Johnny Depp & Tim Burton Interview, Sweeney Todd

Posted by: Michael

In NY Tim Burton and Johnny Depp sat down to talk Sweeney Todd and courtesy of Paramount we have that interview for your viewing pleasure. We thank Paramount for letting us be apart of the press coverage for the event. JOHNNY DEPP and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheimâ€™s award-winning musical thriller "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.â€ DEPP stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter.

When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again.â€ Joining Depp is HELENA BONHAM CARTER as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeneyâ€™s amorous accomplice, who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes ALAN RICKMAN, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison, TIMOTHY SPALL as the Judgeâ€™s wicked associate Beadle Bamford and SACHA BARON COHEN as a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

Mr Depp Why did you wanna do this?

Johnny Depp: I was familiar to some degree with theearlier versions of this, this stuff that you know Iâ€™d seen the, the video of um Angela Lansbury quite extensively. And Iâ€™d seen the more recent production of it and then just thought it might be, you know certainly a great opportunity to, to try to find a, a new Sweeney, a different Sweeney. Just like a little contemporary in the sense of like also the punk rock Sweeney you know.

We already heard that you created a kind of situation of suspense because nobody knew if you can really sing it so and you came round to do late with it. So was it also fun for you to, to let them wait a little bit? How would you describe the process?

Johnny Depp: Yeah. I was I think probably more frightened than anyone, [CHUCKLES] except maybe Tim. He really trusted me with it you know and I was very lucky that he allowed me to â€¦ cos I didnâ€™t have a process really you know in terms of the singing. Iâ€™ve never sang before in my life, so I had to kinda find my way to it. And thought it was important that I, you know, keep it very, very low key and, and so yeah I initially did these demos in my friendâ€™s garage studio cos I didnâ€™t know if I would be able to hit a note. I wanted to make sure I could do it for Tim.

We talked to Helena earlier and she was joking and saying how you made her audition for the role and that you didnâ€™t talk about it for the five weeks and during that period you were auditioning other women for the role. Um can you just talk about that process? [CHUCKLES]

Tim Burton: Sounds very sleazy the way you put it. Yeah well I mean you know it was, I thought it was important that er cos Iâ€™d never done anything like this before myself so, er and itâ€™s quite a difficult musical to do. And you know like in the stage thing that was a, you know that was a haâ€¦ itâ€™s a hard role, the roles are hard, and I just didnâ€™t want it to seem like I was just giving the job to my girlfriend or anything. So, er I really was probably harder on that for that reason, and I just wanted to make sure that er it was basically she was really, really right for her, which she is, which she was and is. So it just was, yeah I probably was a bit harder on her than, than others, for the reason on just wanting to really make sure it was right.

You know the scene when Sweeney Todd is re-united with his razor in his shop for the first time. That scene reminded us of some part of the Edward Scissorhand. Instead of Scissorhand maybe Razorhand itâ€™s like. But that scene, you know the silhouette or the look or the posture or the face, facial expression, did it have any connection with that movie Edward Scissorhand? Was that any inspiration or?

Tim Burton: Yeah I mean I think for me itâ€™s only the fact that we did that movie and we did this movie. I mean you know weâ€™re not lost on the, sharp instrument angle. But you know the thing about this character which I love thatâ€™s different from that is that you know we did that a long time ago and weâ€™re probably much moreâ€¦ I certainly was much more optimistic in, you know, which that character sort of represented and now the Sweeney character is a much more interiorised darker character, which I love.

To see Johnny do both of those things is really amazing for me to see because you know I think this character for me is one of my favourite characters heâ€™s done just because I love the interior brooding quality of the character. And then you put that with him singing and it just created to me a really amazing new thing to me.

Johnny, we heard earlier that you and Sacha Baron Cohen had a sort of shaving lesson so to speak while you were on set. Soâ€¦

Johnny Depp : Yeah.

â€¦can you tell us about that experience?

Johnny Depp: He still has scars all over his back.

LAUGHTER

Did you enjoy that experience and did you come to learn the value of a good close shave?

Johnny Depp: Um you know what, thâ€¦ â€¦ no, I didnâ€™t.

Could you also talk about Sacha Baron Cohen actually and how he was cast, cos heâ€™s very well-known obviously in the UK

Tim Burton: Yeah. Well it was after Borat came out and he came in to audition. He brought in the score of Fiddler On The Roof and basically did all Fiddler On The Roof in the studio.

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton: And no he was great you know. I admired him because you know he coulda gone off and done a whole bunch of different stuff but, he chose to do this and it was great that he did it.

Given that the movie is very violent and is a musical do you see this as a challenge at the box office? Is that something that occupies your mind, you know making your money back?

Tim Burton: Well you know itâ€™s always a risk. I remember when I first saw the show in London back when I was still a student. I didnâ€™t know anything about the music and I remember seeing the show and these two ladies, these very proper, British ladies were sitting in front of me and they were kind of chatting throughout the showâ€¦

â€¦and then when Joanna came up and the blood started spurting across the stage they both stopped and paused for a minute and, one leaned over and said "Was that really necessary?â€

LAUGHTER

Tim Burton: But in fact it was necessary and Iâ€™ve seen other productions of it where you know theyâ€™ve tried to be a bit more politically correct and skimp on it and it really lost something, because I mean the show is based in those old, grand cinemas, horror theatre melodramas, where you know they had buckets pouring out over the stage.

So, it just felt like that was true to the spirit of what the show is, it was and is over-the-top Itâ€™s more of an emotional release than it is a reality thing in this movie. So the studio they were cool about it, they accepted it, they knew it because they knew what the show was so there wasnâ€™t you know. But you know anything, any movie is a risk, but itâ€™s nice to be able to do something like that where you know it doesnâ€™t fit into either musical or slasher movie category; kind of its own category.

What does having Johnny do for you as a Director that maybe you canâ€™t do with other actors?

Tim Burton: Well I mean he just tries anything. I mean the fact is that heâ€™s not a, a singer, you know heâ€™s musical and that he would try like one of the hardest musicals ever to do. You know that just says it all. You know heâ€™s just willing to go out there and believe me, something I learned is singing especially if youâ€™re not a singer is itâ€™s a very exposing process. Anybody that can do that can basically do anything you know and, for me itâ€™s just an artistic pleasure to see somebody try different things and, and actually achieve it and achieve it beyond your expectations so.

The other thing is heâ€™s great because I love that he isnâ€™t like looking at himself, which is great for me. You know I mean, you donâ€™t have to spend you know, after a take "Iâ€™m gonna go look you know and see. Oh thatâ€™s not a goodâ€ you know. Heâ€™s just completely open to like, "Okay. Whateverâ€ you know and "I donâ€™t really care to look at myself or wanna look at myself,â€ you know. He just does a great job and believe me thatâ€™s a huge issue for me to not have that kinda, you know, certain kind of vanity of like looking at yourself and you know stopping. It kinda keeps the process going, keeps it vital and that means a lot to me and I think the crew and everybody else. They get into the spirit of just doing it you know not sitting around and you know analysing everything.

What were your inspirations for this movie?

Tim Burton: Well I mean you know our inspiration for this were these old horror movies and all so you know, we wanted to make the characters look like that. You know Johnny and I always talked about like old horror movie actors and, and all. So it was an opportunity to do that. You know so itâ€™s for the flashbacks because that was the, you know you just tried to treat it like the story. You know that was the happier time in his life so, you know itâ€™s a bit more lurid the colour, you know sort of the opposite of flashbacks which usually are more desaturated; we sort of inverted that because that seemed to be more appropriate to the telling of the story. And then you know her fantasy weâ€™d put a lot of colour into because thatâ€™s her fantasy of a wonderful wife. And, and so, you know you just try to use colour as a, as an emotional character and, and thatâ€™s why we made those, those choices