Sweeney Todd Film to Open in Theaters in Dec. & Jan.

By: Mar. 30, 2007
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According to Variety, Tim Burton's upcoming film adaptation of the classic Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp, will go in to a limited domestic release on December 21st, 2007, and open in wide release in the U.S. on January 11th, 2008.

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). 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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