the 1960s gothic daytime serial featuring the juicy role of vampire Barnabas Collins whom Depp has had a long obsession wanting to play. The film has been slated to begin production in January but today was pushed back to April. Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Graham King’s GK Films are producing along with Dick Zanuck. (It’s Zanuck’s 6th collaboration with Tim Burton.)
Warner Bros has been trying for several years to get to the starting line on this movie adaptation of the TV series that ran on ABC from 1966-1971 and had legions of fans frightened by the moody and atmospheric storyline. (Tim Burton May Push Back ‘Dark Shadows’ Start Date) Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathan Frid) was the central figure in the groundbreaking supernatural soap. Warner Bros purchased the film rights to the TV series from the estate of Dan Curtis (the creator, producer and director of Dark Shadows). As for Tim Burton’s version, John August was the first writer hired to script the project. Grahame-Smith got the job on the basis of his own bestselling novel, Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
The new start date seems to complicate Depp’s ability to co-star with Tom Hanks in director Kathryn Bigelow’s Triple Frontier. She has been courting Johnny for the drama that she will direct in February for Paramount Pictures. The picture (also known as Sleeping Dogs) about Latin American organized crime is scripted by Mark Boal, Bigelow’s accomplice on the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker. Depp liked the role – and the idea of teaming with Hanks — but his participation was subject to working out scheduling issues. And since Johnny’s production company is making Dark Shadows, that project won dibbs on Depp. I hear Mark Wahlberg could be in 2nd position.
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Five years ago this might have excited me, but at this point, I’d much rather see Depp team with Bigelow & Hanks in a project that do his tenth movie with Burton.
I am dying to see their adaptation of Dark Shadows. JD is the only actor I will accept to play Barnabas after Frid. Ben Cross was good, but he did not inspire me. I just hope they choose wisely when it comes to Angelique. Lara Parker WAS Angelique, and it will be difficult for them to find someone as beautiful, intelligent and frightening as she was.
I, too, am dying for the release of the New Dark Shadows movie…I am hoping and praying that Angelina Jolie gets the part of Angelique.
OMG NOOO!!! She (Angelina) would not do it justice.
Angelique? Charlese Theron of course. Looking forward to the real DS done with respect to the origional.
Your definitely right about that one.
I think Angelina Jolie is the perfect Angelique!!! I AM THE DARK SHADOWS EXPERT. Do you understand me! I watched it every day from 1966 to 1971 (except when I was away at camp). Angelina Jolie has that essential creepiness that is the core of the Angelique character. There are no other actresses that have that element necessary to play Angelique.
yes she would be just the right woman
if you saw stardust .michelle pfieffer would be a good angelique
NO, I JUST READ THAT MICHELLE PFEIFFER WILL BE PLAYING MRS. COLLINS THE ROLE PLAYED BY JOAN BENNETT IN THE SERIES….
michelle p. would be perfect,angelique was gently controlling,very hpnotic,and at times bi-polar!but she made that series!she would have to be sensual,while very manipulative,again michelle could pull off . see her face at the last minute of the movie ” wolf”those are angelique eyes!
I agree
I am so ready for this show to come on Dark Shadows with Johhny and I to would like to see Angelina Jolie Play Angelique, oh how I would love that , cant wait hope its SOON
Helena Bonham Carter will have the rol, but I think Charlize Theron it has the Beauty even es very alike to Angelique.
Are you kidding me? This movie will be epic! There is not a better person nore time to revive this cust classic. No one has grown tired of burtons directing and finnally with all the Twilight teenage vamps us adult will have the oprotunity to relive a classic in an all together epic way.
too bad johnny…leave burton for once and go on with different roles
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are the best combination of actor and director , i am very sure that you have a favourite author that you stick to . Dont dish out things you dont know about. This message has no ill feeling or grudges held its just me voicing my opinion x
I think the Dark Shadows movie will be fantastic. Johnny Depp has always picked the obscure rolls to star in and the storyline for Shadow’s is very unique. I would much rather see Shadows than another crime drama. I think Tom Hanks is a great actor and he should be the one to move out of the normal into the obscure.
So? I don’t care how good the combo is, Tim Burton’s hasn’t made a true masterpiece in years. It’s “you” who doesn’t know what you’re talking about.
I agree; they are a great combination..if it ain’t broke do not try to fix it!
Awesome! I hope it has time travel and alternate universes like the show did.
I agree with you. I love the time travel concept and parallel universes. Yet I don’t know if the one movie will be able to fit all that into it. At least maybe the time travel section where Victoria goes back in time. I am hoping this will become so immensely popular that it will become a triology or more. So that more of the storylines can be added such as, Quinten’s storyline, but no Leviathan storyline or Adam and Eve please YUCK.
I’m with you…It would be perfect as the new supernatural franchise.
I hope they start with the storyline of Angelique cursing Barnabas,and causing his Vampire fate…and ending with his father chaining him in the coffin…perfect way to lead to a Dark Shadows 2.
No…! He should team up with Kathryn Bigelow…! Wait with Dark Shadows.. Would be great to see Johnny work with Tom.. Mark W. sounds like a bad choice as well.. I think it could have been great to see Johnny and Tom together…! (*Please, Johnny… Let Tim wait!)
From January to April, still time for another film.
What’s it going to happen with Snow White and the Huntsman? If Dark Shadows is slated for April that means he can still shoot Huntsman by early 2011?
Depp and Burton collaborations are fine – it’s John August’s dreadful screenplays (Big Fish aside) that have made the last few stinkers. So I think it’s good news that someone has been brought on to re-tool this script. If Burton could get back to directing Depp in something original – like EDWARD SCOSSORHANDS and ED WOOD, I’d be a happy camper.
“Warners has been trying for several years to get to the starting line on this movie adaptation of the TV series…”
Yes, including the horrifyingly bad, aborted TV pilot they did with John Wells for the old WB back in ’04, which went wrong in all kinds of ways.
This is not an easy adaptation to begin with, and this late in the vampire game feels like too late.
And before that, there was the 1991 series version with Ben Cross as Barnabas. Dark Shadows will never go away.
i’m still waiting for them to complete the 1991 series. that was a horrible,quite literal, “cliff-hanger”
There’s already been the soap opera, then the revival series remake which in my opinion topped the original series in every way imaginable. Also, many feel that Ben Cross OWNS (creatively speaking) the character of Barnabas Collins, much like Pacino is the only one who could have played the Don in GF Part 3. The DS Revival Series has a cult like following of it’s own. I invite you to visit Cross’s FB fan page.Very big shoes for Johnny Depp to fill. Cross still looks great. With the right lighting and a little digital enhancement(think Benjamin Buttons and Brad Pitt) they could make Ben Cross look a little younger. Remember though, the the original Barnabas played by Jonathan Frid looked 60 if he looked a day. Depp is not Barnabas,too pretty boyish to play this character. His features are just not right for the part.That said, Ben Cross could pull it off. Please stand by the actor who made this Character great or move on to a new and original film project Mr.Depp.
Marnie – I couldn’t have said it better myself. I agree in every possible way.
I must confess I for one do not want to see J Depp in this role, though he may be good
in other films in the mystic genre.
Kindest regards, HR.
First off to all who think Depp should not do this movie right now keep wishing and I’ll keep laughing at you.He loves Barnabas far to much to listen to the likes of you people.Quit whining and deal with its what he wants to do not you remember that.I don’t really think he will care if you make it to the theatres or not to see it.This is going to be a great movie and Johnny is the man for this.and no Cross is not the man for the job.I do like the 90′s version and I do like Cross but thats not the answer.Frid was and always will be the greatest Barnabas hands down say what you want it doesn’t make a difference even the 90′s version couldn’t get the right feel of the original Dark Shadows and lets be honest that is what truely made that show great.Like I said “Say what you want it doesn’t make a difference” Depp is going to do what he wants and I’m on his side on this one.
DID YOU SEE JOHNNY DEPP IN SWEENEY TODD [THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET ST.GREAT MOVIE MAYBE HE COULD PASS IT OFF.
absolutely, he had the maturity in his face and the emotion to make it work. i loved him as the great barnabas collins.
Although I loved Jonathan Frid, I think Ben Cross would do better in the role of Barnabas and Johnny Depp should play Willie Loomis. And I agree they should have continued the 1991 revival series…what an awful thing to do to DS fans!
hi! i have the entire dvd collection of d.s. 1966-1970 and as a young child i was captivated by it,and as an adult even more so. i must say that ben cross added sex appeal,passion to the role and lots and lots of emotiom. bravo! bravo! i was saddened to see the
1991 version go off the air after such a short time.needless to say i own that dvd. dark shadows will live forever. depp is good but no one holds a candle to the original d.s. cast. lara parker as angelique is a classic and unbeatable. anna
I will only like it if it’s a 60s period piece. That’s what ruined the remakes for me: updating the series. What made the original series so interesting was the time and place.
I agree I hope they keep it in the 60′s era like the soap.
more importantly, who will play Angelique?
Or Victoria Winter?
Kate Jackson as Elizabeth Stoddard and Helena as Julia
Ironically Kate Jackson was in the original as a ghost named Daphne. Michelle Pfeiffer? has been cast as Elizabeth Collind Stoddard.
it’s logic to replace Depp for Walhberg(irony) and what happened for
Bale’s, Penn’s or Bardem’s cast?
Depp as a vampire, are you kidding, that’s gonna be insane, Barnabis Collins no less. There is no reason for anyone to look upon this with any kind of wariness. Burton and Depp were BORN to do Dark Shawdows.
I couldn’t agree more!!! Those were the very words that popped into my head when I heard about the project. Then came the goose bumps…
Can’t wait for this film. I’m a huge Burton/Depp fan, and I grew up watching the original soap. Hope Julia and Angelique are cast well. That’s crucial.
bravo, couldnt agree more
The first movie made of this material, House Of Dark Shadows, wasn’t bad, but it was made with the original cast. If this one goes for camp, it will be hard to watch for more than ten minutes. In an interview, show creator Dan Curtis once said he just plundered a lot of 19th Century story lines in the early years of the show. Barnabas was a plundering of Stoker’s Drac.
But then he made it all psychedelic and strange and soapy. So maybe Burton and Depp will go back and try to steep this stuff in the spirit of Curtis’ original, but that’s tough, because the show depended so heavily on its production values. Yes, there’s Barnabas. Yes, there’s the Werewolf, the Frankenstein monster, the ghosts, the time travel, the disembodied head, the whole enchilada, but the shoestring made it all so unhinged and unstable, like the sets.
Neither Depp nor Burton can repeat that effect, and that effect was the magic ingredient.
“Production values?” The original show was so cheaply done that if a guy with a ladder walked past an open window they wouldn’t even bother to reshoot the scene. I love the original, but let’s not romanticize it. It was great primarily because Barnabas was a great character–the best vampire ever–and Jonathan Frid, who was a very weird-looking/acting actor, was wildly compelling. If you’re remembering happy memories from childhood, I recommend watching it on dvd–you’ll spend a lot of time with your finger on the fast forward button.
I think you missed the point. The “cheaply done” part was exactly what the original poster was talking about. Hence the “unhinged and unstable, like the sets.” (Reading comprehension is hard.) The cheesiness of it all is exactly why I watch the old Dark Shadows. The fact that the actors played it straight-up and took their work seriously while all kinds of silliness was going on around them is what makes this show interesting.
I’ve watched every episode, and have all 1000+ on VHS. No fast-forwarding for me. I’ve seen all the CGI crap I can stand. It’s boring and it’s lazy. Seeing someone try to do something that took a lot of effort, even when those efforts failed in laughable ways, is far more interesting. Dark Shadows is testament to that, as is the original Clash of the Titans.
I feel AZ Kim has got it right; the heart was in the original. I have seen every episode and the
remake with Cross & Going. A pair Depp & Burton simply cannot match… I understand that they are rich enough to select and make whatever films and roles they want – “Deppinger” in the awful “Public Enemies” was of course a result of this. I can accept that as fact. But that is not what makes a good movie. So I will enjoy – doubly enjoy! – the classic “Dark Shadows” and when I see Jonathan Frid leave the set with his costume over his arm, I will be thankful something that allows human error in a film
in this era of computerized nothing-is-real and not competence nor feeling matters is still available for us who were too young to see it “back then”. Speaking of hearts (of darkness): my first thought when I saw Depp trying to be Barnabas was “The Horror! The HORROR!”…
Best regards, HR.
I watched it when I was 7yrs old until it was over I love that it will be Depp. The 91 series was better made but not better. Never saw WB version. Just hurry and do it.
I agree if this new movie makes it campy or making fun of it will totally destroy it for me. It must be done in all seriousness and with as much of the feeling of the original soap opera. The new series in 1995 to me was a good adaption and it contained some of the feel of the orignial but because it was done on real locations it kinda took away from that dark close set that the soap opera had. Infact I think that Burton should reconstruct the set as close to the original set as possible but without it looking like it is inside a studio.
I’ll believe this when I see it–first of all, the original Barnabas Collins storyline was actually pretty weak (it involved a scientist trying to “cure” Barnabas of his vampirisim — it was also the basis of the enjoyable, but dopily campy “House of Dark Shadows,” mentioned above). Second, I doubt Burton’s movie is a period film (the 1960s) which not only makes it a hard sell for “Dark Shadows” fans, but also puts it in competition with all the other contemporary vampire films and TV shows. Finally, it would be terrible if Burton planned to give it a big, colorful, kitschy “Alice in Wonderland” treatment–so outside the original’s intent and, again, contrary to what the fans want to see. So I think it’s still going to be an uphill battle to get this made.
I didn’t find the original story “weak” at all. In fact, I found it a clever and modern take on the old vampire lore. It’s been directly lifted by others since, as well. The movie “Daybreakers” (I believe that was the title) is one of the most recent takes on the idea of a scientist trying to cure a vampire, but it’s not the only one.
Remember it was a 1960′s soap they all were bad but Dark Shadows was unique. Ghost Vampires and Werewolves. There were a lot of different stories.
And a part for winona ryder of course!!!! Work again with johnny and tim!!!!!Vote for winona!!!!!
Winona is Johnny’s ex-girlfriend. I guarantee she will not be in this movie.
Let’s not forget Depp and Burton also made SLEEPY HOLLOW. If this is done in the style and spirit of that, it’ll be just fine.
I agree, Sleepy Hollow is amazing. I also want to add, I love Depp and I loved Barnabus, exciting!
Another remake? Boring.
Let’s get Steve Coogan in a fat suit and do Mr. Belvedere. We can composite the kid from Problem Child and have him play Wesley!
Wow, another goth pop fantasy movie by Tim Burton starring Johnny Depp. How original.
Jean Robie : PRODUCTION VALUES? The reason that show has such longevity is that it was THE STORY that worked – it did not matter how laughable a gaff in a scene was – it was so well written – and for most part, extremely well acted for the time constraints and budget of the time.
The story is classic – and I will give Burton and Depp a hand to bring this back – if they do the trilogy and take the major stories from the series it could be a masterpiece.
Have Faith in Collinwood!!!!
I agree there are a lot of ways to go
Sorry. I didn’t make myself clear. It wasn’t the great production values that made the series work. It was the LOUSY production values applied to this material with total conviction and gusto. I’m not sure how great the writing and stories were–I had terrifying childhood memories of it and did watch a lot on DVD and had to dip in and out or look episodes where something actually happened.
So it wasn’t the story. For me, even now, what gives the series that particular aura is its audacity on the cheap. The rickety sets, the blown lines, the bad make-up–it all contributed to a sense of dislocation and anarchy and still kinda does. Anything could and did happen on Dark Shadows.
So Depp and Burton trying to fix all that intentional and unintentional weirdness into one two-hour narrative strikes me as quixotic. Still, I’ll go. Someone above mentioned Sleepy Hollow, and I loved that. If this gets even close, it will be fun.
I read the script. God awful. Depp hated it for good reason. I am surprised he did a 180. Maybe they promised him serious revisions.
It’s been mentioned in previous articles that the script has been improved greatly.
Long live Barnabas Collins!!!! YAYYYYY!
The 1991 series had some great high points, it’s too bad Iraq I and NBC’s scheduling screwed it. Anyway, clearly Depp is angling for a movie series that could take him to the grave literally. People may complain about original DS production, but Dan Curtis was wise enough to hold on to all the episodes (only a handful were wiped) — definitely not the norm for a soap. Most didn’t stop practice until mid or late 1970s. If not for that, the show would’ve disappeared. Good luck to Depp trying to create that magic again.
Ben Cross looked more the part DEPP is out of his element, does this guy want to everything? I know I’m alone here I just don’t see the big deal about Depp.
One of the main reasons Johnny Depp wants to do this project is because he is a HUGE fan of Dark Shadows. He like many of us when we were young loved this gothic soap opera.
Now will Mr. Depp play the lead in this film? Probably. Ben Cross may look like Barnabas Collins because of his age but Mr. Depp is entitled to be selfish and play the lead since his production company is producing the movie.
Plus I think Mr. Depp will sell more tickets at the box office than Mr. Cross.