Title: Tim Burton Steps into the Shadows
Author: Justin Beahm
Publication: Famous Monsters of Filmland
Issue: May/June 2012
Tim Burton’s 13th birthday fell on a weekday in 1970—a Tuesday, to be precise. After trudging through another uninspiring school day, the young artist sprinted to his Burbank, California home, plating himself in front of the television. A quick Dr. Frankenstein-inspired twist of a knob brought the box to electric life, fading in to reveal the chiseled face of a ghost named Gerard Stiles forcing a terrified David Collins backwards across a room. Burton grinned from ear to ear as he navigated the following thirty minutes of his favorite television show, DARK SHADOWS, which, unbeknownst to him at the time, was helping cement a foundation on which he would one day build a bizarre cinematic empire.
“I was in the generation that ran home to watch DARK SHADOWS, which might be why I was such a lousy student.”‘ the director laughs of his afternoon preoccupation withCollinwood Manor and its inhabitants. “There was nothing like it on television.'” Nothing, indeed. Werewolves, vampires, graveyards, and haunted mansions were hardly the stuff of naptime filler for stay-at-home moms, but these genre staples were the lifeblood of ABC’s surprise hit soap, not to mention core imagination vitamins for dreamy-eyed aspiring filmmaker Burton. “Vampires in the afternoon? Who would have thought?” he considers.
In reality, the show’s appeal did have a relatively short first run as far as soap operas go, disappearing from airwaves in the spring of 1971 after five years of daily weekday production. “I was quite sad when it went off the air.” laments Burton, admitting, “but some of the plots were getting kind of funny by then.”
Forty-two years, over thirty films, and one Academy Award nomination later, Burton is resurrecting DARK SHADOWS, re-introducing the long-dormant property to the world with a new take on the tale. The key, he shares, is to tap into what made the original series so special.
“It was just one of those beautiful things where there was a weird, unexpected chemistry that clicked. Sometimes accidents are the most powerful, and that was a case of an accident working,” the one-time Disney artist admits. “There was a weird energy to it. We tried to keep the spirit of that. I tried to find people I felt could get into it, and try to capture that weird vibe.”
Burton set about gathering a familiar tribe around writer Seth Grahame-Smith’s (ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER) screenplay, bringing some notable regulars along for the trip. Michelle Pfeiffer (BATMAN RETURNS) is playing Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Helena Bonham Carter (SWEENEY TODD) takes a turn as Dr. Julia Hoffman, and Johnny Depp (you name it) is bringing cursed vampire Barnabas Collins back to the silver screen. Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Moretz, Gulliver McGrath, Alice Cooper, and Jackie Earle Haley also star. Danny Elfman is returning to Burton territory to handle the score.
The story begins with young Barnabas traversing the seas to America, trying to escape the curse that plagues his family. Twenty years later, Collins sits above the town of Collinsport, Maine, the wealthy master of Collinwood Manor, but makes the fatal mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), a witch who dooms the playboy to eternal life as a vampire, before burying him alive.
Two hundred years later, Barnabas’s resting place is disturbed, and he emerges into the world of 1972. The hesitant bloodsucker makes his way back to Collinwood Manor in search of answers and finds the remnants of his family a dysfunctional lot, necessitating Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard to hire Dr. Julia Hoffman as a live-in psychiatrist to assist with the myriad of issues. Barnabas is swept into the fray, forced to deal with the perfect storm of the modern world, a troubled family, and his own struggle with craving blood.
Family dynamic is important to get right, shares Burton. “I always saw DARK SHADOWS as more of a weird family story, which was what intrigued me. It just happened to have a very strong supernatural element to it. It felt like it could be any family. There is a tendency inside the family to create your own private hell. I tried to base it in real feelings, less supernatural.”
Less supernatural means light on effects, a stark contrast to recent CG-heavy Burton fare like ALICE IN WONDERLAND and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. “Obviously we are dealing with effects, but it was important to me not to get too effects-heavy, so it remains with the characters. For us it was about keeping it as human and personal as possible. Every effect we do is to make it not seem like an effect.”
Like Burton, Depp, who also produced, saw the project as a fantasy opportunity, having long dreamed about one day playing Barnabas (a role originally made famous by Jonathan Frid). “One of the reasons Johnny wanted to do it was that he was a fan as well,” shares Burton of his frequent leading man. “He was really into DARK SHADOWS, and has been talking about it for some time. He was definitely pushing for it.”
Burton is quick to credit Depp with finding the subtle nuances in Barnabas that really bring the melancholy character to life. “I think [Barnabas] is definitely a reluctant vampire. He needs to eat like everyone else on occasion, but there is a certain kind of selflessness, his sort of theatricality. The way he spoke and was kind of a weird poet, out of place and out of time, with a certain sadness about him. With the way Johnny looks at people with a certain intensity, there is a power. In any portrayal, when you are inspired by something, you don’t just do something all new. He brought some of the original Barnabas traits, and was inspired by that gravity, intensity, and that piercing gaze.”
As for the look of the signature vamp, the director was careful not to stray too far from the source material, while bringing an important physical quality to the fore. “We tried different things, but ended up figuring out why we liked it and did a nod to Jonathan Frid’s Barnabas. With the hands, because of the sensitive nature of the character, I like the idea of the fingers being elongated and more tactile. There’s something poetic about that that fits into who Barnabas is.”
As for the time lapse as opposed to time travel storyline, Burton referenced his youth, explaining, “The show did time travel a bit too much, to be honest. In this story, it is obviously the modern time. That goes back to my childhood, and a time where everyone looked kind of strange to me. The idea of Barnabas being in 1972, a modern era for him, where everything seemed strange and weird at the same time, seemed right to explore. It goes back to when the series ended, too. These characters seem to fit better in that era to me.”
In the television show, viewers tended to favor either vampire Barnabas or werewolf Quentin Collins, played by David Selby; yet the lycanthrope is nowhere to be found in Burton’s Collinsport. “Because it was a show that went on for so long, and everybody has their favorite characters or stories or whatever, we are bound to piss off somebody. There are lots of different storylines to go off of. It wasn’t a big intellectual choice. There are only so many characters you can deal with. Maybe next time.”
While Selby’s fan favorite character didn’t make it into this take on DARK SHADOWS, the actor does make an appearance in the film, along with Frid, Lara Parker, and Kathryn Leigh Scott. “They were kind enough to bless the set one day,” smiles Burton of having his childhood heroes present during production. “It was a nice moment.”
As for any concerns about pleasing the massive DARK SHADOWS fanbase, the director shrugs, “I’ve always had the ability to make anything seem kind of cheesy. I hope we don’t upset too many people.”
