Coming this Christmas...
Jan. 9th, 2007 06:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanDirected by Tim Burton
Adapted by John Logan (RKO 281)
Produced by Patrick McCormick (A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM)
Cinematography by Dariusz Wolski (DARK CITY)
Production Design by Dante Ferretti (INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE)
Costume by Colleen Atwood (SLEEPY HOLLOW)
And starring Johnny Depp as
SWEENEY TODD
here's where it got interesting to me...
Also starring
Helena Bonham Carter
Alan Rickman
Anthony Stewart Head
Adapted by John Logan (RKO 281)
Produced by Patrick McCormick (A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM)
Cinematography by Dariusz Wolski (DARK CITY)
Production Design by Dante Ferretti (INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE)
Costume by Colleen Atwood (SLEEPY HOLLOW)
And starring Johnny Depp as
SWEENEY TODD
here's where it got interesting to me...
Also starring
Helena Bonham Carter
Alan Rickman
Anthony Stewart Head
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 04:17 pm (UTC)I am sommat concerned about Depp's singing voice, but since he tends to take everything acting-wise seriously, I suspect there are intensive voice lessons occuring...
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Date: 2007-01-09 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 06:08 pm (UTC)Voices aside, also, the production talent they've lined up pretty much guarantees this thing's going to be of the Major Pretty as well, even if it stinks on ice otherwise...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 09:31 pm (UTC)Last summer I AD'd on a production of "Oliver!" with an Artful Dodger whose voice was in the middle of changing. We made it work. I'm betting they'll figure something out with Depp. Though I'm also betting it won't be exactly the same as the production you saw.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 09:57 pm (UTC)Oh, no, That makes you the authority. Yessir, you're the one who would know. I bow to your greater expertise.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 10:06 pm (UTC)Hush, children. People have been arguing in a civilized manner about performance interpretations for generations. I expect no less from all of you.
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Date: 2007-01-09 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 06:31 pm (UTC)Of course you're entitled to your opinion, and it's entirely possible the film will be a disaster. Who knows? Certainly neither you nor I. Not even Tim Burton could say for sure.
But the phrase "We'll have to agree to disagree" is exactly the same as saying "I don't give a damn what you think." Not very civil, in my book. It effectively shuts down the discussion in a way that pretends to be genteel but is actually an ugly slap in the face.
I'll shut up now.
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Date: 2007-01-10 06:39 pm (UTC)That may be how you're hearing it, but most of use use the phrase to mean "I respect your opinion even when I don't agree with it, and I'm not going to carry this further because clearly we're not going to come to agreement." It's actually considered to be a civil and polite response to a deadlocked argument.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 10:10 pm (UTC)We all tend to have our own ideas of the Right way to do things. I'm sure the original audience for Hamlet (or fill in the blank for any of the Great!Stage!Actors! versions)would have been totally horified by the version I saw on Broadway. Didn't make it any less a magnificant entertainment for me, despite the changes and tweakings.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 06:51 pm (UTC)Ayuh. You got that right.
The original audience for Hamlet would have been appalled to see any film version (with the possible exception of the Branagh version), wondering where half the play went. Elizabethan plays were five acts, fercrynoutloud, and it's a rare modern audience that will sit through that much of even a good thing. Hollywood often gets a bad rap for adaptations when people don't understand the differences in the medium of film from stage and prose.
Which, both the Branagh and Zeffirelli Hamlets have value, for different reasons. I've not seen the Olivier, but am betting that as a film adaptation, for its time, it also had something to contribute.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 03:13 pm (UTC)Add to your list a possibility of Jim Broadbent & Christopher Lee and Also Sascha Baron Cohen as well.
::Bites nails::
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 04:24 pm (UTC)Oh, my!
I'm not worried about Depp's singing. They can make anyone sound like anything these days.
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Date: 2007-01-09 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 09:09 pm (UTC)Don't shoot me, but Scott Bakula leaps to mind. (g,d,rlh)
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Date: 2007-01-09 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 04:49 pm (UTC)Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd is the worst kind of miscasting humanly possibly. I could see Alan Rickman playing Sweeney (assuming he has the vocal range appropriate for the role); he's the right age, he has the right look, he can summon the appropriate darkness. But Johnny Depp is too young, too pretty and doesn't have the vocal chops required. It's a mistake of the first order.
Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett: again, miscast. Too young, too pretty, and who the hell knows whether or not she can sing.
With these people, my preferred casting would be as follows:
Sweeney Todd: Alan Rickman
Mrs. Lovett: Emma Thompson (maybe--hard to think of actresses of the appropriate age for this role; Hollywood's like that)
Anthony Hope: Johnny Depp
Joanna: Helena Bonham Carter or Kate Winslet
The Judge: Anthony Stewart Head
I'd love to be proven wrong, really. But I'm genuinely skeptical about the wisdom of casting Johnny Depp for this part. He actually whined when Sondheim insisted he do a vocal audition for the part. I'm not surprised he's still playing the role, only because Burton is a fairly powerful guy in Hollywood. I just thinkm unless Depp can pull off a miracle, that this may well be a major train wreck.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 09:20 pm (UTC)Mmmm...no. The worst was Tom Cruise as Lestat. ::brrrr:: More horror than was actually in the story.
As for Rickman playing Todd, I don't see it. I think all these actors are older than you seem to think they are. I think he would be fabulous as the Judge. And Helena Bonham Carter can easily pull off the madness required for Lovett, where Emma Thompson would have to strain for it.
Perhaps it's because I don't think of Depp as all that pretty that I think he'd be fine as Todd. It's the madness thing, I think. He does nuts like he was born to it. I mean, really, everyone in this play is crazy. Todd's insanity is more straightforward than the Judge's, and so I think Rickman is best as the Judge.
All in all, it's an incredibly talented bunch of people who I think have the tools to pull this off. Bottom line, I think they'll work well TOGETHER, which is more important than what type they are or how old they are.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 09:44 pm (UTC)I'm a fan of Johnny Depp, but I think this is the wrong material for him and I think Burton is the wrong director. And I clearly don't have as much faith in Hollywood. I'll believe in the quality of the production when I see it, but I'll go in a skeptic.
We'll have to agree to disagree.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 05:31 pm (UTC)thunk
OK, everyone out of my fantasy now, nothing to see here, move along...
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Date: 2007-01-09 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 06:19 pm (UTC)You add George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan to this particular cast and you'll be scraping bits off me off the ceiling. And I'm not saying which bits.
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Date: 2007-01-09 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 06:42 pm (UTC)No surprise there.
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Date: 2007-01-10 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 07:28 pm (UTC)