Dark Shadows returns to the screen

Fans of the Dark Shadows television series are in for a sweet surprise -- Johnny Depp has done some Hollywood magic and is opening the creaky, locked gate of Collinwood up to the public once again! Guard your necks, and lock your doors, and.... well, it wouldn't hurt to buy some garlic and a satchel full of crucifixes along with your summer sunscreen! Read on...

Depp Steps into Shadows
by Josh Grossberg
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 04:15:25 PM PDT

Johnny Depp has never shied away from dark films like Dead Man, The Ninth Gate, Sleepy Hollow and From Hell. Now he's really found a role he can sink his teeth into. The actor is teaming with Warner Bros. on a movie version of the classic supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows, with Depp playing lead vampire Barnabas Collins.

Depp has long counted himself among the legion of Dark Shadows devotees and has stated in past interviews that he's dreamed of playing Barnabas ever since he was a kid. Through their respective production companies, Depp and Graham King purchased the rights to the spooky ABC serial from the estate of the show's mastermind, Dan Curtis, according to Variety.

The groundbreaking Dark Shadows ran for 1,125 episodes from 1966 to 1971, chronicling the strange goings-on around the mysterious Collins family in their estate in Maine. Populated by myriad macabre characters, including vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts and zombies, the show spawned a cult following, numerous fan conventions and various attempts to resurrect the program after the network put a stake in it.

Curtis directed House of Dark Shadows, a 1970 movie adaptation starring Jonathan Frid, who originated Barnabas in the series. Curtis later updated Shadows in 1990 with a new TV series that lasted one season with Ben Cross in the immortal role. Another short-lived remake, not supervised by Curtis, featured Alec Newman as the head vampire and aired in 2004.
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King and Depp will produce the film from a screenplay by Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I).
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The Dark Shadows news was just one tidbit to emerge from Warners' presentation at Comic-Con in San Diego on Friday, as the studio offered previews of some of its highest profile 2008 releases.

[Read full article here: Source]

Maine State Film Commission, are you listening? We're getting a little tired of having Vancouver, et al, beat us out as settings for things that are supposed to be set in our home state.