Alice Cooper's "Dark Shadows" Cameo Confirmed

Alice Cooper poses in his "Welcome to My Nightmare" maze at Universal Studios Hollywood's annual Halloween Horror Nights attraction in Los Angeles. (David Sprague / Universal Studios Hollywood)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Alice Cooper has confirmed that he will have a cameo in the forthcoming Dark Shadows movie.

In an article by the Los Angeles Times, Cooper described his experience on the set and told the writer about his role in the film. “They should take that set and make it a haunted house next year,” Cooper said of the Pinewood Studios constructs that include a sprawling gothic mansion and a harbor city complete with pier and boats floating in an artificial ocean.

Cooper plays himself in the film, which is set in 1972 – Johnny Depp’s character, the recently revived vampire Barnabas Collins, hires the rock star to play a private ball at his seaside home in Maine.

“He’s a guy you have to watch when he’s up on the stage and the songs are just classic,” Depp said last month about Cooper, who, wearing his trademark makeup, plays “No More Mr. Nice Guy” in the film. (His collaboration with Depp went beyond the confine of Pinewood — the actor brought his guitar along to perform with the rock star and his band during a London gig.)

Cooper said he also found in Burton a simpatico soul.

“Rock and horror and comedy work together, that’s something I’ve known a long time and people like Rob Zombie know, and Burton knows that too,” Cooper said. “Sometimes the comedy is disguised a little bit, it’s dark, but it is there. You can’t do horror and rock with a punchline in a way. There’s the absurd stuff and there’s just that delivery of the ’Oh!’ moment that is like a punchline. I just saw Final Destination 5 and I was laughing so hard. I mean, it was Wile E. Coyote, all these elaborate things leading up to this moment of impact... there’s something like that in our shows, too. Hitchcock would do it too. There’s the setup, the misdirect and then the delivery. Tim Burton knows it so well. He’s one of a kind. He’s a kindred spirit.”