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Depp Talks About How He'll Play Barnabas Collins in 'Dark Shadows'

by Alex Billington
February 15, 2011
Source: MTV

With casting like Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley and Bella Heathcote finally coming together, Tim Burton's new take on Dark Shadows starring Johnny Depp is actually going to film this year for release in 2012. As we've known for awhile, Depp will be playing Barnabas Collins, the quintessential 200-year-old vampire originated by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid in the 60's TV daytime soap that this is based on. Depp, who's spoken plenty about his love for Barnabas over the years, talked with MTV about how he's essentially going to pay his acting respects to Jonathan Frid, with "a couple of different touches here and there." More ahead!

"For me, even the conversations I've had with Tim, what Jonathan Frid did with that character and that classic look he created, I find it very difficult to stray very far from that," he told MTV. "I think it's going to be somewhere in that arena, with maybe just a couple of different touches here and there."

"There’s something about this vampire coming back after 200 years into this modern world, with a touch of the poetic, with maybe a tendency to maybe wax a little poetic now and again," he mused. "I have a good feeling about it. But Jonathan Frid's Barnabas was so special."

It sounds like Depp is excited to finally play Barnabas, but of course, its been one of his childhood dreams. And for those that are big fans of the show, I don't think you'll have to worry about Depp overrunning Frid, as I'm sure the two will be quite complementary in their unique owns ways. But before we even get to see Depp as Barnabas, we have Captain Jack Sparrow to catch up with again this summer, and somewhere out there is also Depp's latest take on Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary, which has been mysteriously MIA recently. The Dark Shadows screenplay was adapted by author Seth Grahame-Smith of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Shooting begins later this year. You can also watch the complete Depp MTV video below.

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