Though linked to a couple of potentially big roles in Universal‘s “Snow White And The Huntsman” and Kathryn Bigelow‘s “Sleeping Dogs,” Johnny Depp is once again going safe and familiar, reteaming with longtime collaborator Tim Burton for the big screen version of “Dark Shadows.”
The project, subject to a lot of talk throughout the year, was largely expected to reunite the pair, though last we heard, Burton did still have his eye on “Monsterpocalypse” as his next potential gig, but all systems are go for “Dark Shadows.” So what is the film all about? It’s an adaptation of the gothic 1960s television that centered on Barnabas Collins, a vampire (to be played by Depp) who is in search of lost love, Josette.
With filming set to begin in April, the project now throws a handful of other films Depp has been linked to into question mark status. With Depp currently shooting “Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and then moving from that into doing press rounds for “The Tourist” opening next month, we would wager that his downtime in early 2011 will be used for just that. Downtime. We’re not sure what that will mean for the gestating Pancho Villa biopic “Wild Roses, Tender Roses” directed by Emir Kusturica and co-starring Salma Hayek except that it may have to move ahead without Depp and Universal’s hopes for landing Depp for ‘Huntsman’ are dashed as that film is also gearing up for an early 2011 shoot. Oh yeah, and there is still the completed “The Rum Diary” that will hopefully be coming out somewhere in the middle of all this and Depp’s gestating documentary on Keith Richards. He’s a busy guy.
As for “Sleeping Dogs,” his involvement was always dependent on scheduling, and now that he’s booked, Mark Wahlberg has apparently joined the list of contenders to join that film.
As much as we’d love for him to get back into indie film mode, Depp certainly enjoys the luxuries these bigger films afford him — he’s not one to overwork — and he certainly likes to keep his work in the family. Collaborating with Burton again continues to stoke a fruitful friendship and it doesn’t hurt that his own Infinitum Nihil production company will be behind the film as well.
No release dates have been set for the film but certainly its a 2012 release; another added to what is already a ridiculously packed year for tentpoles. [Deadline]
