Meh. Depp cannot walk on water. Sorry, but he just is not The Ultimate Actor. He was absolutely wonderful in PotC, but just… meh in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (much as this film has grown on me, and it has, I still think his performance just falls a bit flat in this movie and isn’t Wonka-esque enough, by the book).
I just don’t think he’d be able to do the brooding menace thing that, IMO, is required for a masterful role as Sweeney Todd in the musical.
And I do think it needs an actor of imposing stature and frame; that’s part of the point of it; that his clients are blissfully unaware of the power of the man and danger of his sharp blade, yet the audience is painfully aware of these things, is all part of the experience.
I attended a small production of the musical at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton last year and it was really very good; the cast was quite a young one, but Todd was played by an actor who was tallish and heavily/strongly built; it was wonderful.
Favourite songs: Worst Pies in London, By the Sea.
The link in the OP suggests that it’s the musical, but as it’s all rumour and speculation, it could be anything. The BBC recently did it as a non-musical drama adaptation - it’s very, very dark when presented this way, without music.
My point being that the play isn’t very accurate in some respects, and treats the subject as mere legend. Read the link I provided. I think that as far as looks and prescence go, Johnny Depp could pull the role off, he’s pretty muscular, all he’d need would be make up to make him look malnourished/gaunt and red hair. (I picture the Demon Barber as being rather puny seeming, but upon closer observation possessed of “wiry” strength.)
That is a neat link. I don’t know if they’re going to use this material or the musical. Sondheim’s Sweeney is much more sympathetic, obviously. It would be interesting to see what could be made out of this material.
My concern is that they don’t turn him into Edward Scissorhands’ evil twin.
Oh please God, not Depp. Sondheim’s Sweeney is supposed to be terrifying and yet sympathetic – not creepy and pathetic. To me, every time Depp plays “dark” he comes across the same way – as an otherwordly man-child eunuch who looks like the spawn of Michael Jackson and Gollum. Blech. And for that matter, thank God Burton seems to be off the project. His version of “dark” has become too twee for my liking.
Alan Rickman? (choie goes off into a happy place… then reluctantly tears herself back… The thought is delightful, but can he sing? That’s the key for me. It would be a travesty to have someone croaking his way through Sweeney the way Gerald Barton did Phantom! The role of Sweeney requires a voice, a real gut-wrenching, powerful, dynamic instrument – one that can croon a tender, hoarsely-whispered love song to a set of razors and then bellow out the fury Sweeney aims at the entirety of mankind in Epiphany.
I don’t see much in the way of musicals in Rickman’s stage resumé. I don’t remember Asher in Joseph, but he did sing “You’re the Fairest Flower” from Little Mary Sunshine. So he can sing, but that isn’t a particularly challenging song. It’s an average pretty-boy tenor type solo, with a pretty easy range. Nothing in that show requires anything near the kind of subtlety that Sweeney does. Please don’t ask me how I know this.