[Nick-Ko-Las Enigma]

Sweeney Todd film news
From the Mandrake column in the Telegraph: ‘If Sacha Baron Cohen turns out to have a very sharp edge on Johnny Depp in their new film, Sweeney Todd, then Mandrake can furnish an explanation. The eccentric Borat star has insisted on putting his barber, Carmelo Guastella, on the payroll as his personal adviser on shaving techniques.

"Johnny wasn't sure what I was doing on the set and Sacha told him that I was his drama coach," says Guastella, who runs the Melogy salon in King's Cross, north London . "In fact, Sacha is determined to put in a convincing portrayal of a barber. I gave him 16 hours of lessons shaving with a cut-throat razor and he picked up in that time what it took me 22 years to learn. He used his driver to test his shaving techniques on - at first the poor guy was rather apprehensive, but no blood was spilt."

Baron Cohen's decision to avail himself of Guastella's expertise suggests that the on-screen rivalry between his character, Adolfo Pirelli, and the rival barber Sweeney Todd, played by Depp, is becoming an off-screen battle of wills between the two immensely bankable stars. There had been reports that Baron Cohen, ostensibly having problems singing Stephen Sondheim's lyrics in the film, had been given a dispensation by the director Tim Burton to perform them in a rap style.

Guastella reports from the Pinewood set that Baron Cohen is, however, singing in an old-fashioned barber-shop manner. "It's a complicated performance - he has to shave his customers and sing as well and get all the movements right," he says. "I saw him rehearsing and at one point he sang one of the songs himself without back-up music. He won a standing ovation from the actors who were watching."

He adds that Baron Cohen is inclined to tease Depp. "When Johnny told Sacha that he might be going to Los Angeles , Sacha told him that he had a lot of contacts in that city and he promised to ask them to do what they could to help him."

Christopher Lee, who plays the Gentleman Ghost in this, his fourth collaboration with Burton and Depp, tells me: "It's always fun working with Johnny and Tim. Johnny is one of the greatest actors of his generation. And when Tim is behind the camera, one just feels the waves of enthusiasm." '

11th March, 2007

[Catherine]

[Nick-Ko-Las Enigma]

12/18/06
08:35:17, Categories: Movie News Tim Burton Insists Sacha Baron Cohen Sings Well in 'Sweeney Todd'
Tim Burton has hailed Sacha Baron Cohen's singing ability in the face of media reports suggesting his songs have been cut from the forthcoming "Sweeney Todd" movie. The Borat and Ali G creator plays Signor Adolfo Pirelli - the arch-rival of Johnny Depp's Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street - in the big screen version of the hit musical.

And Burton laughs of claims he had instructed Cohen to rap his songs instead of singing them.

He says, "Sacha will surprise everyone. When he auditioned for me, he sang 'Fiddler On The Roof' without accompaniment and was incredible. Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the original Broadway musical, loves Sacha's voice."

[Vice]

[EponineBarker]