INTERVIEW: The cast of Sweeney Todd

Katie Robert’s talks to the cast of slasher musical Sweeney Todd. Yes, that includes Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

There is a moment in Sweeney Todd, in the middle of My Friends – Johnny Depp’s haunting ode to his beloved razors – where one of Tim Burton’s impeccably framed shots is undeniably reminiscent of a the first film the pair ever made together: Edward Scissorhands. The early-90s fairytale marked the start of an ever-strong career love affair between the two oddballs, and includes a poetic shot of the eponymous loner stood, with scissored hand aloft, slender bodied and big-haired, having just skewered his love interest’s murderous boyfriend. 18 years later, and Depp’s far more sinister portrayal of the similarly bouffant-haired serial killer Sweeney Todd proves that the relationship between director and muse is just as strong as ever.

At first glance, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a story that always seemed destined for the Gothic sensibilities of Tim Burton. A handsome anti-hero existing on the fringes of Victorian London society; but if anybody feels tempted to accuse Burton of playing it safe by pandering to Nightmare Before Christmas-obsessed teens everywhere, they ought to think again. For Burton has taken Stephen Sondheim’s blood-soaked stage musical with its complex and challenging score, matched it to a cast with but one professional singer amongst them, and turned it into a morbid, moving, macabre masterpiece of modern cinema.

Burton says: “It was an amazing thing to go to the studio and say ‘We’re gonna do an R-rated musical with lots of blood with no professional singers about a serial killer and cannibals’, and to have them go ‘Great!’. That gave me hope that there are still people in Hollywood that are willing to try different things.”

 

Different is one word for Sweeney Todd. Ambitious and foolhardy might be two more, but luckily for Burton he had a great cast to work with. Long time collaborator Johnny Depp, who has also starred in Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, faced his fears of public singing for his role as the tortured barber, formerly known as Benjamin Barker.

“I did do a musical many years ago with John Waters called Cry Baby,” Depp recalls. “But technically it was only half me, it wasn’t me singing. Tim’s the only person brave enough to actually let me try to sing. It was the first time I sang, I never sang in the shower, I’m too mortified.” Such self-deprecation is remarkable considering Depp’s singing voice is more than merely capable. He has a sexy growl that has been described as Bowie-esque, and his renowned ability to infuse any character with sensitivity translates to the more emotive musical numbers. The very fact that he can inspire sympathy from an audience by singing during the film’s five minute throat-slash-a-thon is testament to his and Burton’s gleeful embracing of the outsider.

“We always saw him as a sad figure, not as a villain or anything,” Burton reflects affectionately. “When you meet him he’s a dead person really, the only thing that’s keeping him going is one single-minded thing.” That thing is, of course, revenge. Revenge against Alan Rickman’s despicable Judge Turpin, who years before packed Todd off to Australia on a trumped-up charge in order to steal his wife and child.

When Todd returns from his exile a much changed man, ravaged by the years of solitude and despair, only his former landlady and secret admirer Mrs Lovett, played by Burton’s long-term partner Helena Bonham-Carter, recognises him. The pair team up for a twisted kind of domestic bliss, built on a stomach-turning business of human-filled pies.

With all the inevitable praise for Depp’s tortured and murderous barber, it’s perhaps easy to overlook Bonham-Carter’s perfect turn as the delightfully matter-of-fact pie maker, who is more than a match for Todd. Although she has starred in several of her other half’s films – Planet Of The Apes, Big Fish and Corpse Bride – she didn’t get an easy ride through the casting process.

“Tim told me, you look right for it, you’re essentially very right for it but we have no idea if you can sing,” Bonham-Carter explains. “So I said I’ll go and try to learn. It had to be righter than right, because I wouldn’t want to know I got it just because I slept with him. But at the end of the day Stephen Sondheim had the final say… and I definitely didn’t sleep with him.”

The professional chemistry between the two leads, and indeed the entire cast, is palpable. A handful of promising youngsters are perfectly cast; Jamie Campbell Bower as lovelorn Anthony, pining after Jayne Wisener’s beautiful Johanna is undoubtedly a future star, as well as the lovable little scamp Edward Sanders who brings a cheeky cockney chirp to Mrs Lovett’s assistant – and surrogate son – Toby. Alongside Timothy Spall’s creepy Beedle Bamford, and Sacha Baron Cohen’s hilarious turn as flamboyant Italian barber Signor Pirelli, it’s a cast any director would die for. A fact not lost on the goth-master himself.

“This is one of the best casts I’ve ever worked with,” Burton gushes. “Everything on the set was very special for me, because to hear all of these guys sing was just… I don’t know if I can ever have an experience like that again.”

Indeed, it’s hard to imagine that, despite Burton’s almost impeccable back-catalogue, he will ever revive the magic that makes this bizarre but beautiful horror-musical work so well. When asked if they have any plans to work together again, both Burton and Depp are full of gags: a film version of Cats, a sequel to Sweeney Todd, even a ballet version of The Village People with Depp playing all the parts are just some of the red herrings spoken in jest, yet no doubt taken by some of the tabloids as legitimate projects in development.

But if there’s anyone that can turn the camp career of the Village People into a haunting and darkly comic blockbuster, it’s the two men who have turned a musical about revenge and throat slitting into the must-see film of 2008.

CINEMA: Sweeney Todd

It’s not often that a film with a huge budget, big name director, Hollywood heart-throb lead and top class ensemble cast can be accused of being under-marketed. But in the case of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, this seems to be the case. Granted, a musical about a murderous barber who sings as he slashes doesn’t exactly fall into the same family blockbuster remit as Harry Potter and Spider-Man, but this masterpiece from the Grandmaster of Goth Tim Burton is far more deserving of the level of hype afforded to his far less accomplished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s stage musical of the same name, Sweeney Todd stars long-time Burton collaborator Johnny Depp as the eponymous barber, returned from an undeserved exile in Australia, only to discover that the judge who condemned him drove his beloved wife to suicide and stole his daughter. He teams up with his former landlady, Helena Bonham Carter’s pie maker Mrs Lovett, who has fallen on hard times but always held a torch for the former Benjamin Barker.

When flamboyant Italian hairdresser Signor Pirelli, played by a hilariously moustachioed Sacha Baron Cohen, threatens to expose his identity, Todd gets razor-happy, and the ensuing pile of dead bodies provides a solution to Mrs Lovett’s meat supply problems. But what Todd really wants is revenge against the evil Judge Turpin, and the hate threatens to consume him.

Depp, although long recognised as one of the world’s finest actors, is a revelation as the singing barber, his voice capable of humour and pathos without a smidgen of training. His seemingly endless range of emotions extends from tear-inducing sadness to terrifying and quite psychotic anger. Bonham Carter is his equal as the kind-hearted but morally dubious pie maker, whose hopeful sweetness is a necessary antidote to Todd’s bitterness.

Burton has outdone himself with his creation of Victorian London. It’s all Gothic spires and dingy alleys, with more gritty realism than is present in some of his earlier films. He is clearly a force of nature on set, as he has inspired the best performances possible from every last member of the principle cast, including commendable big screen debuts for youngsters Jamie Campbell Bower and Edward Sanders.

There is a fear that, despite the inevitable critical acclaim, Sweeney’s 18 certificate and musical leanings will deter the cinema-going public, but to not see this film using those factors alone would be a crime, so settle into the barber’s chair and brace yourselves for the best slasher-musical ever made.
Katie Roberts

CINEMA: No Country For Old Men

So you’ve read the hype and seen the awards nominations, but is the Coen Brothers latest slice of cinema really as good as they say? The answer is a resounding yes, but there’s also a very small no in there somewhere.

Based on the thriller by Cormac McCarthy, this is basically a chase story with lots of dark and perilous twists. Out hunting one day in scrubland, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the scene of a massacre between two gangs of drug smugglers. Thinking there are no witnesses still alive to rat on him, he steals the bag of drug money and goes home, and in doing so sparks off a series of events that will drag in everyone from his unwitting girlfriend (Kelly MacDonald), to a psychopathic assassin and a more charming hitman (Javier Bardem and Woody Harrelson respectively), and the world-weary local Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones).

What Moss can’t know is there is a tracking device within the swag bag and so far from being untraceable, the money’s ‘rightful’ owner knows exactly where it is and he wants it back (and then some) and so has sent an expressionless and unstoppable killer (Javier Bardem) to retrieve it. With Moss being pursued across the country, Sheriff Bell finds himself always one step behind and lamenting at the lawlessness around him.

This being a Coen Brothers’ movie there are odd, unexplained scenes that crop up from time to time, but they fit in perfectly with the underplayed and deadpan feel of the film. There is a sense of despair and inevitability about proceedings that add to the film’s sparse texture, which reflects the sparse countryside of the Texan borderlands.

All the leads are truly excellent, giving incredibly natural performances (the backchat between Sheriff Bell and his deputy is delightful) and we haven’t seen an onscreen killer as decidedly scary as Bardem since Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast. Yet, it is another cameo performance that may well resonate in your brain for even longer. This is from Barry Corbin (Maurice from TV series Northern Exposure) as Bell’s uncle Ellis, who in one eloquent scene sums up the whole film as he talks of how Texas has always been lawless.

So, a near perfect piece of cinema with only one small niggle – its ending. Apparently, people who have read the book say the film’s conclusion is one hundred per cent true to the written version, so the Coens can’t be blamed there, but that didn’t stop this viewer at least from feeling ever so slightly short-changed.     Dee Pilgrim

CINEMA: The Good Night

Do you ever wake up in the mornings and wish you could continue in your dream world rather than have to exist in real life? Gary (Martin Freeman) most certainly does. He’s a one time pop singer now providing jingles for exacting clients.

At home, his relationship with Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow) has descended into a round of petty squabbles, while best mate Paul (Simon Pegg) has left Gary behind, as he’s now a successful, if obnoxious, businessman. But Gary has found a way to escape – when he sleeps he dreams of a luxurious house where he has an illicit affair with Anna (Penelope Cruz), his ideal woman. The problem with this perfect fantasy world is that Gary never wants to leave it and so consults dream guru Mel (Danny Devito) to learn the secrets of lucid dreaming. However, this is when Anna turns up in real life, giving Gary one almighty headache.

Written and directed by Jake Paltrow (Gwynnie’s brother), there is an intriguing basic idea to this movie along the lines of ‘if dreams were to come true, would we really want to live in them?’ In reality, the film itself is a lightweight affair, all rather fluffy round the edges. Similar ground was covered more convincingly (and with much more charm) by director Michel Gondry in The Science Of Sleep. However, there’s a great soundtrack of Pulp songs and Simon Pegg plays sleazy as if born to it.     Dee Pilgrim

CINEMA: Dan In Real Life

The American family get-together at holiday time (usually Christmas or Thanksgiving) film that ends in battles, tears and eventual reconciliation now deserves its own genre.  It’s pretty much been done to death, but there’s a slightly new twist on this tired old formula here, where it is not conflicts between family members per se that form the backbone of the story, but one particular rivalry.

This arises unexpectedly between widowed Dan (Steve Carell), who drives his three daughters to the annual family reunion on Rhode Island, and his brother Mitch (Dane Cook) who has brought with him his new main squeeze Marie (Juliette Binoche). Dan realises Marie is the woman he has been waiting for all his life, but what can he do to convince the rest of his family she’s the one for him and not his kid brother?

This would be an intriguing set up if it weren’t so contrived. Unfortunately, everything that happens between Dan, his family and Marie is a bit staid and stilted and what should be all-out fun, fisticuffs and squabbles lacks energy and conviction. The luminous Juliette Binoche looks out of place and uneasy and even the best of efforts from the always dependable Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney as Dan’s mum and dad can’t boost the movie out of its run-of-the-mill rut.    Dee Pilgrim

CINEMA: Charlie Wilson’s War

There’s no better way to greet the New Year than a movie full of vim, pith, spite and a hefty dose of charm (Southern drawl style). So, if that’s what you’re looking for get yourself off to the cinema immediately and see Charlie Wilson’s War, a movie based on dodgy politics and even dodgier morals, but with a heart of darkly glistening glee.Like many of the best stories it’s based on real life incidents when, way back in the outrageously un-PC 1980s (all-smoking, all-drinking, all crass sexual jokes), congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) took up the cause of wealthy Texan socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), to up America’s (covert) funding of arms to Afghanistan. Ostensibly, this was to ease the suffering of the Afghan people, but in reality it was to get one over on those darned Ruskies who’d had the temerity to invade Afghanistan.

While Charlie worked on the Government to get extra money and Joanne worked on the public PR campaign to ‘save the poor people’, beavering away in the background was frustrated CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who just wanted to stick it to the bosses who continually overlooked his talents due to his lack of diplomacy. But, what Gust lacked in the tact department he more than made up for in tactics, and soon he and his unlikely fellow conspirators had outwitted and out-armed the Russian army.

Unfortunately, at the same time they unwittingly left the door open for the Taliban to take over and decimate Afghanistan, which is where the dodgy morals of the story come in, so however much you may warm to ‘good time’ Charlie and his pals, you can never really sanction their actions. That said, this is a beautifully knitted together film with a script of pure, impish genius from Aaron (The West Wing) Sorkin and a nice kinetic feel from director Mike Nichols. Hanks exudes just the right level of slow Texan charm, while it’s great to have Julia Roberts back on screen in a role where she can just flash that wide smile and steal a whole scene. But nobody steals scenes like Seymour Hoffman whose crumpled, pissed off, nail-spitting Gust is a howling gale of fresh air from his very first scene

This is political satire of the highest order – if only its consequences weren’t so tragic.     Dee Pilgrim

INTERVIEW: Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank is a woman who has played a boxer that ends up paralysed and a boy/girl who ends up being raped and murdered, but it takes a rom-com set in New York to nearly kill her for real.

Warm and confident, with a wide smile that appears regularly, Swank is in town to promote latest movie PS I Love You, which follows Holly Kennedy, a woman in New York who goes on a personal journey of self-discovery when the love of her life Gerry (played by Gerard Butler) dies and she starts receiving beyond-the-grave letters from him guiding her in how to move on via a series of adventures. But an accident involving a pair of braces could have very well sent Swank to join her on-screen husband in the afterlife.

“In his great striptease in the film, in his off-camera version he took his suspender clip and flicked it and it caught on a piece of furniture in my character’s apartment,” remembers Hilary, laughing. “He then jumped onto the bed and this thing is now stretched like about ten feet. And then this piece of furniture starts walking and the second I think ‘that’s gonna come off any second!’ it flies across the room and hits me right on the forehead!” she hoots.

“I ended up getting stitches and I had a perfect, perfect suspender clip mark on my forehead with little teeth in it. The plastic surgeon was like ‘what bit you?!’”

PS I Love You is certainly a departure from the previous, more physically orientated roles Swank has opted for in the past. “For me, reading the script, I was reminded of what life is about because it was a reminder that you just want to hold those ones that you love dear because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s such a great love story – I think we can all relate to that.”

She also acknowledges that this meant there would be different challenges within the telling of such as story. Rather than building muscle or passing as a boy, Swank would need to give a believable portrayal of a woman in the middle of grieving. “The challenge was the emotional side of it to really find the humour within that reality in the aftermath of what’s happened while at the same time being honest to the full range of emotions related with grief”.

But PS I Love You isn’t without its fair share of funny moments. Swank smiles as she recalls a set where jokes were constantly flying around. “Because of the nature of this movie with so many characters, I called it the revolving door of actors, because I was there every single day and in would come someone new. Kathy Bates would come for a few days and then Gerry for a few days, and then Jeffrey Dean Morgan for a few days and Lisa Kudrow – it was such a great cast and it was so much fun for me to play with all of them. There was a lot of laughter on set!”

Perhaps a more nerve-wracking challenge was the moment where Swank’s character Holly ends up singing karaoke, daunting enough at the best of times, but when you have multi-million album selling singer Harry Connick Jr. looking on it is maybe just that little bit more terrifying.

“I’ve got news for you, he says I can’t sing!” laughs Hilary. “You can see from my singing in this movie that I don’t have an album coming out!”

One of the key factors in this movie is the chemistry, not just between Holly and Gerry but also between the actors and director. Richard LaGravenese, who worked with Hilary on Freedom Writers, is according to the actress, one of her favourite writers who she loves collaborating with.

“I think he’s proving to be quite an extraordinary director as well,” she enthuses. “Also he is so wonderful because on the set of Freedom Writers he was always talking about how I’m this goofball and girly-girl and how he wanted to show that side of it – here we are showing that side of it!”

Swank will next be hitting our screens in the comedy-drama Birds of America, about a man who struggles to balance his life while trying to make amends for the actions of his free-spirited siblings. There is certainly no predictability to what she might do next. “Ultimately I never know what my next thing is going to be; I’m not searching for one thing in particular,” she explains. “I just want to challenge myself and work with people that inspire me.”
Louise Steggals

DVD: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End

Similar in theme to the entirely cheap and gratuitous Hills Have Eyes 2, when watching Joe Lynch’s impressive splatter-fest one can’t help but think the wrong film was released to theatres.Bursting with passion and enthusiasm for the dark pleasures of the slasher movie, Dead End is outrageous without taking a wrong turn into parody. A sequel to 2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre knock-off, a film that was itself far better than it should have been, Lynch’s debut feature rises above it’s direct-to-DVD status and is fast earning a reputation as a fan favourite as a result.

Even though this has been made with less than half the budget of the first with make-up god Stan Winston and Eliza Dushku nowhere to be seen, Lynch packs his film with gloriously grotesque moments and enough humour to give the film a distinct identity from its predecessors.

A new bunch of twenty-somethings fall prey to the inbred mutant cannibals this time and while the film borrows ideas from the terrible Halloween: Resurrection (the theme of a reality TV show that goes awry and a music industry icon on heroic form) the similarities end there. American punk icon Henry Rollins has more badass credibility than Busta Rhymes and the reality TV novelty is soon forgotten once the massacre begins.

Playing a Marine turned TV presenter, Rollins is a scene stealer but he’s really only there for the Donald Pleasance factor. This is a genre that’s all about the not-so-bright young things and Lynch brings some memorable characters to the screen.

Among some fresh faces and a couple of victims from Final Destination 3 is Erica Leerhsen. With experience of sequels and cannibal psychos, thanks to key roles in the Blair Witch: Book of Shadows and the Texas Chainsaw remake, Leerhsen confirms her status as a smart scream queen with her lead turn as a bitchy vegan.

Starting as it means to go on, with the demise of an American Idol, Dead End is a film that follows a set of rules and does it well. Like Hatchet (another cinema release) this is another film made by a talented horror fan for and it’s everything Hills Have Eyes 2 should have been.     Richard Hawes

Buy it for yourself here. 

CINEMA: Lust, Caution

Ang Lee returns to his roots to take the helm of this visually opulent tale of rebellion, deception and desire.

Based on the novel by Eileen Chang, and set World War II-era Shanghai, Lust, Caution is the story of Mak (Wei Tang), a young girl who joins a patriotic drama group and discovers a natural ability to evoke strong feelings in her audience through her performance. The naïve Mak is then recruited to seduce a Japanese co-operator, Mr Yee, played by Tony Leung, so that he may be made vulnerable enough to be assassinated. The film’s focus is then on the developing relationship between the two and the changes each goes through as the romance, if you can call it such, progresses.

 

What makes this such a captivating watch is, firstly, a juxtaposition of the subtlety of the emotions each character allows us to witness – stopping the whole thing from collapsing into melodrama – with the startlingly graphic sexual gymnastics that take place when Mak succeeds in luring Yee to the bedroom.

Secondly, the two lead performances from Tang and Leung are breathtaking. A vibrant Tang takes the audience with superb skill along Mak’s journey from pawn in a dangerous game of espionage, through to worldly seductress, whose cold, calculating nature is as equally in danger of crumbling as Yee’s paranoid, mistrusting defences, as his resistance to Mak’s charms is chipped away.

There is a palpable chemistry between the two that allows a thrilling eroticism to emerge and keeps the film on the right side of a line that would otherwise see this descend into a sort of crass pornography, albeit written by Jane Austen. And while the climax of the story may be a typical outcome for a Chang story (also responsible for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) each character seems to find redemption within it.

Magnificent yet tragic, powerful yet gentle, this will be added to Lee’s canon of modern classics. Louise Steggals

More reviews at www.the-void.co.uk/movies

COMPETITION: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner (12A) is a profoundly emotional tale of friendship, family, devastating mistakes and redeeming love. Based on one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory this stunning film is at cinemas everywhere now.

To celebrate we are offering you the chance to win a copy of the book and a calendar signed by the author Khaled Hosseini, plus the soundtrack to the film!

The Kite Runner is an epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal that takes us from the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy to the atrocities of the Taliban reign. This unforgettable story of redemption is based on a best-selling publishing phenomena by Khaled Hosseini.

In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It’s a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day’s victory, one boy’s fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right.

The Kite Runner (12A) is at cinemas everywhere from now. Find out more about this touching film at www.thekiterunner.co.uk

The Kite Runner soundtrack is now available on DG.

For your chance to win the signed book and calendar along with soundtrack, simply answer the following question….

The Kite Runner is directed by who?

Send your answers to competitions@the-void.co.uk by February 1, 2008

Good luck!

Copyright: © 2007 DreamWorks LLC and Kite Runner Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Check out the rest of The Void. Go on, you know you want to.