Johnny Depp & Dark Shadows!

Way back in the age of the dinosaur, there was a TV series I was so hooked to that as soon as the school bell rang I was bolting out the door and running for home. The show? Dark Shadows, a gothic soap that some have called campy. I didn't think it was although, as an adult, I watched it again and thought oh, those poor actors having to do this on live TV with props falling on their heads and forgetting their lines and what have you. Still ... I have a tender place in my heart for the original series.

There was an attempt to remake it in the 1990s and although it was different, I liked it and would have watched it. However, it was a victim of the first Gulf War (getting interrupted so we could watch smart bombs dropping) and a fickle network that kept changing its time and day.

Ah well.

One of the issues I always had with a Dark Shadows revival was that the creator, the late Dan Curtis, always wanted to tell the same story over and over again. I think he saw it as a story that always works and actually, that is true. The basic story is a wealthy young man is betrothed to a wealthy young girl but has a passionate love affair with his fiancee's servant. It's the ever-loving triangle. Well, the difference is that the rejected servant happens to be a vengeful witch. Uh-oh.

Anyway, the reason I am bringing all this up now is because of one of my favorite actors, Johnny Depp. He's a terrific actor and he's made some of the most unusual films--Edward Scissorhands and What's Eating Gilbert Grape are just two that jump to mind. I always thought he'd be a terrific Barnabas Collins but for many years was just too young. But now...he'd be perfect.

And guess what?

Read this:

**** JOHNNY DEPP'S PRODUCTION COMPANY & GK FILMS PLAN TO DEVELOP NEW DARK SHADOWS MOVIE FOR WARNER BROTHERS

Daily Variety will publish the following article in tomorrow's (July 27) edition:


Depp lights up 'Dark Shadows'
Graham King to produce Warner feature
By Michael Fleming

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.

**** SHADOWGRAM NOTE:

Johnny Depp's company and Dan Curtis Productions have been in discussion for several years about the possibility of teaming for a Dark Shadows film. The development of a script, which will now begin, can take months and sometimes years. But hopefully, the process will run smoothly with the possibility that filming could begin as early as 2008, though even in a best-case scenario a finished film may not appear before 2009. It is also much too early to speculate on any further casting ideas, though there is a hope that some original DS actors may be utilized in some capacity.

ShadowGram will follow-up with further developments in coming print and online editions.

Happy happy joy joy!