Attend the Tale: 'Sweeney Todd' Exclusive with Tim Burton & Johnny Depp

On a cold, drizzly day (somewhat suitable, one might say) at the Claridge's Hotel, there was a feeling of excitement in the air that you could cut with a knife as the cast and creative team of the highly-anticipated new movie-musical Sweeney Todd crowded a press junket in London.

In a very special BroadwayWorld exclusive, London reporter Nick Hutson provides a very special Q/A series with the likes of Johnny Depp, renown composer Stephen Sondheim; plus stars  Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, and director Tim Burton and the stars of tomorrow Ed Sanders, Jayne Weisner and Jamie Campbell Bower. 

Stay Tuned as BroadwayWorld brings you even more exclusive content and features on Sweeney Todd! In theatres for limited national release December 21, 2007 and wide January 11, 2008.

TIM BURTON (DIRECTOR) 

AND JOHNNY DEPP (SWEENEY TODD)

The words of wisdom from the man with the vision and the man with the razor – Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.  Johnny was first asked about his risk taking when it comes to his films and also what it was about this film that inspired him so much.

Johnny Depp: It's probably a combination of, or something in between hard-headed and ignorant. In terms of doing the, taking the road I've taken because there's an easier one out there. Well Sweeney Todd, first of all, that's one thing, you know, that's one sort of thing you know, but then Tim comes into the picture before all that, man. Anything that he'd ask me to do, I'd just at the opportunity to do.

Tim Burton: Except for ballet

Johnny Depp: No, no I actually would!

Tim Burton: You would? You're not gonna do that!

Johnny Depp: I would try. I was familiar to some degree with the, earlier versions of the stuff, I'd seen the video of Angela Lansbury and listened to it quite extensively and seen the more recent production of it, and just thought it might be certainly, a great opportunity to try to find a new Sweeney, a different Sweeney. Kind of a midway, suppose like a slightly more contemporary sense like a punk rock Sweeney.

He was asked about the nerve-shredding experience of singing these very famous songs.

Johnny Depp: I think I was probably more frightened than anyone, except, except maybe Tim. No, he really trusted me with it and I was very lucky that he allowed me to-- because I didn't have a process, really, you know, in terms of singing. I never sang before in my life. So I kind of had to find my way to it, and thought it was important that I keep it very low key and so yeah, initially, I did these demos in my friend's garage studio and 'cause I didn't know if I would be able to hit a note to be honest, I really didn't. I just, wanted to make sure I could do it for Tim. So then, I think the first demo we cut was "My Friends," and I sent it to Tim, and crossed my fingers, and waited for the outcome.

We wondered if the role of Sweeney Todd's revenge was the act of loneliness as a victim, or a violent reaction that became more violent.

Johnny Depp: It's probably all of that. You know, layer by layer one thing leads to another. Initially a victim, dreams of revenge, becomes obsessed with that dream of revenge, and then from there, it turns into a compulsion-possession, you know, madness, and it's the only thing you have, the only thing that drives you, the only thing that keeps you alive, is the idea.

Tim Burton speaks about Helena's role in the film

Tim Burton: I thought it was important that because I'd never done anything like this before myself and it's quite a difficult musical to do, in the stage thing, that was, that was a hard role, all the roles are hard. And I just didn't want it to seem like I was just giving the job to my girlfriend or anything, so I really was probably harder on that for that reason. And I just wanted to make sure that it was basically she was really right for it - which she is, which she was and is, so I probably was a bit harder on her than others for the reason of just wanting to really make sure it was right."

Many people make comparisons between this film and Edward Scissorhands, for obvious reasons. We ask Tim Burton and Johnny Depp about this link.

Tim Burton: For me, it's only the fact that we did that movie and we did this movie. I mean, you know, we're not lost on the sharp instrument angle. But the thing about this character, which I love is different from that is that we did that a long time ago and we're probably much more--I certainly was much more-- optimistic in you know, which that character sort of represented. But now, the Sweeney character is much sort of more interiorized, darker character, which I love. Seeing Johnny do both of those things was really amazing for me to see, because I think this character for me is one of my favorite characters he's done, just 'cause I love the interior, brooding quality of the character. Then, you put that with him singing, and it's just created to me a really amazing new thing for me.

Johnny Depp: There are similarities in the sense that Scissorhands, maybe even Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod Crane in a way, are characters who, are very much living inside their own head. Edward was a bit more innocent, be aware of it. I think there was only one moment when you saw Edward get angry.

Tim Burton: Yeah, yeah, this guy's just angry the whole time!

Johnny Depp: Always angry. Probably only one moment when Sweeney smiles.

Tim Burton: Yeah, it's like if Edward Scissorhands, you know, went into a major depression…for several years.

We asked Johnny (who I must say at this conference donned a very handsome goatee) if in the making of this film he learned the value of a good shave

Johnny Depp: Um, you know what? No, I didn't. I've never really experienced that full, that full-on thing, because this is a full beard for me. This is a lumberjack look for me. I'm hiding behind this. So yeah, no didn't do that. But I can definitely appreciate it, because when you get in there with a complete stranger and they lather your face up and bring some incredibly sharp instrument up towards your throat, it's kind of frightening.

Tim Burton: It is. I tried it once, and it was really frightening to have a complete stranger with a razor at your throat. You don't even know who he is.

Johnny Depp:Yeah.

Tim Burton: It's just the sound of it

Johnny Depp: Yeah!

Tim Burton: It's quite a, it's frightening, in a way.

We asked Tim Burton how Sacha Baron Cohen was cast.

Tim Burton: It was after Borat came out, and he came in to audition; he brought in this score of Fiddler on the Roof and basically did all of Fiddler on the Roof in the studio, and he was great! I admired him, because he could have gone off and done a whole bunch of different stuff, but you know, he chose to do this and that it was great that he did it.

Johnny Depp: God, I'd have loved to have seen that. A lot.

Tim Burton: I wish I'd had a camera, because he literally went through the whole score of Fiddler on the Roof.

Johnny Depp: All of it?

Tim Burton: All of it! It was great.

We asked about the difficult blending of genres, being a musical and a slasher, how that has an effect on Tim Burton's mind and whether that keeps him awake at night.

Tim Burton: Well, I mean, it's always a risk. I remember when I first saw the show in London, back when I was still a student.  You know, I didn't know anything about the music, but I remember seeing the show, and right when Johanna came on, these two ladies, these two very proper British ladies were sitting in front of me, they were sort of chatting throughout the show, and then when Johanna came up and the blood started spurting across the stage, they both stopped, and paused for a minute, one leaned over to the other and said, "Was that really necessary?" But in fact, it was necessary, and I've seen other productions of it where they've tried to be a bit more politically correct and skimp on it and it really lost something, because the show is based in those old, grand guignol theatre melodramas, where they had buckets pouring out over the stage. So, it just felt like that was true to the spirit of what the show is and was it's over the top, too, so it never felt like it was. It's more of an emotional release than it is a kind of a reality thing in this movie. And the studio, they were cool about it, they accept it, they knew it, because they knew what the show was. But, yeah, any movie is a risk. But it's nice to be able to do something like that where it, you know, doesn't fit into either "musical" or "slasher movie" category; kind of its own category.

Sweeney Todd in the film is a very depressed character and we asked Johnny Depp if there are any moments in the film where Sweeney expresses moments of happiness.

Johnny Depp: I don't know. I haven't seen the film! I mean, the funny thing is the joy of the filming it was like a laugh riot; it was a great time.

Tim Burton: Yeah

Johnny Depp: A great experience. It was great fun, I mean, we laughed like fiends.

Tim Burton: I'd say the humor from my point of view, from his character comes from how just serious he is, and just how single-minded he is.

Johnny Depp: Thanks

Tim Burton: …and the relationship he has with Mrs. Lovett and anybody else. You know, he's pretty much on one track, and there's something weirdly humorous about that, but I guess it depends on what you think is funny.

For Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, we asked each what they get out of the other.

Tim Burton: Well, I'll say that he tries anything. The fact is that he's not a singer, you know, he's musical, but he would try one of the hardest musicals ever to do. It just says it all. He's just willing to go out there, and believe me, something I've learned is singing is very exposing, especially if you're not a singer, it's a very exposing process, and anybody who can do that can basically do anything, you know? So for me, it's just an artistic pleasure to see somebody try different things and actually achieve it…and achieve it beyond your expectations.

Johnny Depp: Tim since the first second that we met all those years ago, in that little cafe, coffee shop in Los Angeles, there, for me, was a kind of instant connection on a lot of different levels. The most obtuse levels where this kind of weird fascination of understanding absurdity, the absurdity of things that were typically perfectly acceptable in the 1970 for example like macramé owls and resin grapes, and you know, fake fruit; plastic fruit on your kitchen table. No one thought even twice about it so there's that weird connection right on the spot, and ever since then I  have only wanted to as a friend, but as an actor a well, give him as much as closure to what he wants or what I think he wants. Any actor's job is to just give the director options. You know, just give them a bunch of...options. Funny thing is, I like, for example, when I go into a movie and I'm preparing the character I start getting these ideas as they come to me, and you got to incorporate them into the character. I feel good about it myself, I have hope that others will feel the same. But when I'm working with Tim, as I'm coming up with a character, before I'm thinking about what I feel about the character, I'm thinking bout him. I'm just hoping that I won't let him down. So, so he comes first, and then I come in there.

Tim Burton: Another thing: he's great! He doesn't like looking at himself, which is great for me. You don't have to spend, after the monitor, after a take, "I'm gonna go look and see, No, that's not a good" you know, he's just completely open to like "Whatever, you know. And I don't really care to look at myself. I don't wanna look at myself." He just does a great job of, and believe me; that's a huge issue for me, to not have that kind of vanity of looking at yourself and stopping. It keeps the process going; keeps it vital and that means a lot to me and the crew and I think everybody else. You know, they get in a spirit of just doing it. And not sitting around and waiting and...

We asked Tim Burton the unique visual style in the film represents his view on the world.

Tim Burton: Well, our inspiration on this were these old horror movies, so we wanted to make the characters look like that.  Johnny and I always talked about old horror movie actors so it was an opportunity to do that, so you'd set the world in that. For the flash backs you just treat it like the story. That was the happier time in his life, so it's a bit more lurid, the color, you know, sort of the opposite of flashbacks, which usually are sort of de-saturated. We sort of inverted that because that seemed to be more appropriate to the telling of the story, and then, her fantasy, we put a lot of color into, because that's her fantasy of a wonderful life. And so, you just try to use color as an emotional character and that's why we made those choices.

And finally, we asked Tim Burton what it was like not to work with Danny Elfman for once.

Tim Burton: Well, you know, the score was already done, that was one the reasons I did this. But I think Danny would appreciate this score. Sondheim, when we first talked to him, said he wrote the score like a Bernard Herman score, which was interesting, when we recorded the orchestra, you don't hear the vocals, it's really like a great, old-fashioned movie score. So, you know, it had the same kind of strength you usually get with working with Danny, but there's such a wealth of music and themes that Sondheim wrote; it was all right there from the very beginning.

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DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures Presents a Parkes/MacDonald and Zanuck Company Production, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Tim Burton. Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and John Logan; Executive Producer Patrick McCormick.

Based on the Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler; originally staged by Harold Prince. From an adaptation by Christopher Bond, screenplay by John Logan. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street…

"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,'" state press notes. "Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney'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 Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli."

For limited national release December 21, 2007 and wide January 11, 2008.

(photos courtesy SweeneyToddMovie.com, top to bottom): Sweeney Todd movie poster; Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on-set; Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter; Johnny Depp