Email this Article Printer-friendly RELATED ARTICLES: 07 Jan 2008 -- "Sweeney" Film Nears $40 Million Mark at the Box Office 21 Dec 2007 -- Attend the Tale: Sondheim Musical "Sweeney Todd" Hits Big Screen Dec. 21 28 Nov 2007 -- Shavings: "Sweeney Todd" Clips, with Sondheim, Bonham Carter, Rickman, Available Online 15 Nov 2007 -- Tim Burton Shows First "Sweeney Todd" Cuts to New York Audience 22 Oct 2007 -- Nonesuch to Release Two "Sweeney Todd" Recordings Dec. 18

By Ernio Hernandez
16 Aug 2006

Johnny Depp in "From Hell"
photo by Jurgen Vollmer

DreamWorks Studios confirmed plans for the upcoming Tim Burton film version of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd starring his constant collaborator Johnny Depp in the title role.

John Logan ("The Aviator," "Gladiator") penned the screenplay adaptation planned to begin work early in 2007 for a "late 2007 release," according to the announcement. Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will partner with Richard Zanuck and John Logan to produce the co-production with Warner Bros. Paramount will distribute for DreamWorks domestically and Warner Bros. internationally.

Sweeney Todd follows the story of a wrongfully imprisoned barber in Victorian England who sets out to seek revenge on the judge who imprisoned him. The stage work featuring a score by Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler based on the play by Christopher Bond.

The original 1979 Broadway production starred Len Cariou as the barbarous barber with Angela Lansbury as his pie-making cohort in the Harold Prince-directed work. Both stars and the musical itself earned Tony Awards. In the current Broadway run, re-imagined by director John Doyle and starring Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone, the actors play their own instruments. Other incarnations of the work include a 1989 Broadway revival featuring Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler, a Kennedy Center run as part of a Sondheim Celebration with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Christine Baranski as well as a 2001 concert presentation, directed by Lonny Price and led by George Hearn and LuPone.

The film will reunite Depp with Burton once again — the duo have previously worked together on "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood," "Sleepy Hollow," "Corpse Bride" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Keyword: Features/Location: All News Features Celebrity Buzz Writer: All Ackerman, Ari Allen, Morgan Blank, Matthew Bradley, Anne Buckley, Michael Ehren, Christine Gans, Andrew Gewirtzman, David Grode, Eric Haun, Harry Hernandez, Ernio Hetrick, Adam Hylton, Kevin Inverne, James Jones, Kenneth Kalafatas, Greg Khodosh, Ilya Ku, Andrew Lefkowitz, David Maher, Sam Marcus, Jason Mardenfeld, Sandra Mattison, Ben Mazzola, Karen Merlo, Melissa Nathan, John Nondorf, Tom Pincus-Roth, Zachary Rothstein, Mervyn Rudetsky, Seth Scheduler, Mailing List Shenton, Mark Simonson, Robert Staff, Playbill Stekeur, Craig Suskin, Steven Tallmer, Jerry Trinh, Paul Viagas, Robert Windman, Matt Wong, Wayman

Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy

Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.