Hear Burton Talk about "Sweeney Todd" Before "An Evening with Tim Burton: Cinema's Demon Barber"

On Wednesday, November 14th, Tim Burton spoke at the Rose Theater in New York at The Film Society of Lincoln Center's "An Evening with Tim Burton: Cinema's Demon Barber. " At the show, Burton discussed his career in filmmaking and showed clips from his various films spanning over the last two decades. The finale of the evening featured three clips from his upcoming Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The clip reportedly confirmed that the film will be bloody and that Johnny Depp can sing. "Witty, often elegant and always unpredictable, the films of Tim Burton have created a special niche for themselves within contemporary cinema," reads an announcement for the evening. "A born spinner of tall tales, whose subjects have ranged from Martians to Z-list Hollywood directors to, now, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Burton takes audiences places they'd never thought they'd go—and in ways they couldn't have imagined."

Before the show, The Los Angeles Times reports that Burton discussed the songs in the movie musical. Despite cuts, Burton assured that much of the music from the staged musical will be in the movie. "There are 26 songs in it. It's like 70 to 75 percent singing and 80 or 90 percent music — more like 90 percent." Burton also gave an indication that the film will be roughly an hour and forty-five minutes long. An Mp3 interview with Burton can be heard here.

AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Albert Ferreira.

Running Time for "Sweeney Todd"?...

The Washington Post has stated that Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street will be roughly 160 minutes in length. The running time suggested by the article contrasts with a supposed claim made by Stephen Sondheim that the film was about an hour and forty-five minutes long. But it is not uncommon for film adaptations of staged musicals to be fairly longer than the average movie. If the article is accurate, Sweeney Todd will be Burton's longest film to date. Others, who attended the pre-screening, said it was just under two hours. With so many ideas on the duration of the film, we may have to wait it out to learn how long Burton's next project is for certain...