Sweeney Todd
About the Film
Years after being falsely convicted and transported to the other side of the world by the corrupt Judge Turpin — who coveted his beautiful wife — the barber Benjamin Barker returns to London under a new name: Sweeney Todd. He discovers that his wife was poisoned and that his daughter Johanna has become Turpin’s ward, and vows to take his revenge on the men who destroyed his family.
Taking rooms above Mrs. Lovett’s failing meat-pie shop on Fleet Street, Todd reopens his barber’s chair. When his first attempt at revenge slips away, his rage curdles into something wider, and he begins killing his customers. Mrs. Lovett, hopelessly devoted to him, sees an opportunity and bakes the bodies into her pies, and business booms. As Todd’s obsession draws Turpin ever closer, the truth about the ragged beggar woman who haunts the street unravels into a devastating final tragedy.
Plot synopsis by johnny-depp.org.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp plays Benjamin Barker, the wronged barber reborn as Sweeney Todd — a man Burton and Depp approached less as a villain than as a tragic, all-but-dead soul kept moving only by the engine of revenge. Depp gave him a gaunt, sleepless pallor, cold hollow eyes and a distinctive white streak in his black hair, meant to signal the shock of the trauma that broke him. It was also Depp’s first true singing role on film, and his restrained, rock-inflected take on Sondheim’s score earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win.
Cast & Crew
Cast
Sweeney Todd / Benjamin BarkerJohnny Depp
Mrs. Nellie LovettHelena Bonham Carter
Judge TurpinAlan Rickman
Beadle BamfordTimothy Spall
Adolfo PirelliSacha Baron Cohen
Anthony HopeJamie Campbell Bower
Lucy Barker / Beggar WomanLaura Michelle Kelly
Johanna BarkerJayne Wisener
Toby RaggEd Sanders
Crew
DirectorTim Burton
ScreenplayJohn Logan
Based on the musical byStephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler
MusicStephen Sondheim
CinematographyDariusz Wolski
ProducersRichard D. Zanuck, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, John Logan
StudioParamount / Warner Bros. Pictures
“At last! My arm is complete again!”
— Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Filming Locations
- Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England (principal photography)
- Purpose-built Fleet Street and Victorian London sets designed by Dante Ferretti
Soundtrack
All songs written and composed by Stephen Sondheim.
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Opening Title” | 3:30 | |
| 2. | “No Place Like London” (**) | Johnny Depp, Jamie Campbell Bower | 5:31 |
| 3. | “The Worst Pies in London” | Helena Bonham Carter | 2:23 |
| 4. | “Poor Thing” (**) | Bonham Carter | 3:09 |
| 5. | “My Friends” | Depp, Bonham Carter | 3:48 |
| 6. | “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” | Jayne Wisener | 2:16 |
| 7. | “Alms! Alms!” (* ***) | Laura Michelle Kelly | 1:16 |
| 8. | “Johanna” | Bower | 1:57 |
| 9. | “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” | Edward Sanders, Depp, Bonham Carter | 2:00 |
| 10. | “The Contest” (**) | Sacha Baron Cohen | 3:39 |
| 11. | “Wait” | Bonham Carter | 2:38 |
| 12. | “Ladies in Their Sensitivities” (*) | Timothy Spall | 1:23 |
| 13. | “Pretty Women” (**) | Depp, Alan Rickman | 4:27 |
| 14. | “Epiphany” | Depp | 3:16 |
| 15. | “A Little Priest” (**) | Bonham Carter, Depp | 5:15 |
| 16. | “Johanna” (Reprise) | Bower, Depp, Kelly | 5:42 |
| 17. | “God, That’s Good!” | Sanders, Bonham Carter | 2:46 |
| 18. | “By the Sea” | Bonham Carter, Depp | 2:19 |
| 19. | “Not While I’m Around” (**) | Sanders, Bonham Carter | 4:11 |
| 20. | “Final Scene” (* ***) | Bonham Carter, Depp, Kelly, Rickman | 10:21 |
* Missing from the Highlights version of the soundtrack.
** Tracks that are significantly longer than their Highlights counterparts.
*** Song is either written specially or adapted for the film.
More about this film
Trivia
- Tim Burton first saw the stage musical as a CalArts student in 1980, attending three nights in a row and later describing it as “a silent film with music.”
- It was the film debut of three principal cast members — Ed Sanders, Jayne Wisener and Jamie Campbell Bower.
- The marketing deliberately downplayed the fact that the film was a musical, prompting some UK cinemagoers to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.
- The white streak in Todd’s hair was chosen to represent “the shock of that rage” from his traumatic past.
Awards
- 2008 Golden Globe — Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy Won
- 2008 Golden Globe — Best Actor, Musical or Comedy (Johnny Depp) Won
- 2008 Academy Award — Best Art Direction Won
- 2008 Academy Award — Best Actor (Johnny Depp), nominated
- 2008 Academy Award — Best Costume Design, nominated
- 2008 BAFTA Awards — nominations for Costume Design and Make Up & Hair
