Tim Burton is making the "Sweeney Todd" flick, with Johnny Depp and Sacha Baron Cohen

*whistles*

The next Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film will be...

You're welcome.

Whatevs. The only other thread i found had Sam Mendes as the director.

I watched the cable-TV version of the Broadway production -- had never heard the whole score before -- and am very intrigued to see how Burton cinematized it. Judging by what Sondheim wrote in the NY Times yesterday, HBC is way toned down from Angela Lansbury (a necessity in film, but I wonder who Mrs Lovett is if not a clownish frump).

how was Lansbury?

She's really, really broad, but funny in a music-hall way. Hard to imagine someone else in the part.

lansbury is incredible.

i've said it before and i'll say it again: lovett needs to be fat. and not only is hbc not fat, she's a waif. i've seen skinny lovetts before - very unconvincing, no matter what kind of acting they throw into it.

but unless Sondheim is bullshitting, he sez HBC's Lovett works...

Mr. Sondheim, who said he generally leans toward actors who sing rather than the other way around, had no qualms. “I knew Johnny was musical because he’s been in a rock band, but I also knew that he wouldn’t take this part unless he thought he could sing it. And that was good enough for me. I accepted him unheard.” As for Ms. Bonham Carter, the “big shocker” for “Sweeney” fans won’t be her voice, Mr. Sondheim said, as much as her interpretation. Unlike the blowzy musical-hall character created by Angela Lansbury, the movie’s Mrs. Lovett is almost as internal and intense as Sweeney. “Which is right for the movie,” Mr. Sondheim said, “but not how I’d cast it onstage.”

i wanna throw up all over this movie.

i promised my sis i'd go see it with her, but i feel like i'm already pretty positioned to hate it which is maybe not fair, but call me a purist or something.

I can't wait to see this. But then, I'm one of those sick bastards that will pay to see anything with the Burton/Depp team on the marquee.

tehresa, u r a QUEEN OF BROADWAY!

You gotta love America trooping off to see a blood-geysering musical at Christmas tho.

Do we think Dave Vanian's feeling ripped off these days?

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d47/little_miss_disaster/776d113d.jpg

http://inverted-world.com/images/sontag.gif

I just puked on myself.

bill: disclaimer: i have never actually been to a show on broadway

I don't really agree that Lovett needs to be "fat", I don't think Angela Lansbury was exactly a heifer when she did the role (as the video evidence suggests).

I do feel she has to be somewhat undesirable in appearance (and poorly dressed due to financial struggle) for a lot of the comedy to work, but I've seen non-fat Lovetts do quite well (local theatres--I did see the 05 revival on Broadway but Lupone has put on a bit of weight)!

i have never actually been to a show on broadway

Well, this is not the best era to start (certainly not with musicals -- tho I dunno how this Sunday in the Park w/ George revival is).

So it seems the first thing missing from the film is "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd."

(...we've been talking about all that on the other thread, Morbs.)

where?

The next Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film will be...

Saw it over the holiday. Fucking loved it.

Hell yeah! It was totally badass and fun and exciting.

Loved Baron Cohen soooooo much.

I had a really good time but I would've liked it better with different leads. Great supporting cast though, including Cohen.

yea, I loved Depp's acting but his voice isn't as rich and robust as I'm used to hearing.

And Helena flat out can't sing.

But...a LOT better than I expected.

that shoulda said "as rich and robust as I'm used to hearing the typical Sweeney"

he's back!

yes, I'm very surprised by that too, but not naive enough to think that it's not some horrible mistake that won't be corrected soon :)

Helena's voice was crap, but I was surprised by Depp's sort've Bowieish croon.

he was listenable. I have the soundtrack and got used to him over time.

But I'm sure when I listen to my original broadway cast recording again with Len Cariou (who wasn't a GREAT singer, but had a pretty booming voice), I'll hate him all over agan. :)

fantastic performance tho.

The end was fucking great!

I am surprised Burton managed to find another bug-eyed young man ala the "international sign of the donut" kid from Mars Attacks.

They look really similar.

*spoilers*

the end is where I really missed the choruses, though.

Okay I don't think that would be a spoiler for 98% of the moviegoing population.

yea I felt really dumb about doing that right after I sent the message.

Did anybody find it unusually funny that Anthony got his ass beat and then just got up and started singing again as if it were no big deal? I had a good chuckle over that moment.

The "Johanna" song is really the only one that stuck with me.

I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Detective Thomas Hanson is no George Hearn, but I liked his singing anyway.

I found his rockstar croon annoying, especially when he occasionally made that "grr I really mean it" face.

SPOILER

I was also a litle disappointed in the ending, but only because the original nursery rhyme -> steam-whistle throat-slitting -> Sweeney going through the grinder (this does happen in the original, right? I'm not imagining this?) was WAY more unsettling than just the throat-slitting. Obviously they wanted the ending to be more sad than scary.

also "By the Sea" was a hoot.

I did miss the steam whistle, though I can see why it wouldn't work for the movie.

it wouldn't have worked if they'd done it every single time, but I think it would have added a little edge to the ending, maybe. I did like that they gave a little nod to it in the first killing with the boiling kettle.

SPOILER
SPOILER
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SPOILER
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SPOILER

Sweeney going through the grinder (this does happen in the original, right? I'm not imagining this?)

Actually, Sweeney's throat does get slit in the original. The only difference is, (as you said), there's the nursery rhyme first.

Tobias does go to the grinder to churn out meat, but Sweeney does not go through it.

"By the Sea," shit did the man and I ever laugh our asses off.

I missed a lot of the humor that they excised though.

like "Worst Pies in London" just...wasn't funny, and it's supposed to be.

Also, it must be said: this was probably Alan Rickman's best work ever, even if it was super-obvious casting. I livened right up whenever he came on the screen.

I'm trying to remember why I didn't catch this with the family over the holidays! I think we ran out of time. Maybe later this week.

Alan Rickman can do no wrong.

I have to admit though, I was making Die Hard jokes during the movie.

"ladies and gentleman....."

I was waiting for Sweeney to throw him off of a building.

I really really loved this. (Just wanted to say that to counterbalance my humbug'ness on the other movie threads.)

Bonham Carter was no Lansbury, but Depp's voice really impressed me. And Burton just blew me away. I was so overwhelmed by the film that I couldn't really put my thoughts together until a few days after watching. I don't what it was, but I was absolutely bowled over by the visuals - I've seen gore in film before, but never this stylized.

he didn't go as "Burton" as I feared he would, which was a good thing.

???!?!?!???

It was like the goffiest shit I've seen in for-ev-er.

yea but he didn't go completely Nightmare Before Christmas with it......

I also thought he was fairly true to the story (the beginning was a little much, but once the movie set in...)

Also his other movies are very pg-13 for the most part, which I was worried he'd try to pull off somehow with this one. Thankfully not!

Yeah, it made me pretty damn happy, with the red paint factory and the burnage and the s-word and all. Tho Beetlejuice says "fuck" in his film and it is rated PG!

Nice cameo from Giles from Buffy.

I liked the costumes a whole lot. All those fingerless mitts!

Nice cameo from Giles from Buffy.

???

I was pretty ambivalent about this. I would have avoided it entirely, but the gf saw it earlier and insisted I take her for a second viewing (and her friend came along for his THIRD viewing). Gore unsettled slightly, but the songs didn't really stick with me (probably a factor of chorus excisions).

Meh.

Giles = guy who asks Todd when he's setting up shop after the contest with Pirelli.

I didn't see anything in the credits, but when I looked around online it said he had a bigger part that cut (and so did Christopher Lee ?!?)

This was a ton of fun. I've never seen the stage show so I can't really compare it and HBC can't sing at all but it all just... WORKED.

if ya wanna see the stage show, there is ctually a filmed DVD version of it available....

paging dr. morbius - do you want to go see this with me?

^never saw that post, teh :(

This worked as well as it did -- surprisingly well -- cuz Burton and his collaborators put just the right amount of Roger Corman in.

HBC's reinterpretation of Mrs Lovett might be the most triumphant touch.

"By the Sea" has maybe the funniest and saddest joke in the movie: even in a fantasy idyll, Depp wears the same mask of gloom - Lovett knows better than to wish that away.

IOW, it's better than There Will Be Blood.

shh they'll hear you!

Nobody wanted to go see the matinee of this today :(

IOW, it's better than There Will Be Blood.

"At last my bowling alley is COMPLETE again!"

"More Hot Oil."

i thought this movie could easily have been called there will be blood too!

i liked it a lot, even tho i'm not nuts about the songs. that little kid was great tho. i probably said all this already.

Attend the tale of Dan Plainview.
His skin was pale and his soul askew.
Beat in the skulls of gentlemen
who never thereafter were heard of again.
He loved milkshakes better than few
did Dan Plainview
the demon oilman of Teeeex-as.
He joined a church near Sunday's place.
With crazy preachers and a state of grace
So what if none of his soul was saved
HR got told off, away he was waved.
By Dan Plain,
By Dan Plainview
the demon oilman of Teeeex-as

"By the Sea" has maybe the funniest and saddest joke in the movie: even in a fantasy idyll, Depp wears the same mask of gloom - Lovett knows better than to wish that away.

Completely OTM.

still haven't seen it. hmmph.

They screened this for us at work on Thursday & Friday...first half on Thursday was packed, everyone came down...but by Friday's second half, everyone had wimped out and there were only about 1/3 of us left.

But my god it was glorious. I was sad to see "A Little Bit of Priest" excised as much as it was, because it's my favorite song...but overall I loved it. The throat slitting was glorious, all that arterial spray just made me grin like a loony. And I thought Depp's glowering was worthy of George Hearn, minus the four chins. Excellent stuff!

I look forward to the DVD release...hopefully they'll show us the Tony Head & Christopher Lee scenes in full. Apparently they had full singing parts as the ghosts of themselves, which would be fun to see. Tony Head has a great singing voice.

"By the Sea" has maybe the funniest and saddest joke in the movie: even in a fantasy idyll, Depp wears the same mask of gloom - Lovett knows better than to wish that away.

yeah i read that as much as burton self parody as anything else.

That was definitely a highlight of the film.

I still have mixed feelings about the ending though.

I didn't mind the amateurish singing much, but did they really have to drown their voices in the orchestration?

i enjoyed this. i came in pretty ignorant of the broadway show or whatever. the only musical i ever remember liking as a kid was mary poppins.

i liked the singing, it was accessible to someone like me.

I loved the last shot, the bloody Pieta...

Of course "Worst Pies in London" is still funny (if too dependent on the FX cockroaches), it's just tuned down bcz it isn't Lansbury yowling her lungs out.

You know what else is "supposed" to be funny? ANTHONY & JOHANNA! They're a parody of unbearable operetta lovers. By casting callow youths, Burton actually gave it more unironic oomph than in the cable-video version of Broadway that I've seen.

HBC's reinterpretation of Mrs Lovett might be the most triumphant touch.

wha? that was the part of it that didn't work for me. everything about HBC is too pretty for that role.

so is Angela Lansbury!

i know, but she uglies herself up for the role! especially vocally! i kind of knew i wasn't going to like HBC going in, admittedly. lansbury as mrs. lovett is one of my favorite musical performances ever.

everything about HBC is too pretty for that role

well, one could say the same of Depp.

Johnny's pop icon impressions:

David Bowie >> Keith Richards >>>>>>>>>>> Michael Jackson.

Who next?