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<center>Gore! Lust! Cannibalism!
Sweeney Todd

Official Site
Trailer</center>

Stephen Sondheim's horror musical Sweeney Todd is now a movie directed by Tim Burton! It stars Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd and Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's children's mother) as Mrs. Lovett. Also features Alan Rickman as the villain, Judge Turpin.

Depp and Carter have not only been in many of Burton's previous films (Depp played the title character in Edward Scissorhands, Carter was prominant in Big Fish), but they have both worked together in one (they provided voices for the main characters of The Corpse Bride). Carter has also been in a film with Rickman, she was Bellatrix Lestrange and he was Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Sweeney Todd is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book written by Hugh Wheeler. It premiered on Broadway March 1, 1979 and closed June 29, 1980. It starred Len Cariou as Sweeney and Angela Lansbury as Lovett, and together they won Best Actor and Best Actress. The book and score and the musical itself got Best Book, Best Score, and Best Musical, respectively. Some consider it an opera, because it is almost completely sung-through and has been in a few opera houses aside from the regular stage. It most recently had a revival on October 3, 2005 but ended September 3, 2006.

Sweeney Todd is based on a Victorian horror novel "The String of Pearls". The story has been changed since the original novel, but Sondheim and Wheeler saw a stage version, "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", and it was that version that inspired their musical. The story is of Benjamin Barker, a barber who lives happily with his wife and baby daughter, until the lecherous Judge Turpin exiles Barker from London and from his family, accused of crimes he didn't commit. Benjamin Barker's unjust jailing and deprival from his family transforms him into a new man with a new name. Sweeney Todd returns to London many years later, and discovers from Mrs. Lovett, a poor woman who makes meat pies, that the judge raped his wife, causing her to kill herself, and took his daughter, Johanna, captive. Sweeney Todd swears revenge on the judge, and takes his rage out on all the men of London who come to him for a shave. He uses his razors to exact his revenge, as well as Mrs. Lovett's meat pies...

I'm gonna see this, I like the story and the cast and director alone should make everyone scream hysterically.
And Johnny Depp is gonna sing, so what are you waiting for?

I'm very excited for this! The trailer looks awesome and the cast is genius! Some of my friends and myself are putting on a Halloween production of this musical, and I'm very excited for it! You can bet I'll be at the theater opening day!

lord-of-sith wrote:You can bet I'll be at the theater opening day!

Ditto! I've attended two productions of this and have the Angela Lansbury DVD. I've been waiting for a theatrical adaptation to come along for years and the fact that it's Burton + Depp is just icing on the cake. (Is it too much to ask for an AL cameo?).

I will definitely "Attend the Tale"

-Aaron

AwallaceUNC wrote:(Is it too much to ask for an AL cameo?)

Nope. In fact, I would love to see that as well, and I bet she would be game for it!

the trailer looks good.

but... i don't like how they made Mrs. Lovett gothic creepy. and Johnny Depp's singing...might take some getting used to for the role of Sweeney Todd.

How graphic and gory is this movie? Will it be rated R?

Sorry,I'm only 14 and kinda wanna see this..

The trailer looks amazing and I can't wait for this. I wish we had more to go on with Johnny Depp's singing... hard to judge from the small sampling we get in the trailer. I'm almost worried that people aren't going to realize this is a musical (and one with <i>a lot</i> of music, if they're staying close to the play) based on the trailer, and then find themselves caught off guard in theaters. Still not sure what to think of Helena Bonham Carter, who I normally really like but can only somewhat picture in this role. Nonetheless, I can't wait.

-Aaron

It's supposed to get an "R" rating.

Also, I kind think they showed it was a musical. I mean, Sweeney is running around the street singing at people. It's not like the trailers for "Dreamgirls" and "Hairspray", where the scenes they showed all took place like on a stage on sound stage. I think it's kinda obvious from what singing they did show.

An R-rated horror musical? Been awhile since we last had one of those...?


Anyway, I actually had no idea what this was. But with Johnny Depp in it, it's bound to be great on some level. However, I'm not lining up to see it just yet. Should I?

Judging by the trailer, I think they should cross out Johnny Depp is Sweeney Todd and replace it with Captain Jack Sparrow is Sweeney Todd.

I'm not the sort of guy who goes for seeing any huge mass of blood or gore on the big screen so if I'm going to check out this movie, I'm going to proberbly wait until it comes out on DVD but I saw the trailer a few days ago and it actually looks like a very interesting film! Even if the singing's a little weird.

It won't have gratuitous gore, I would think. Mostly a few throats cut and people baked into meat pies.

Jack Skellington wrote:I think it's going to be PG-13, Tim Burton should know by now that most of his audiences are teens. And besides all of his movies are either PG-13 or PG.

Actually, on the official website it states that this movie is rated R, so unless the MPAA changes their mind for some reason, it'll probably stay R.

Jack Skellington wrote:I think it's going to be PG-13, Tim Burton should know by now that most of his audiences are teens. And besides all of his movies are either PG-13 or PG.

"Ed Wood" was rated R.

SpringHeelJack wrote:

Jack Skellington wrote:I think it's going to be PG-13, Tim Burton should know by now that most of his audiences are teens. And besides all of his movies are either PG-13 or PG.

"Ed Wood" was rated R.

As was 'Sleepy Hollow'.

lord-of-sith wrote:Some of my friends and myself are putting on a Halloween production of this musical, and I'm very excited for it!

That sounds intrigueing and exciting. Care to elaborate?

And yes Julian Carter, I think Depp sounds to much like Captain Jack Sparrow! But it's too late to re-dub the whole thing with a better English accent. However, even though the barber and pirate sound alike, everything else about their characterizations is completely different, and they are two clearly individual, stand-alone people.

I read that the limited release is December 21, 2007. The wide release for the U.S. is January 11, 2008! I don't really like having to wait that long, that's after Christmas, in the new year! But then people can see it after they've had their joyful Christmas family time.

I also thought I'd show you guys a few pictures:

Johnny Depp out and about away from Victorian England but in his Sweeney Tood costume and make-up.


Johhny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, during the moment where Mrs. Lovett shows Todd where she kept his razors all the years he was away.

You can find more pictures and information at IMDB's page for Sweeney Todd

Love the trailer. I hope it will be over the top gore (Burton can certainly handle it) but I think the balance between the gore and the musical numbers will be hard.
I want to hear more singing. Only a bit of Johnny Depp was featured in the trailer. It was good, but I want to hear a bit of the others.
And I disagree with the people who think he sounds like Jack Sparrow. Sweeney has a much more british accent.