At a red carpet in England for the Britannia Awards, MTV caught up with Mrs. Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, and engaged her in some DARK SHADOWS talk. In the film, Carter plays Dr. Julia Hoffman, who she describes as “an alcoholic psychiatrist” with a secret. But more interesting were Carter’s thoughts on how difficult the movie will evidently be to sell.
“It’s very original and it’s kind of uncategorizable. It’s going to be impossible to sell, frankly, because … it’s a soap opera, but it’s very, very subtle. We’ll see. It’s a ghost story, but then it’s an unhappy vampire story. It’s a mixture of so many different things. And a real ensemble piece.”
Despite her worries, I’m confidant Warner Bros. will have no trouble pitching a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp joint to the masses when DARK SHADOWS comes out in May of next year.
Oh yes, and Carter also talks a little bit about AKIRA, but is noncommittal about her rumored involvement.
The synopsis for DARK SHADOWS: 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¡ªor 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.
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