-
Much has been made of the fact that the upcoming adaptation of Dark Shadows will be the eighth collaboration between actor Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton, but the movie is also the second teaming of Burton and actress Michelle Pfeiffer. It's been 20 years since the pair worked together on 1992's Batman Returns, but her role as family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was a dream come true for the actress, a "diehard follower" of the original, late 1960s-early 70s Gothic soap opera that is the basis of the movie.
I was obsessed. It was the first vampire show ever on television. My mother probably assumed, given that it was on in the afternoon, it was safe for me to be watching, but I always felt like I was somehow breaking the rules because it was quite terrifying and sexy, too, especially for that time.
At the Dark Shadows press conference over the weekend, Pfeiffer revealed that it wasn't Burton that sought her for the movie. Rather, she called Burton and begged for a role.
more from pfeiffer and burton >> Posted 05.08.12 by Ryan -
When you walk into a Tim Burton movie, you know almost exactly what to expect. For more than the past decade, Burton’s walked a thin line between putting his personal stamp on every movie he makes and complete self-parody — at times managing to do both. As unique as we’re sure Burton would like to think his take is, he’s not the only one who likes making slightly Gothic-tinged movies with a baroque design. All of these movies share some of the same DNA as a Tim Burton movie, so much so that frequently the main distinguishing difference is fewer appearances by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. And while no, they’re not all as good as Burton’s best work, we can say for certain that literally every one of them is better than Planet of the Apes, which isn't exactly an achievement worth bragging about.
10 Movies that Out-Burton Tim Burton >>
Posted 05.08.12 by reelz -
Dark Shadows isn't the first collaboration between actor Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton, but it could their riskiest since first uniting on Edward Scissorhands back in 1990. Based on the Gothic soap opera created by Dan Curtis that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971, Dark Shadows follows the lives of the eccentric Collins family, including the 200-year-old vampire Barnabas, originally played by the late Jonathan Frid and portrayed by Depp in the movie.
While the show certainly has a loyal fanbase, Dark Shadows isn't quite as universally well-known as the last story Depp and Burton brought to the big screen, 2010's Alice in Wonderland. However, both Burton and Depp proclaim to be huge fans of the series, which unlike the seeming omnipresence of vampires in movies and TV series today, was one of its kind at the time. During the press conference for the movie this weekend at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, Burton said it was actually Depp who instigated the big adaptation of Dark Shadows.
"We've talked about [Dark Shadows] I think for many years, but I think this is the first project that I ever remember for Johnny, where you sort of said — I think he wanted to play this ever since you were a little boy," Burton said to Depp. "Just a wee tyke," Depp responded.
more from Depp and Burton >> Posted 05.07.12 by Ryan -
Now that Marvel Studios' The Avengers has kicked The Dark Knight down a couple notches in box office rankings — besting the Bat for the top spot for midnight screenings with a take of $18.7 million and pushing The Dark Knight down to third place in highest-opening weekends — it would be understandable (if a little tacky) for Marvel Studios President of Production (and mastermind of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) Kevin Feige to crow about the accomplishment. But we're pretty sure he won't. Just a couple days before the theatrical opening of The Avengers in the States, Feige actually went out of his way to praise Christopher Nolan's revamp of the Batman franchise, calling it "the greatest thing that happened" to superhero movies because it "bolstered everything."
Before Nolan needed to save Batman from the creative black hole that the franchise plunged into when Joel Schumacher decided to introduce Bat-nipples and enough neon to make the Las Vegas Strip look classy, Tim Burton was considered the wunderkind of comic book movies. With Batman and its follow-up, Batman Returns, Burton helped to turn Batman into a cultural phenomenon (not many grown men would have been caught dead wearing Bat-symbol T-shirts in public before the movie) and made comic book movies a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. So what does Burton think of Nolan's Batman movies? If he appreciates them as much as Feige does, he's not saying. However, he does appear to be thankful that Nolan's Batman movies make his own Batman movies appear less "dark" by comparison.
what did burton & Pfeiffer say and what's this about a Whedon Batman? >> Posted 05.07.12 by BrentJS -
The next few months will see a steady influx of comic book adaptations opening in theaters, including The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
OK, so maybe Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter isn't exactly based on a comic book, but rather the best-selling novel by author-screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the upcoming Dark Shadows). Still, by changing the former US President's history to include vampires, Lincoln's life has been essentially transformed into that of a superhero's comic book mythology, one that leads a double life. By day, Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) helps run the country, and by night, he tries to vanquish the world from its hidden, bloodsucking threat. In the latest featurette, Grahame-Smith, along with producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted), makes the case that Lincoln isn't too different from Batman, including having his own cape, mask, and utility belt.
watch the featurette >> Posted 05.04.12 by Ryan -
Fans of the late 1960s/early '70s Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows had to wait until this month to see the first trailer for Tim Burton's big-screen adaptation, despite the movie opening in May. Reaction was mixed, as the trailer seemed to be edging closer to comedy than the melodrama of the TV show, a decision that some fans appreciated and some didn't. In a recent interview with SlashFilm, screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) didn't shy away from calling Dark Shadows a "funny" movie, while also explaining that Burton's version is also a "Gothic, dark movie" with "a lot of soap opera in it."
I mean the movie is a lot of different things, just like the soap opera was a lot of different things. I think that we weren't afraid to let Johnny [Depp] invent this character and be funny. I think if you were just going to do a straight forward soap opera for two hours, I think people would get bored. I think people want to be entertained. So I think we've found a great way to entertain people but also stay true to some of the origins of the series.
watch the TV spots >> Posted 03.28.12 by Ryan -
When it was first announced that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were collaborating for the eighth time on Dark Shadows, fans around the world were excited for what a Burton/Depp vampire movie would look like. And with the release of the first trailer, we now know. Burton obviously went for a campy/comedic tone for his adaption of the Gothic soap opera.
Depp seemingly channeled Ed Wood to play Barnabas, who is cursed into being a vampire by the jealous Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), buried alive, and then uncovered 200 years later in the 1970s. In the trailer we see glimpses of what Barnabas's world was like before he was vampire. Then see Barnabas trying to make sense of his new world (calling a TV sorcery, asking when the horses can be ready). Though it looks more like Austin Powers than Dracula, if anyone can get away with it, it's Burton and Depp. So what did fans think about the trailer?
Stuart Manning, the owner and editor of Dark Shadows News gave ReelzChannel his impression of the trailer.
Read reactions to the trailer >> Posted 03.16.12 by Chris -
Finally! After a wait that lasted almost as long as Barnabas Collins' exile in a pine box, the first trailer and poster have arrived for Dark Shadows, director Tim Burton's adaptation of the Gothic soap opera from the late 1960s and early 70s. We guess it had to happen eventually, since the movie opens in less than two months.
For their eighth collaboration, Burton and actor Johnny Depp have enlisted the help of screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) to write the script, and, if the trailer is any guide, the result seems to be more along the lines of the eccentrically weird Ed Wood rather than the misguided remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The key is Depp's delightfully weird performance as Barnabas, who is cursed into being a vampire by the jealous Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), buried alive, and then uncovered 200 years later in the 1970s. With Angelique still looking for a way into his undead heart, Barnabas is instead concerned with bringing the Collins family back into their former glory.
watch the trailer >> Posted 03.16.12 by Ryan -
Director Tim Burton has two movies set to release this year — May's adaptation of the Dark Shadows TV show and October's stop-motion animated Frankenweenie. For whatever reason, Frankenweenie is the first to have its trailer released.
Based on Burton's own 1984 short of the same name and borrowing liberally from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Frankenweenie follows a young boy named Victor, who who loses his beloved dog in a fatal accident and decides to bring Sparky back using the reanimation process Shelley created for her infamous creature. Burton's first animated movie since 2005's Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie features the voice talents of Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and Martin Landau.
watch the trailer >> Posted 03.01.12 by Ryan -
Director Tim Burton's recent movies has been limited to remakes and adaptations of late, including 2010's Alice in Wonderland and 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which, while successful, may not have pleased his fanbase as much as his fairytale-influenced early movies like 1990's Edward Scissorhands and 1988's Beetlejuice. 2012 looks to change all that with the release of May's Dark Shadows, based on the Gothic 1970s soap opera, and October's Frankenweenie, Burton's first stop-motion animated movie since 2005's Corpse Bride.
A feature-length adaptation of Burton's own 1984 short of the same name, Frankenweenie takes a page from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as it tells the story of horror story of a young boy named Victor, who reanimates his pet dog Sparky after a fatal accident. Disney has released the first poster for Frankenweenie, which reveals that the movie employs some of the quirky aesthetic that was the hallmark of Burton's earlier movies.
see the full poster >> Posted 02.21.12 by Ryan