Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I have always liked Tim Burton’s movies. Beetle Juice, Mars Attacks, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure are some all-time classic movies. (I really liked Sleepy Hollow too.) Burton’s version of Batman was probably the best ever. So it is with great anticipation that I am looking forward to his latest project, Sweeney Todd. For those of you who don’t know the legend, Sweeney Todd (a.k.a., The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) was a barber who while shaving his victims would slit their throats with a straight razor and then hand off the corpses to his girlfriend, Margery Lovett, to be made into delicious meat-pies which he would serve to his other patrons (Mm-mmmm, good!). Yes, lovely fellow. While there have been a number of adaptations both before and after his, I think Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 Broadway musical is what really returned this tale to the modern public consciousness.

Burton’s Sweeney Todd, which is currently in post-production, is currently set for release in January 2008. This movie will be a film adaptation of Sondheim’s Broadway musical. The stars of the movie will be no surprise to you, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Johnny Depp who will star as Sweeney Todd himself, has starred in half a dozen of Burton’s films. Bonham Carter, who plays the meat-pie baking Mrs. Lovett, is of course Tim Burton’s significant other. The rest of the cast is just as good:

Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
(a.k.a., Capt. Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands, etc.)

Helena Bonham Carter - Mrs. Lovett
(a.k.a., the Corpse Bride, Bellatrix Lestrange)

Alan Rickman - Judge Turpin
(a.k.a., Serverus Snape, the Sheriff of Nottingham)

Timothy Spall - Beadle Bamford
(a.k.a., Wormtail)

Christopher Lee - Gentleman Ghost
(a.k.a., Count Dooku, Saruman)

Sasha Baron Cohen - Signior Adolfo Pirelli
(a.k.a., Borat, Ali G.)

I’m already looking forward to the movie and its still months away from release. The hype for it has only just begun. My concern is that Sweeney Todd by the time it is finally released, expectations will be so high, that it will have a hard time living up to them. So, thats the scoop. Man, all this writing is making me hungry and for some reason I’m dying for a meat-pie.

(You’ve gotta tell them! Soylent Green is people!)

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