Adding to his gallery of memorable film characters such as Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd and the Mad Hatter, Johnny Depp now plays the reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins in Warner Bros.’ new black comedy Dark Shadows.

Frequent collaborator Tim Burton adapted the film from the 1970s cult TV classic of the same title. Johnny Depp recalls, “There was nothing like it, certainly not in the daytime, with its vampires and ghosts and witches. I’ve always been attracted to that genre, even as a very young kid, so when I got a hold of ‘Dark Shadows,’ I didn’t let go.”

“Johnny always puts 100 percent into everything he does, and I could tell right away he had a passion for this,” saysBurton. “I was excited to see where we could go with the story, and I knew it would be a lot of fun.”

One of the joys of working with Depp is the actor’s ability to push himself. “Johnny is willing to try anything,” sharesBurton. “He’s always coming up with new things, which we both enjoy. So every time we work together is different, and that’s what keeps it fun and fresh.”

Producer Richard Zanuck observes, “Each collaboration between the two of them is quite amazing—Tim comes up with these incredible ideas and Johnny translates them on the screen. They know each other so well, Johnny can tell by Tim’s expression whether he likes something, or Tim will say one or two things and Johnny will immediately get what Tim wants.”

Makeup artist Joel Harlow was responsible for transforming Depp into Barnabas, working closely with the actor and Burton to form the character’s distinct visage. They went through a number of makeup tests before finding the perfect pallor for the undead but still strangely handsome personage. It required coat after coat of customized grease paint to give Barnabas his chalky complexion. “When you saw him on the set or in the monitor, he looked white,” saysHarlow. “But there was a vast number of colors in that makeup blend.” To contrast with the pale skin,Harlowringed Depp’s eyes with darker circles and hollowed out his cheeks to make Barnabas look more cadaverous.

A vampire’s most distinctive trait is his fangs, and Depp had several choices with which to work. Harlow details, “We had some that were curved and others that were straight, one short set and one longer one. We even had a set that were more like rattlesnake fangs, which came down from behind the teeth. We also had a set that were activated by the way Depp opened his mouth; the fangs would drop down into place.”

Another of Barnabas’ sharpest features were his pointed fingernails tipping elongated fingers.Burtoncomments, “There was something about the fingers that was important to me, just the way a vampire touches things. I think it also helped with the emotional quality of the character’s expression.”

“Tim wanted Barnabas to be ‘tactile,’”Harlowelaborates. “His hands sort of lead the way, like they’re feeling things out. That may seem like a very easy thing to do, but it’s actually quite complicated because it had to look slim and seamless, but when you add anything to a finger, you’re adding bulk. It also had to be rigid enough so they didn’t bend when he touches things, because that would blow the illusion instantly.”

“The hands really helped make the character,” notes Depp, “although I had to learn how to touch things or pick things up about three inches from where my fingers actually were. It took a little while but I got used to it, and it completed the look.”

Graham King says, “Johnny just dove into this role; you could see his commitment in the hours and hours of hair and makeup he had to go through every day, as well as in his performance. Barnabas says and does some pretty outlandish things, but Johnny’s delivery is totally straight-faced as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. No one does these kinds of characters better than he.”

Opening across the Philippines on Thursday, May 10, Dark Shadows is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

From visionary director Tim Burton comes the big-screen adaptation of the TV vampire classic Dark Shadows featuring an all-star cast, led by perennial collaborator Johnny Depp.

The film also stars Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonny Lee Miller, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloe Grace Moretz, Victoria Winters and Gully McGrath.

“Dark Shadows” begins in the year 1752, when Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

The film marks Depp’s eighth collaboration with visionary filmmaker Tim Burton, who most recently reimagined Lewis Caroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” also starring the actor. Burton remembers the original “Dark Shadows” TV series as a childhood obsession and constant distraction from his homework. “I just loved the tone of it,” the director recalls. “It was about the music and languid pace and how seriously the actors took it. It was basically a soap opera, but with a supernatural undercurrent to it, which made it very different. It was like a weird kind of nightmare in the mid-afternoon. There was nothing quite like it.”

Their goal from the beginning was to honor the Dan Curtis-created series while making an original film with a contemporary sensibility. Legendary producer Richard D.Zanuck, who marks his sixth collaboration with Burton, was thrilled with the filmmaker’s take on the world of “Dark Shadows.” “The tone encapsulates a lot of humor, a lot of compassion, and although there’s blood, it’s hardly a typical vampire movie,” Zanuck says. “There are eccentric characters, and it’s a little off-center, a little over the top, and very much Tim Burton. You probably hear this a lot, and it always sounds disingenuous to say, but this movie has something for everyone. It’s got very passionate, operatic moments, heartbreaking tragedy, romance, terror and this unexpected humor.”

“When the script came in, you could see what an incredibly fun ride it was going to be,” adds Oscar-winning producer Graham King. “But then you add the layer of Tim Burton’s magical directing and this incredible cast. Tim is also being very respectful of the series because we’re all cognizant that there are a lot of `Dark Shadows’ fans out there. He’s making a film that is as unique as the series was, but it’s obviously made for today’s audiences. It’s big in scope, and really, really funny.”

David Kennedy, who produces along with Zanuck, King, Depp and Christi Dembrowski, was the producing partner of television icon Dan Curtis, who created “Dark Shadows” and introduced television audiences for the first time to a sexy, sympathetic vampire protagonist. “There was never a vampire on television until Barnabas Collins,” Kennedy relates. “And one of the things that makes Barnabas so different is that he doesn’t like being a vampire, but he knows he’s condemned to be one forever, so he’s an enormously sympathetic character. And what’s thrilling about the movie is that it’s absolutely loyal to the key characters, but it’s an original take on the series.”

Opening across the Philippines on May 10, “Dark Shadows” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

From visionary director Tim Burton comes the big-screen adaptation of the TV vampire classic Dark Shadows featuring an all-star cast, led by perennial collaborator Johnny Depp.

The film also stars Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonny Lee Miller, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloe Grace Moretz, Victoria Winters and Gully McGrath.

Dark Shadows begins in the year 1752, when Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town ofCollinsport,Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

The film marks Depp’s eighth collaboration with visionary filmmaker Tim Burton, who most recently reimagined Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland, also starring the actor. Burton remembers the original Dark Shadows TV series as a childhood obsession and constant distraction from his homework. “I just loved the tone of it,” the director recalls. “It was about the music and languid pace and how seriously the actors took it. It was basically a soap opera, but with a supernatural undercurrent to it, which made it very different. It was like a weird kind of nightmare in the mid-afternoon. There was nothing quite like it.”

Their goal from the beginning was to honor the Dan Curtis-created series while making an original film with a contemporary sensibility. Legendary producer Richard D.Zanuck, who marks his sixth collaboration with Burton, was thrilled with the filmmaker’s take on the world of Dark Shadows. “The tone encapsulates a lot of humor, a lot of compassion, and although there’s blood, it’s hardly a typical vampire movie,” Zanuck says. “There are eccentric characters, and it’s a little off-center, a little over the top, and very much Tim Burton. You probably hear this a lot, and it always sounds disingenuous to say, but this movie has something for everyone. It’s got very passionate, operatic moments, heartbreaking tragedy, romance, terror and this unexpected humor.”
“When the script came in, you could see what an incredibly fun ride it was going to be,” adds Oscar-winning producer Graham King. “But then you add the layer of Tim Burton’s magical directing and this incredible cast. Tim is also being very respectful of the series because we’re all cognizant that there are a lot of `Dark Shadows’ fans out there. He’s making a film that is as unique as the series was, but it’s obviously made for today’s audiences. It’s big in scope, and really, really funny.”

David Kennedy, who produces along with Zanuck, King, Depp and Christi Dembrowski, was the producing partner of television icon Dan Curtis, who created “Dark Shadows” and introduced television audiences for the first time to a sexy, sympathetic vampire protagonist. “There was never a vampire on television until Barnabas Collins,” Kennedy relates. “And one of the things that makes Barnabas so different is that he doesn’t like being a vampire, but he knows he’s condemned to be one forever, so he’s an enormously sympathetic character. And what’s thrilling about the movie is that it’s absolutely loyal to the key characters, but it’s an original take on the series.”

Opening across the Philippines on May 10, Dark Shadows is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.