[Mistress]

Do you guys think it will be another Phantom or another? Or will it actually be good like Dreamgirls. Personally, I think that If it has Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, It's got a decent chance. It's just a shame that so many cast memebers can't sing. There is also the questionable casting of Sacha Baron Cohn as Perelli...he could very well kill the movie...anyway, what do yuo guys think?

[theatre4life]

Im sure Burton - much as i love his work - will overdo the sets/scenery. Depp wont look right or sound like Sweeney. Helena might be able to pull off Lovett. And Borat will be a dumb Pirelli.

In my opinion, they need a more theatrical-experienced director - Rob Marshall did a fabulous job with Chicago. Plus, i'd rather see someone who looks and sounds like Sweeney. Is Kelsey Grammer too old? if so, Im sure theres pleanty of others who'd much better fith the mold.

[what_the_heck013]

I think it will end up being a cult classic, of course. I think it's going to turn out great though. I mean my favorite actor starring in my favorite musical. Who can ask for more?

[Sweeney Hyde]

I think Burton will do a fine job directing, however, I think that Johnny Depp is a HUGE miscast. He doesn't look like Sweeney, he doesn't sing like Sweeney, he isn't scary in the same sence that Sweeney is scary. They would have been much better off to have cast someone like Anthony Warthow or Terrance Mann or Colm Wilkonson or Michael Ceveris or Robert Cuccioli. But we HAVE to have Depp because him and Burton are an item and Depp is the flavor of the year and heaven forbid hollywood cast according to talent. I'm not even sure if I will go to see it because I don't want them to ruin the show for me.
BTW Phantom was not nearly as bad as it could have been. For REALLY bad muscial film, please watch A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Brigadoon, and Man of La Mancha. Know those were bad.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

My prediction: The movie will be good- but not as good as it could have been. Depp will pull through, and he'll be different than most Sweeneys before him, but some will love and some will hate his take. Helena and Rickman will hold their own. Borat will not kill the movie- as said on various other forums, Pirelli is a charlatan, and as long as he has a pompous appearance and mock-operatic voice, which any good character actor can mimic, he'll be just fine. I always believed, after seeing various performances of Sweeney, that it's better for Pirelli to be funny than to be a true opera singer.

Right now, I'm just happy that it will undoubtably be a success. This movie, perfect or not, is just what movie musicals need to jump to a new level of popularity. Dreamgirls? High School Musical? I didn't see J-Depp in either of those, did I?

[Salome]

Helena and Alan will be delightfully perfect I am sure.

Depp will try his best but he is no Todd..of course I could be surprised. All I as is that he is bewtter than Cerveris..which if he handles the vocals shouldnt be too hard.

Dont know who they are planning for Beggar Woman yet nut I'd love to see a strong stage actress do the role..maybe rebecca luker or Judy Kuhn. not every role needs to be cast with a film star name.

[EponineBarker]

I'm sure with Burton directing it, it will be passable. I mean, after all, Sondheim is helping with the project too, isn't he? I mean, if he did give the green light to this, I'm sure he won't let Burton, Depp and the rest of the cast ruin this film. (Although I will be sorely dissapointed if Johanna doesn't sing.)

[Ghost]

Apparently Laura-Michelle Kelly will play the Beggar Woman / Lucy.

The cast list as of now

Todd Johnny Depp
Lovett Helena Bonham-Carter
Turpin Alan Rickman
Beadle Timothy Spall
Johanna Jayne Wisener
Pirelli Sasha Baron Cohen
Beggar Woman Laura-Michelle Kelly
Fogg Christopher Lee

It also seems that Jim Broadbent and Anthony Head will be doing omething...

[DramaRob]

I really don't know. I just hope it's good. If all else fails, we still have Hearn and Lansbury on DVD to watch as a stage show. It has good potential, but these days it's hard to pull off a great musical. I think the Producers, Rent, and Chicago are the only ones done really well in my opinion.

[bwayluvor31]

[Sweeney Hyde]

[EponineBarker]

[Ghost]

Or Tobias...

Wikipedia states that Sam Kenyon, who played Toby in the John Doyle production, will be in the film, but in the ensemble, not as Toby. Who knows.

I wouldn't be suprised (or depressed) if Patrick Wilson was cast as Anthony.

[TychoBrahe]

Oooooh... the sad thing is that could happen. Well, it's allready happened. I swear, I could kill that prententious little waif.

[Salome]

[Ghost]

Jake Gyllenhaal is rumored to play Anthony...

[Salome]

[shakalakababy]

[Holly]

The Sasha Baron Cohen thing kind of freaks me out, but that's only because I think I will always see him as Borat...

[kiwitechgirl]

[Salome]

I'd rather eee Ewan as Anthony. he is closer to the right age.

[TychoBrahe]

I'd rather see someone nuke this whole operation.

[Salome]

Just wait and see it. The only real concern i have right now is Johnny Depp. the rest of the cast is more than qualified. (don't know about Sasha's background but we shall see).

[TychoBrahe]

And what a concern it is. Whimper.

[Salome]

actually the only concern is if he can sing the role. he is not a bad choice for the role otherwise.

[DaddyDiesel]

Yes the only thing that leaves me questioning is Depps singing. If you go back through his acting career he is like a chamelion. Everytime he is in a differant charactor I dont think of him playing his previous roles. Example being look at the drastic differances between captain jack, Sir James Matthew Barrie, Ichabod crane, Willy wonka, Edward scissorhands. All of these charactors are so very differant but all played by the same guy. So seeing his interpretaion of Sweeny I am actually really excited for. Now the singing might be tough to figure but who says they wont do a voice over. Not my cup of tea but who knows.

[Cake_in_Song]

Look, Johnny can sing!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRcj6CAhe7s

[DaddyDiesel]

that is not funny

[Kaiana]

Heheh. I thought it was.

[Ghost]

Apparently Toby will be played by an 11-year old.

[Maid Marian]

[Salome]

its not creepy but its odd.

[Sweeney Hyde]

I have always seen Tobias as a little boy. That's how I always perseved the role. Maybe not 11 but more like a 15 or 16 year old. I think it makes him more innocnent and Not While I'm Around is a much cute song when done by a young boy.

[Salome]

Ive seen him as a young adlut around 21 or 22. but a slightly retarded one. slow.

[EponineBarker]

[Sweeney Hyde]

[Salome]

[EponineBarker]

[Salome]

Anthony is at least a decade older than Johanna. plus he had "Sailed the world and seen its wonders". he wouldnt have been a lad wet behind his ears.

[EponineBarker]

[Ghost]

Anthony has been cast already, he will be played by Jamie Bower... Don't ask me who he is.

[EponineBarker]

[postytim]

Jamie is a product of Bedales School, is now 18, and has given up school to do the film.

IMHO he looks like a younger Jonny Depp - (prettier?) - and will win lots of fans.

[EponineBarker]

[BenjaminB]

Nothing we already don't know. It was posted on broadwayworld.com a few hours ago.


Principal photography has begun in London on "Sweeney Todd"; starring Johnny Depp in the Tim Burton directed screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller.

The DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. co-production presents Depp as Sweeney Todd, a man unjustly sent to prison, who vows revenge not only for that cruel punishment but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, he becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the heads of gentleman who never thereafter were heard from again."*

"I've always wanted to do a musical and 'Sweeney Todd' is my favorite," said Tim Burton. "Stephen's blend of humor, horror and emotion is something that has always connected with me."

"Sometimes a story or stage production has to wait a long time until the right people come together to turn it into a motion picture," said Stephen Sondheim. "That's what has happened with 'Sweeney Todd' and I'm excited as well as confident that it will be a first-rate and startling movie."

This will be the sixth collaboration between Depp and Burton who worked previously together on Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. Depp comes fresh from completing the third Pirates of the Caribbean film in the Academy Award nominated role of Captain Jack Sparrow.**

Also starring in the Parkes/MacDonald and Zanuck Company production is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett who creates her diabolical meat pies while becoming Sweeney's amorous accomplice. Alan Rickman is the evil Judge Turpin who sent him unfairly to prison, thereby sowing the seeds of Sweeney's vengeance. Timothy Spall plays the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford. Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli, and Christopher Lee takes on the role of the gentleman ghost.

Rounding out the cast are Jamie Campbell Bowen as the young sailor Anthony, Jayne Wisener as Johanna, Laura Michelle Kelly as the beggar woman, and newcomer Ed Sanders plays Toby.

All the stars will do their own singing from Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics.

The film is produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and John Logan from a screenplay by Logan. The original Broadway production had Sondheim's music and lyrics and a book by Hugh Wheeler based on a play by Christopher Bond. It won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Its mix of the shockingly macabre, comic and dramatic, supported by Sondheim's movie-like score has had hundreds of productions through the world, most recently a highly acclaimed production on Broadway. What once might have been taboo and ghoulish became deliciously entertaining.

Joining Burton at Pinewood to create his vision is director of photography Dariusz Wolski (Pirates of the Caribbean I, II, III), production designer Academy Award winner Dante Ferrati (The Aviator), costume designer two time Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood (Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago), hair and make up designer Academy Award winner Peter Owen (The Lord of the Rings), and editor Chris Lebenzon.

The film will be distributed domestically by Paramount for a late 2007 release and distributed internationally by Warner Bros.

[Salome]

Gentleman Ghost??? wtf is that?? I thought Lee was Fogg.

[EponineBarker]

[TychoBrahe]

Oooooh... <pinches nose bridge> where's the aspirin?

[Sweeney Hyde]

Perhaps the gentleman ghost will sing the Ballad of Sweeney Todd and the reprises...kind of like a narrator?

[Ghost]

Yes, the ballad will be sung by ghosts (maybe Sweeney's "customers"?) who will be played by atleast Christopher Lee, Peter Bowles and Anthony Stewart Head.

[EponineBarker]

[DriveAPersonCrazy]

i dunno about anthony's age because back in the time sweeney is set, its very possible anthony may have been involved with sailing when he was in his early or mid teens.

[Dvarg]

[bean_C4U]

[quote="Dvarg"
BTW, a few weeks ago, I discovered that in the Norwegian production, everybody in the chorus were given specific names. It would be hilarious if those names were used in the movie. I assume they were invented by the director, though, so the chances are close to zero [/quote]

When I was in Sweeney, we did something similar. Every member of the chorus had a trade, a name and a history, to give them a "point" to the market scenes, rather than them just being one group of chorus-members.

[Sweeney Hyde]

[Dvarg]

[Benjamin Biddle]

Ah, so it sounds like the ballad-singing ensemble are ghosts, led by Christopher Lee as a "Gentleman Ghost." That's a good idea, as the "omniscient" commenting chorus works on stage but is more problematic within a cinema context. Whether they are just dead people in general or dead people who had been murdered by Sweeney makes a difference, of course. Presumably Sweeney slit the throats of mostly men, as they sat expecting a shave. An all male singing ensemble would be interesting. After each murder, the ghostly crew is increased.

In the stage version, Sweeney has to stop himself from killing a certain customer because a woman is accompanying the customer. Perhaps in the movie Sweeney manages to kill them both, thus supplying some female vocal color to the ghostly ensemble.

For the ensemble ballad at the end of the movie, think how effective it will be to have the newly dead (which include Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney, of course) rise from the grave and join the the group of dead that Sweeney himself had killed.

In the original staging, Lovett and Todd are elevated from beneath the stage through the open grave that gravediggers had been digging at the very top (before the opening factory whistle -- which was extremely startling, as you may imagine) of the show. (By the way, the LOOK that Angela Lansbury gave to Len Cariou at this moment was indescribably chilling -- a look of all hope lost.) They are separate from the ensemble of townsfolk. Maybe in the movie, they are surrounded by the results of their own evil and maybe the dead folk engulf them to enact their OWN vengeance. (And Sweeney's dead wife looking on, confused.)

Groovy!

[TychoBrahe]

I should certainly hope they don't have Todd kill the customer who arrives with his family--that moment is brilliant! Don't cut it (sorry for the pun).

[Dvarg]

[Sweeney Hyde]

[EponineBarker]

[EponineBarker]

[BenjaminB]

It is 1846, I think. I recently watched the recorded version and I believe that was the date.

[Adam_the_Actors]

I think that it will be a mediocre film for Sweeney Todd fans, but people who have never seen the musical will thoroughly enjoy it. Depp I don't see as a darker sounding baritone as Todd has to be. Also, I would like a more bulky and slighly older looking Todd. Helena Bottom Carter would be a good mrs. lovette and I think baron cohen will do an adequate job as Pirelli. With Tim Burton directing I can say it will be visually dark and the work will be shown in all it's gory detail. So I'd say pretty good movie. Bad musical movie.

[Sam I Am]

I don't know if I can visualize Pretty Boy Johnny Depp as sweeney Todd. And I also don't really know his vocal range, but he sure doesn't seem the type to be able to hit the low notes. I have a tendency to compare films alot and that also does not fair to well for this film as I loved the Angela Lansbury Version. I will see it and I hope I am suprised by the results. Tim Burton will be an asset.

[EponineBarker]

We'll just have to wait and see. I plan to go see it with an open mind.

[The REAL Ciaron]

Let's see.....

Johnny Depp our generations most versatile and gifted actor

Tim Burton seldom disappoints. Even his bad shit has some fine work.

Sasha Cohen is an incredible actor!! Those of you who only know him as Borat need to look back. So excited about him.

Helena is the queen of the quirky weird performance. She is perfect for Lovett.

[EponineBarker]

[Sweeney Hyde]

[The REAL Ciaron]

[Sweeney Hyde]

I disagree. In that statement, you are basically saying that all Sweeney needs to be is a good actor, which is not true at all. No, the vocal demands of the role are not THAT strenuous (spelling?). HOWEVER, someone who doesn't have a strong voice could not pull off a good Sweeney Todd.

[Ghost]

[Salome]

They dont need a legit voice just a strong one to hit the notes and act thchell out of it. neither Cariou or Hearn were trained singers.

[Ghost]

But both Cariou (who started out as a boy soprano) and Hearn (who I strongly believe has had some vocal training, he was somewhere called a "budding Opera singer) were people who could sing, not just talk in pitch. That's what I meant.

I probably misused the word "Legit". English is not my first language.

[The REAL Ciaron]

[Sweeney Hyde]

I never said anything about other Sondheim shows needing a great singer for their parts. I love hearing Johns as Desiree on the recording. So let me take a moment to rephrase:

I personally like hearing a strong singer WITH great acting abilities perform the part over someone who has a decent voice and great acting abilities. I think that both the vocal and acting aspects are very important, and, you are right that the acting is the first priority with a part like Mr. Todd, HOWEVER, I like Sweeney to have a great voice. For instance, I greatly prefer Hearn over Ceveris. I think both are PHENOMINAL actors. I prefer Hearn because I think his voice is stronger that Ceveris. That on top of his acting skills make him my favorite for the part.

Do you see what I mean?

[The REAL Ciaron]

[Pounce]

I like Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett. Her singing in Corpse Bride wasn't amazing but I don't think the part of Mrs Lovett demands it. Alan Rickman as the Judge. I mean, wow, his usual screen demeanor fits the role. Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli, perfect. Cohen has got that sort of character down to an art.

I really liked Hearn's Sweeney but then again I have no one to compare him to. I'd like all the cast in the film to be able to sing well because after hearing Gerard Butler in PotO , it can make a difference. I suppose Johanna and Anthony are the most demanding in terms of singing.

I really like Johnny Depp as an actor but I was really disappointed in his Willy Wonka. Gene Wilder still owns the role in my opinion. And I like Tim Burton as a director but his cartoon-like style doesn't seem right for Sweeney Todd. But I hope it turns out well and the casting attracts a big audience for the sake of movie musicals.

***As an aside I would note that Galaxy Quest had a great cast in Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman but those name actors didn't bring in the crowds. If you haven't seen it, you should. It is very good and funny.***

[Sweeney Hyde]

[broadwaybelle22]

Johnny is my favorite actor of all time so I'm kind of biased, but I'm really excited to see his take on sweeny. If nothing else it will be unique and, in my opinion, worth watching.

[The REAL Ciaron]

[Pounce]

[Salome]

Alan Rickman is a brilliant versatile actor. he can do anything.

He played Tartuffe. that should qualify easily for sexual pervert.

[pish123c]

I have a feeling Burton will make it into another generic emo movie.

[Salome]

Burton's fims are never Generic.

and the only bad film he ever made was the Planet of the Apes Remake.

if Burton could successfully transfer Big Fish to the screen I am more than willing to trust him with Sweeney Todd.

[somewhere_thats_green]

*groan* Some things Johnny Depp should just leave alone. >_< He was good in Pirates and he has countless fangirls swooning over him, yes, but I'm a little reluctant to go see Sweeney Todd when it comes out. He can't possibly be perfect in everything, and I just don't see him in a Broadway-musical-movie.
On the other hand, there's not much we can do about it is there?
So let's just cross our fingers, fold our hands, and hope for the best.

[TychoBrahe]

I'm so far past reluctant that I've firmly planted myself into the range of homicidal.

Killjohnny

[Kaiana]

[The REAL Ciaron]

[Salome]

I wouldnt go that far Ciaron. but the guy is talented and versatile. anyone who doubts it should see his Award worthy performance in Ed Wood. then compare that to Don Juan DeMarco or SLeepy Hollow.

only thing I am not happy with so far is his make up. it loks like a cross between Edward Scissor hands and Bunthorne from Patience.

[Sweeney Hyde]

I'm not a fan of his hair either. I like the way it is shaped and all wavy and stuff...but I can't stand that streak of white.

[Salome]

I hate the shape. it should be flatter and less frizzy. makes him look too young.

[The REAL Ciaron]

[Salome]

[what_the_heck013]

Will the movie still premiere this fall/winter, even with the national tour going on?

[bean_C4U]

[EponineBarker]