We may have one Johnny Depp adaptation fast approaching ( The Rum Diary opens in theaters October 28), but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about the other Johnny Depp adaptation down the line. Dark Shadows , the actor’s next and eighth collaboration with Tim Burton will bring the forgotten ’60s goth soap opera of the same name to life. Although it isn’t due out until May 2012, Empire does have a sneak peak of the behind-the-scenes action. Do you have your captioning pens handy?
Photos show Tim Burton’s vision of the vampire is much less human than the ’60s soap original. By Eric Ditzian Bella Heathcote and Johnny Depp on the set of “Dark Shadows” Photo: Andrew Lloyd/ Splash News Johnny Depp promised that his take on the vampire Barnabas Collins in Tim Burton’s adaptation of “Dark Shadows” wouldn’t diverge greatly from the “classic look” of the character in the ’60s-era gothic soap opera. “I think it’s going to be somewhere in that arena, with maybe just a couple of different touches here and there,” Depp told MTV News . Perhaps, though, things have changed more than a touch since then. Photos snapped of Depp on the U.K. set show a vampire less like the familiar Barnabas than something out of Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Depp’s take, complete with pancake makeup, reddened lips and wacky blue glasses, makes the vampire look decidedly inhuman. That’s a stark divergence from Jonathan Frid’s original Barnabas, who was kind of creepy but also a dapper gentleman with an aesthetic that didn’t scream, “Hey, world, I’m totally a supernatural creature!” At the same time, what else were we expecting? This is a Depp-Burton joint, after all, and this duo is hardly known for subtlety or a reluctance to mess with the pop-culture past. So let’s not get crazy or cynical and swear off this new “Dark Shadows” based on a few paparazzi photos. Recall the deep affection Depp has for the ABC show, which premiered in 1966 and pulled in elements of gothic romance, ghost stories, time travel and a whole lot of weirdness over its 1,255-episode run. The actor has long held out a hope of bringing the material to the big screen and portraying Barnabus. The new storyline begins in the 18th century, when Barnabas is turned into a vampire by the brokenhearted witch Angelique (Eva Green) and buried alive. The film then flashes forward two centuries, as Barnabas is freed from his tomb and returns to his home and the dysfunctional relatives who now reside there. “We’re changing it a little bit,” Burton told us last fall. “I wouldn’t do it if it felt like it was just doing the same thing. For me, it’s about trying to go back to the original drawings and kind of capture that spirit a little bit more of what the drawings are. It feels different even though it’s a similar story, but we’re kind of expanding it a bit. Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos Spotted! Daily Celebrity Sightings
Johnny Depp is set to enter the crazy world of Hunter S. Thompson once again. The Oscar winner, who brought the late author#39;s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to the big screen in 1998, will do the same on October 28 for The Rum Diary. The movie is based on Thompson#39;s novel by the same name and focuses on a journalist named Paul Kemp. He encounters a dangerous, alcohol-soaked paradise in Puerto Rico, as teased in the first official trailer for the film, which also stars Aaron Eckhart, Am
On this day, 53 years ago, Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California to parents Bill and Jean. Over the course of the next five decades, the boy from Burbank would go on to direct fifteen feature films in his signature dark, quirky style, seven of which featured his long-time collaborator Johnny Depp. To celebrate Burton’s birthday, let’s look back at the director’s most wonderfully eccentric characters before choosing a favorite.
While the weather forecast for much of the East Coast looks like a storyboard from Day After Tomorrow thanks to Hurricane Irene, the box office forecast is decidedly more calm. As summer continues to crawl toward Labor Day, three genre films hit theaters, all with the diminished expectations that come with their late August release dates. What movie will you probably ignore this weekend? To the forecast!
Hunter S. Thompson fans have been patiently waiting over a decade for The Rum Diary to reach the big screen. (In fact, the adaptation process, which began in 2000, was so frustrating that the author himself coined the phrase “waterhead fuckaround” to describe the slow studio proceedings.) But The Rum Diary is finally in the can with a fall release date thanks to English writer and director Bruce Robinson, Thompson’s long-time friend Johnny Depp and Depp’s production company Infinitum Nihil. Let’s take a look at the trailer!
Big, bad news, Lone Ranger fans: According to Deadline, Disney has decided to halt production on Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger , which was to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the titular masked crusader. The pricey blockbuster was to begin filming this October, but too many other $200M+ projects set up at the studio may have led to the project’s demise.
DiCaprio grabbed the first spot by earning, what Forbes estimated, 77 million U.S. dollars between May 2010 and May 2011. Meanwhile, Depp earned 50 million U.S. dollars, landing on the second spot; Adam Sandler, who earned 40 million dollars, captured the third spot while Will Smith and Tom Hanks were close behind, at 36 million dollars and 35 million dollars. Forbes listed Hollywood#39;s highest-earning actors on Monday with Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp on top, according to media reports.
The bus belonging to Maa Gayatri Travels, carrying 60 passengers, fell off the bridge about 100 km away from here when one of its tyres burst and the driver lost control. So far, 26 bodies have been recovered from the river while 15 others are feared to have been swept away, the report quoted police as saying. At least 26 persons were killed and 15 others missing after a private bus fell into the swollen Barna river off a bridge in Raisen district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh
‘Pirates’ star is reportedly lining up several new films, including ‘The Night Stalker.’ By Terri Schwartz Johnny Depp Photo: Jorge Herrera/Getty Images Though he certainly could happily retire on his “Pirates” loot, never let it be said that Johnny Depp is not one of the hardest-working men in Hollywood. This week, news broke of three new potential Depp projects in early discussions. Though he has commitments to Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows” remake and Gore Verbinski’s “The Lone Ranger” update at the moment, and has said he would consider future installments of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise , it sounds like Depp is trying to keep himself busy for the foreseeable future. Deadline reports that two of the movies are being set up with Disney (Depp’s go-to company these days). The first is a feature film version of “The Night Stalker,” a 1970s TV horror movie and series that tells the story of tabloid reporter Carl Kolchak after he stumbles upon a series of supernatural killers. The second is an untitled Paul Revere film that Depp is working on with “Batman Forever” writers Lee and Janet Batchler. It would follow Revere during the 24-hour time period in which he made his legendary midnight ride to warn the revolutionaries that the British were coming. Depp would potentially star as the lead in both films. And earlier this week, “Miral” director Julian Schnabel let slip the other bit of Depp news during an interview with The Playlist , when he stated that the “Pirates” star had approached him about an adaptation of “In the Hand of Dante.” Depp had purchased film rights to the book by Nick Tosches several years ago and asked Schnabel to consider it as his next project. It’s not clear if Depp would star in the movie. “I’m not going to make it for a couple of years,” Schnabel said of the adaptation of the novel, which weaves the story of the 14th century poet and that of a contemporary writer caught up in the potential black market sale of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” manuscript. “We’re gonna work on writing it, developing it. We didn’t sign anything. It’s just something Johnny asked me to read, and I think it’s a great book, so maybe you should read it. It’s pretty beautiful. It’s about everything.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos The Evolution Of: Johnny Depp
