Tim Burton thinks "Dark Shadows" was awful? Two new stills from the film!

Tim Burton thinks “Dark Shadows” was awful? Two new stills from the film!

March 24th 2012, 5:51pm

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Calm down. Tim Burton doesn’t think his own movie sucks. He’s actually talking about the original television series. But I’ll get to that in a second.

The LA Times’ Hero Complex had a chance to chat with both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp while on the set of DARK SHADOWS and some interesting things were said. Does that surprise you? Plus two new stills! Can’t beat that with a stick.

Depp was quick to report his enjoyment in making the film: “There’s an elegance to this guy that’s kind of fun; Barnabas is a good one. And just look around — there’s nothing like working with Tim.”

Burton on the other hand was excited for a different reason: “I think you could say it was actually awful. It’s a different animal. If I go back and watch something like ‘Star Trek,’ it’s not that hard to analyze what the appeal was, and even if the show is dated you identify what it was that made it work. The ‘Dark Shadows’ appeal was a little more abstract. What I loved about it was the fact that it was a melodramatic soap opera, and, well, that flies in the face of any modern studio’s interests as far as moviemaking. But what we’ve gone for is a mixture, and that’s always what I’ve been interested in; I think most of my movies are mixtures of light and dark and serious things and things that have humor in them.”

To check out the whole piece head right over HERE. You can go ahead and scroll away above and below for the new stills.

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas has the world at his feet or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Brouchard. A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman, to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins; her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard; and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins. The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters.

Along with Depp the flick stars Eva Green (below), Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloe Moretz, Gulliver McGrath, Bella Heathcote, Ray Shirley and Jonny Lee Miller. It bows into theaters on May 11th.