Depp doing coolest movie ever; untalented Swingers hacks thankfully uninvolved

[TVC15]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117969246.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Johnny Depp is getting in touch with his inner vampire.
Warner Bros. is teaming with Depp's Infinitum-Nihil and Graham King's GK Films to develop a feature based on the '60s daytime supernatural sudser "Dark Shadows."

Depp has said in interviews that he has always been obsessed with "Dark Shadows" and had, as a child, wanted to be Barnabas Collins, the vampire patriarch of the series. The role was originated by Jonathan Frid.

A rights deal just closed with the estate of Dan Curtis, the producer/director who created the soap that aired weekdays on ABC, from 1966 to 1971. Depp and King will produce with David Kennedy, who ran Dan Curtis Prods. until Curtis died last year of a brain tumor. Infinitum-Nihil's Christi Dembrowski served as the point person on the deal.

Over 1,225 episodes, "Dark Shadows" was a highly atmospheric, spooky soap that featured gothic horror staples like vampires, monsters, witches, werewolves, ghosts and zombies. The show has a continuing rabid fan base that populates Dark Shadows Festival conventions. Numerous TV revivals of the series and pic adaptations have been attempted over the years but none with as high-wattage a star as Depp.

Depp, who is coming off "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and who just wrapped the Tim Burton-directed "Sweeney Todd," is next expected to star in "Shantaram," a Mira Nair-directed adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that Depp, King and Plan B are producing for Warner Bros. Depp, King and WB are also mobilizing to make a film about the life of Alexander Litvinenko, with Depp poised to play the former KGB agent, who was fatally poisoned.

 

[bagofeyes]

Awesome

[Ichirou]

I was hoping Depp had finally gotten The Fartiste off the ground.  Don't raise my hopes up so high, TVC.

[The Fake Shemp]

That is pretty awesome.  I really dug Dark Shadows, until dumb time travel shite ran the series into the ground.  Did anyone ever catch the relaunch in the mid-90s?  I vaguely remember a couple of episodes as pretty good.

[TVC15]

Actually, Will, the other day I saw a DVD set of the revival, and I had to fight myself not to buy it.  I am sure it is absolutely terrible (I think I was like 10-11 when it aired), but I remember liking it.  Heh.

[The Fake Shemp]

I must've been a year or two younger, but I also liked it.  Maybe if we watch it together as adults, we'll do some kind of cosmic Ghostbusters-esque stream crossing that will create a vacuum in which nostalgia cannot escape and we'll be able to view it objectively.

[TVC15]

Heh

In 1991, a shortlived primetime remake was produced by MGM Television and aired by NBC, airing from January 13 to March 22. The revival was a lavish, big budget weekly serial combining gothic romance and stylistic horror. Although it was a huge hit at introduction (watched by almost 1 in 4 households according to official ratings during that time period), an untimely international incident would inflict a fatal wound to the show. The onset of the Gulf War caused NBC to continually pre-empt or reschedule the early episodes resulting in viewer confusion and a loss of momentum.

Unshockingly, a Bush with a Useless War killed the revival.

[The Fake Shemp]

The Gulf War claimed more than lives!

[TVC15]

The Gulf War claimed more than lives!

If it weren't for the gulf war, Barnabas Collins could have saved us from an additional half decade of TGIF!