Filming of 'Sweeney' Resumes as Depp's Daughter Recovers

By: Mar. 23, 2007
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  Filming of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd film has resumed, according to The Evening Standard.  It has previously been halted due to the illness of star Johnny Depp's daughter.

According to the publication, Depp's "seven-year-old daughter nearly died when her kidneys shut down after she suffered E.coli food poisoning, it was revealed today. Lily-Rose is recovering after spending nine days critically ill in an unnamed London hospital where her condition was said to be 'touch and go.'"  Depp and partner Vanessa Paradis, the mother of Lily Rose, had been keeping a vigil at Lily Rose's bedside and Depp had declined to work on Sweeney Todd until his daughter was out of danger.

Sweeney Todd, which will be a co-production with Warner Bros., marks the 6th collaboration between the Depp and Burton.  The movie musical began filming in London and Buckinghamshire last month.

In addition to Depp, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, Jayne Wisener as Johanna and Sacha Baran Cohen as Pirelli.

Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald partner with Richard Zanuck and John Logan to produce the screenplay adaptation which is written by Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator).  A late 2007 release is planned. Paramount will distribute for DreamWorks domestically and Warner Bros. internationally.

The Broadway production of Sweeney Todd, with Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics and a book by Hugh Wheeler based on the play by Christopher Bond, opened in 1979 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.  "Its mix of the comic, the dramatic and the macabre held together by Sondheim's movie-like score has had hundreds of productions throughout the world," according to press notes.  John Doyle's highly acclaimed revival (for which he won a Tony) recently played the Eugene O'Neill Theatre; Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone starred. 

The story of Sweeney Todd is of a wrongfully imprisoned barber in Victorian England who sets out to seek revenge on the judge who imprisoned him.  He is helped by Mrs. Lovett, who bakes Sweeney's victims into "the worst pies in London."

Photo of Johnny Depp by Linda Lenzi



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