New character profiles have been released for Tim Burton’s
Dark Shadows.
Seth Grahame-Smith,
who wrote the screenplay, has spoken about writing the film adaptation
of the 1960′s cult television series and gave character descriptions of
the main characters.
Fans of
Johnny Depp and
Tim Burton (myself included) are expecting big things from
Dark Shadows, which has been a passion project of Depp and Burton’s for years.
Check out the character descriptions given by Grahame-Smith below.
Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp)
– He was an 18th century gentleman, a businessman just before the
Revolutionary War, who was transformed against his will into a vampire
and buried in a tomb for two centuries. After he finally emerges,
uncovered by construction workers in the year 1972, he seeks out his
descendants — as well as some long-ago foes and a possible lost love.
“He’s
been alive this whole time and very hungry, with no idea what’s going
on outside,” says screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (author of Abraham
Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which Burton is producing as a film.)
Barnabas
is one vampire who is just as frightened of our times as we are of him,
says producer Richard D. Zanuck: “Two-hundred years later, he’s
suddenly walking into the town he saw being built and seeing girls in
skirts, cars for the first time. It’s a man-out-of-time, supernatural
horror story, but I put ‘horror’ in quotes.”
Despite his
confusion, he’s still a ladies man. “In some sense he can be a
terrifying killer; on the other hand, women have a weakness for him and
he has a weakness for women,” Grahame-Smith says. “He can be a very
well-mannered, well-meaning vampire most of the time, until his stomach
is empty or someone challenges his beloved Collins family.”
Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter)
– This prim and proper psychiatrist, who has taken up residence with
the Collins family to care for their troubled youngest boy, might seem
to break that trend — but don’t bet on it. “Dr. Hoffman’s been there for
years, working with David [the little boy in the photo] but not making
any progress. He still claims he sees ghosts and talks with his dead
mother,” Grahame-Smith says. “She’s crazy but brilliant. Obviously she’s
an eccentric, and definitely likes a drink or two. She’s definitely a
little bit off her rocker, and is a woman with a lot of secrets
herself.” The writer teases: “She’ll also become interested in Barnabas
in more than one way. “
Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Mortez)
- Though she played a voracious child vampire in the acclaimed (but
little seen) Let Me In, Moretz is on the human side of the spectrum in
Dark Shadows — though that doesn’t mean this cousin of young David
Collins (and daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, seen on the far
right) isn’t without her own peculiarities. “Carolyn is your typical
early-1970s teenager,” Grahame-Smith says. “She likes her music and
likes her magazines, and does not like anyone in her family. She likes
to keep her door closed and keep to herself. She’s pretty normal, but
appearances can be deceiving. I wouldn’t say there is a normal person in
this photo.”
Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) –
The Bond girl from Casino Royale turns up here as the villain of the
story. “Angelique is a witch who has known Barnabas since the 1700s,
when they had an affair that went sour. She is the one who cursed him to
be a vampire and locked him in that box,” Grahame-Smith says. “Since he
has been away, Angelique has made it her life’s mission to destroy the
Collins family. So when Barnabas turns up again after all these years,
she’s not very happy to see him.”
David Collins (Gulliver McGrath)
– Lonely, confused, and neglected by his pompous father, David has no
one to confide in except his bizarre psychiatrist — and the dead people
he claims to see. Grahame-Smith describes him as “a sweet, curious,
precocious little boy whose family has branded him as slightly crazy.”
Then he finally gets a new caretaker to look after him …
Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote)
– This young woman arrives to become David’s new governess, only to
find herself swept up in the vampire-witch melodrama. “When Barnabas
meets Victoria, he’s instantly reminded of the woman he lost in the
1700s, before he was cursed to be a vampire,” Grahame-Smith says. “I
wouldn’t say he falls in love with her, but there’s an instant
attraction, an instant connection.” Is she the reincarnation of his
doomed lover Josette du Pres? “We get the sense at the beginning she has
a secret past, and that’s unraveled as it goes on,” the screenwriter
says.
Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley) – How
awesome is it to play an actual Groundskeeper Willie? The Oscar-nominee
for Little Children is a slightly more competent servant than Mrs.
Johnson, but that’s not saying much. “He’s the guy who takes out the
trash, mows the lawns, and fixes the cars, except he’s usually so drunk
and so disinterested that he doesn’t take his job seriously anymore,”
Grahame-Smith says. “The lawn is overgrown, the house has fallen into
disrepair, and all the cars are on cinder blocks. His heart’s definitely
not in the job anymore.”
Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller) -
This scion of the once-great Collins family is one of the main reasons
the aristocratic clan has fallen into such disgrace. “He’s a creepy,
self-centered guy who likes to order Willie around, likes to pretend the
family is still on top of his game,” Grahame-Smith says. Not only is he
a bad father to David, but he is a poor manager of whatever meager
wealth the family retains. “When Barnabas shows up and has some very
specific ideas about how to make things right, he’s obviously going to
bump heads with Roger Collins.”
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer)
– The mother of Carolyn Stoddard, and mother-figure to David, she’s the
one adult member of the Collins clan who is at least slightly
competent. “Elizabeth is the rock of the family. She’s the matriarch,”
Grahame-Smith says. “She’s the keeper of the Collins history, and a
fierce protector of what remains of her family. She’s the one that
insists on the best care for the children, even though money isn’t what
it used to be. She’s a very strong woman who unfortunately has been
dealt a very difficult deck.” With a witch perpetually trying to destroy
her, and a long lost vampire relative turning up to reclaim control,
“there’s just too much for her to handle,” Grahame-Smith says.
Dark Shadows stars
Johnny
Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloe
Moretz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonny Lee Miller, Gulliver McGrath and
Bella Heathcote, and is set for release on May 11th, 2012.
