Personally, I don’t want to see Tim Burton slam into anything but that is exactly how he described the state of his adaptation of Dark Shadows, now in production.
“It’s been hard to kind of come here because I’m just starting, and it’s a weird tone and it’s a lot of actors and, you know, we’re not starting with the simple stuff; we’re sort of getting right in there. You like to kind of sneak up on it a little bit, but this one we just kind of slammed right into it,” Burton explains.
If you watched Dark Shadows, either during its 1960s run or the reboot in the mid 90s then you know it is more or less a soap opera about vampires. Think of it is the forerunner of Passions with less crazy and fewer midgets. If you are a fan like me then you too are probably wondering how Burton will adapt that soapy quality to the big screen. Here is what Burton had to say.
“Yes, I don’t know. I’m early into it because it’s a funny tone, and that’s part of what the vibe of the show is, and there’s something about it that we want to get. But when you look at it, it’s pretty bad. I’m hoping that it will be — it’s early days, let’s put it — I’m very intrigued by the tone. It’s a real ethereal tone we’re trying to go for and I don’t know yet”
I have mixed feelings about Burton’s involvement in this. I recognize his genius, but Alice in Wonderland was just awful and I am so sick of Johnny Depp I could claw my eyes out. But Depp is a big fan of the show and I don’t think he’ll let this adaptation fall into suckville without a fight. The cast is impressive enough with Jonny Lee Miller (YUM), Helena Bonham Carter (of course), Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloe Moretz. If the official synopsis is any indication then the script seems to be sticking close to the plot of the show, assuming the studio doesn’t step in and insist on adding some Vampire Diaries-esque tweens to emo up Collinwood Manor.
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.
Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.
Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.
Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplay which is good to hear. I loved Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Dark Shadows is due for release in 2012…I would assume around Halloween. Keep your eyes peeled for more info.
