Jet-black hair. Pale white skin. Charcoal circles under his eyes. It must be Johnny Depp in the latest Tim Burton “joint.” When these two are scouting potential projects, is it a prerequisite that Depp’s look will resemble "gothic Hot Topics teenager" every single time? That’s what this latest shot of Depp’s character in Burton’s Dark Shadows suggests. Look for yourself, courtesy of the international site CineHeroes.
Mind you, Depp IS playing a vampire who has been cursed by a witch (Eva Green), buried alive, and revived in the 1970s. But still, can’t they shake up their gimmick? Burton and Depp are tackling a gothic soap opera from the late 1960s and early ’70s they each adored, about a Maine family tormented by odd curses. Depp’s character, Barnabas Collins, who was played by Jonathan Frid in the original TV series, would encounter an array of classic movie monsters, from werewolves and witches to ghosts. It’s strange that Burton hasn’t attempted a straight-up horror creature story. Dark Shadows might be the closest he’ll get to that genre, and that alone gets me excited.
So does Burton’s cast, beyond Depp. The official synopsis explains who everyone is and what they do, so we’re posting it below. Dark Shadows opens on May 11. Are you excited for it?
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 (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.
