The first official portrait of the cast from Tim Burton’s latest film, Dark Shadows, was released September 27, showing Johnny Depp as a 200-year-old vampire, in his eighth collaboration with the director.
Depp’s character, the vampire Barnabas Collins, is shown with his extended family. This remake of the gothic daytime soap series that ran on US television from 1966-71 borrows the look of the original characters.
Depp, who fought for years to make this movie, was a fan of the show. “I do remember, very vividly, practically sprinting home from school in the afternoon to see Jonathan Frid play Barnabas Collins,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly. “Even then, at that age, I knew — this has got to be weird.”
Burton, who also obsessed over Dark Shadows, staged the photo, which is similar to a photo taken for the original show.
Barnabas Collins, played by Depp, is an 18th century ladies man who became a vampire against his will and was buried for two centuries. When his body is uncovered by construction workers in 1972, he seeks out his descendants, his enemies and a lost love, but is a man out of his time.
Other characters depicted include Dr. Julia Hoffman, a prim psychiatrist played by Helena Bonham Carter (Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd), and Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass) as Carolyn Stoddard, who only seems like the normal teenager with her music, magazines and closed doors.
Also, Eva Green (Casino Royale) plays Angelique, a witch and villain in the story, Jackie Earle Haley (Nightmare on Elm Street) is the groundskeeper Willie Loomis and Elizabeth Collins, played by Michelle Pfeiffer (Hairspray), is the matriarch of the family.
