| Overheard on the bus |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|08:16 pm] |
Girl #1: I want to see that new movie Brothers, where Spider-Man gets PTSD and goes all crazy.
Girl #2: Spider-Man?
Girl #1: You know, he was the guy who played Spider-Man, so his name is Spider-Man.
Girl #2: The guy who played Spider-Man is Tobey Maguire.
Girl #1: What?
Girl #2: His name is Tobey.
Girl #3: HE IS KUNTA KINTE! |
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| So I sing a song of love for Julia |
[Dec. 15th, 2009|10:46 am] |
After years of rumor, it looks like it's official: Tim Burton's Dark Shadows is set to start shooting in Fall '10.
I think this can only be good for us fans. Both Burton and Depp are lifelong fans of the original. The 1991 revival miniseries brought a wave of attention to the original that brought it back into cable syndication for years.
John August, screenwriter of Big Fish and The Corpse Bride, is writing the initial screenplay. I liked the writing in both of those, so I'm happy.
We know Depp has been undying to play Barnabas Collins for years. And he'll be continuing the tradition of making the part sexier with each new telling.
Jonathan Frid, 1967
Ben Cross, 1991
Johnny Depp, 2009
Of course, in many ways the visuals are apples and oranges. Comparing makeup and camera technologies of daytime TV in 1967 and high-budget feature film of 2009 isn't fair. And Frid had a hell of a sexy voice and delivery. I'll say the same thing I did when Depp was cast as Sweeney Todd: he's the right age for the part, but looks younger. That may be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the script.
What I'm wondering about is Helene Bonham Carter. It's likely she'll be in it, and for my money there's only one part she can play. She's too young for matriarch Elizabeth, and too old for ingénues Victoria and Josette, soubrette Carolyn, or vixen Angélique (Josette's tragic double). Of course, that didn't stop her from playing Anne Boleyn in '03's Henry VIII when the opportunity came along. That was a casting choice that destroyed my suspension of disbelief right from Scene 1.
No, depending on how much of the original source material makes it into the script, I think we'll see Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman, Barnabas's first adversary, then reluctant partner in crime, then BFF. Julia's one of my favorite characters, so I really hope she makes it in.
The original Julia was the rasp-voiced ball of energy known as Grayson Hall. The role was originally written for a man, and was changed when the producers met her. She wasn't beautiful, but her face was absolutely fascinating. She came from a Yiddish Theater family, and you could see that in the intensity of her work. She was famous for forgetting lines, but always brought the emotion of the scene across. She played it like a man at times, swigging brandy and dispensing sedatives and patriarchal hand-patting to the ingénues while riding to the rescue of imperiled male characters. Subversion of gender roles is one of the hallmarks of fantastic literature, and she played it to the hilt.
As Barnabas once said to her, "Dr. Hoffman, you are a meddlesome and domineering woman. If the modern man is willing to tolerate your kind of woman, that's his problem. But I will have none of it."
Grayson Hall, 1967
In 1991, she was played by former 1960's scream queen Barbara Steele. Steele had been the sexy femme fatale in B-horror classics like Bava's Black Sunday and Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum with Vincent Price. Steele's Julia still liked a stiff drink with the boys, but she brought an iciness to the role that was more suited to the brooding atmosphere of the production. Also, her status as a fading beauty added another layer to the subplot of her unrequited crush on the frozen-in-time Barnabas.
Barbara Steele, 1991
We've seen that Helena can play motherly, brainy, and hard-edged, the three elements central to the character. The relationship between Mrs. Lovett and Todd that she and Depp played in Sweeney Todd is similar to the one Julia and Barnabas have at one point. The issue is kind of the same as it was in that movie, though - the sexier Julia gets, the harder Barnabas's rejection of her is to connect with. My guess is they'll have to play up the "You're beautiful but you're just not Josette" angle.
Helena Bonham Carter, 2009 |
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