Zanuck is set to reunite with Burton and Depp again on Dark Shadows and we recently had a chance to speak with the producer about the upcoming project. “That is still in the works but it’s been delayed a bit,” Zanuck confirmed. “We expected to do it much earlier, actually before Alice was finished. We must have been intoxicated when we thought that Tim could direct this picture while he was doing the post-production of Alice. Most of the post-production on Alice was done on computers and there were months and months of down time. At one point we thought that we could make it then and then we realized right away that Tim couldn’t do it. Then that put it behind a couple of pictures that Johnny had lined up and right now we’re waiting for him to finish The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and then he is going to take some time off and then do Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides next,” explained Zanuck.
“It’s unlikely, while everybody intends to make the picture, and we’re still working on the script and all the rest, it’s unlikely that we can start it earlier than the beginning of next year,” he continued. “Johnny had committed and he has to do Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides first. He had a long-standing, firm, unchangeable contract to do that. That’s a big project and he doesn’t start that until later in the summer. So there you have it and we’re waiting in line.” Zanuck went on to say that the film was “still very much alive” and that they are currently working on the script. Finally, since the show ran for several seasons and incorporated so many different elements of sci-fi and horror we wanted to know which elements he was hoping to incorporate into the film and if the lead character would still be the vampire Barnabus Collins played by Johnny Depp? “Well the main character … yes,” answered Zanuck. “But one of the problems we’ve had with the script is that there are hundreds of episodes of this and boiling it down to an hour and a half or two hour movie with one story has been a real challenge and that’s what we are doing now. But it will have all of the elements of the TV show. It won’t be high camp, obviously. It won’t be soap opera, which the show was. No, it will be scary, it’ll be very funny and it will carry the Tim Burton stamp of uniqueness,” confirmed Zanuck.
Dark Shadows is in development and stars Johnny Depp. The film is directed by Tim Burton
