Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd

To all those Sondheim fans out there, you can officially uncross your fingers.

It was announced today that Tim Burton's film version of Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp is definitely going ahead. Rehearsals in November, filming in February, release in late 2007.

I think Burton is perfect for the job. He should be able to take the stage show and flesh out the macabre blood bath into a fully fledged film. In other words this should be more Chicago than Rent.

And Depp as Benji Barker. Classic. He's not the typical vision of Todd but I know he'll muster the much needed presence.

Apparently Sondheim had him audition to check that his voice wasn't too rock n' roll for the role. It's good to see the old man ensuring that they don't fuck this one up. At least it can't be worse than A Little Night Music (yes it was filmed and quite justifiably forgotten).

Props to Ain't It Cool and Dark Horizons fo breaking.


Tags: cinema, musical, Sondheim