Christopher Lee Cut From "Sweeney Todd"?

An article on Stephen Sondheim's own website (http://www.sondheim.org/php/news.php?id=2299) from the Sunday Telegraph has stated that Christopher Lee's character, the Gentleman Ghost, has been cut from Tim Burton's upcoming film version of Sweeney Todd. Half a dozen other actors who were to play more singing ghosts have been axed from the film, too. Sondheim had greatly approved of Lee's operatic singing (he recently released a CD), but a tight production schedule is most likely to be the reason that the singing ghosts parts were cut. Lee was eager to participate in what would have been his fourth collaboration with Burton (they first worked together on 1999's Sleepy Hollow). The actor said that "It would have been worse if I had done the scenes, but I never got to film them." Lee continued saying "It's a shame as the lyrics were wonderful, but these things happen."

Helena Bonham-Carter Reveals More Tidbits on "Todd"

A new interview with Helena Bonham-Carter with the Times reveals some little details about the making of Sweeney Todd, as well as her relationship with Tim Burton and their son, Billy Ray:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1711485.ece

"Vincent" in 3D and "Sweeney Todd" Release Dates Announced!

The Hollywood Reporter (http://www.movieweb.com/news/53/18853.php) has some good news for Burton fans: Not only is The Nightmare Before Christmas going to return to theaters in 3D this fall, but Tim Burton's 1982 stop-motion short film, Vincent, will also be released with it, also in 3D!

For anyone who wants to mark their calendars, some release dates for Tim Burton's next feature film, Sweeney Todd, have been released. ComingSoon.net (http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=16053) has said that Sweeney Todd is set for limited release (most likely Los Angeles and New York City) just in time for Christmas, on December 21st, 2007. However, anyone living in the US but not in that area might need to wait until January 11th, 2008 for the wide release of the Sondheim musical's big-screen debut. IMDb.com (http://imdb.com/title/tt0408236/releaseinfo) has listed release dates for other countries (however, it is not officially determined if all of these are accurate or not):

Italy	5 September 2007	(Venice Film Festival)
USA	21 December 2007	(limited)
Norway	11 January 2008
USA	11 January 2008
Australia	24 January 2008
Netherlands	24 January 2008
UK	25 January 2008

Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands update

Just a quick update on the Edward Scissorhands ballet tour. You can find a tour itinerary here. You can find pictures from the tour here, including (joy!) some photos of Johnny Depp visiting the cast. So try and catch the show if you still can!

Sweeney Todd filming underway

Sweeney Todd is currently shooting at the Pinewood studios in London. Yahoo has a news article with some new bits of information ; http://news.yahoo.com/s/playbill/20070227/en_playbill/106058

The article reveals Christopher Lee's character character is "the gentleman ghost".

Also, Stephen Sondheim himself sounds pretty positive about the project: "Sometimes a story or stage production has to wait a long time until the right people come together to turn it into a motion picture. That's what has happened with Sweeney Todd and I'm excited as well as confident that it will be a first-rate and startling movie."

Sweeney Todd teaser poster and new cast members!

Sorry for the somewhat late update; Variety has released an official teaser poster of Sweeney Todd. Click on the above thumbnail to see a larger version. The poster also confirms a few casting rumours; Timothy Spall and Christopher Lee will indeed appear in the movie!

This marks the first time Burton will work with the British actor Timothy Spall (Wormtail from the Harry Potter movies) and it will be his fourth collaboration with the legendary Christopher Lee.

Timothy Spall's role has been reported to be Beadle Bramford. Christopher Lee's role is still unknown.

Thanks to karloffornia13, Fuzzy Duck and other loyal Burtonites for reporting this!

Edward Scissorhands ballet tour info and Believe it or Not update

Two small news items today. For those of you that don't already know, Matthew Bourne's stage production of Edward Scissorhands is currently on tour in America. More information on the dates and locations can be found here.
Also, Variety reports that Steve Oederkerk (Kung Pow) is working on the script for Believe It or Not, with Burton and Jim Carrey still attached. So we may yet see this delayed biopic of Robert Ripley after Burton is finished with Sweeney Todd.

Sweeney Todd updates

Technical problems have prevented any news being posted in a while, so here is a quick update on the latest Burton news. Alan Rickman has been cast as Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd. There are also rumours that Anthony Stewart Head (Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will play a role in the film.
In other news, The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D is now on release in the UK and Empire Magazine has an interview with Burton on their site.

Borat and Sweeney Todd. Very nice! High five!

We reported a while back on the rumour about Sacha Baron Cohen playing a role in Sweeney Todd. Well the English comedian, whose film Borat is currently busting blocks around the world, has been officially confirmed as playing Pirelli by Variety.

Most of you have probably heard this sad news already, but another Burton collaborator, Jack Palance, has recently passed away. Palance had a long career in Hollywood, appearing in, of course, Batman and many other classic movies.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3D leaves screens

Now that Halloween is over, Nightmare 3D has stopped playing just about everywhere. For those of you who weren't lucky enough to see it this time, Disney has promised they intend to bring it back for future Halloweens, hopefully on more screens. And if you're interested in box office figures, Nightmare 3D earned over $6 million in less than two weeks of release, pushing the film's lifetime box office to over $56 million, meaning it's passed the box office totals of both Corpse Bride and Edward Scissorhands.

Bones video premieres!

For those of you who missed it on MTV yesterday, you can watch Burton's video for "Bones" by The Killers on the MTV website. As you'd expect, it features people stripping down to their skeletons and getting involved in all kinds of shenanigans. There's also a making of video on the site.

Burton interviews galore!

Lots of Burton interviews for you today. For those who missed his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you can watch the whole interview on youtube. Harry Knowles over at Aint It Cool News also has an interview with Burton about a variety of topics. If that's not enough for you, there's an also an interview with Tim on the USA Today website.
And for those of you in the USA who have cable, don't forget that Corpse Bride has its TV premiere tonight at 8pm on ABC Family.

Sweeney casting news and Nightmare premiere multimedia

This news will be no suprise to anyone, but Helena Bonham Carter has been cast in Sweeney Todd. She will play the role of Mrs. Lovett.
There are also some pictures and video clips of the Nightmare Before Christmas 3D premiere that took place on Monday night, courtesy of Independent Entertainment News!

Report on Nightmare Before Xmas 3D premiere!

Our West Coast representative was lucky enough to be at the premiere of The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D in Hollywood last night, and here's his report:

"As you would expect the premiere was a fairly dull affair, who needs to brush shoulders, well 6' away, with John Lasseter, James Cameron, Danny Elfman and Tim Burton and walk down the red, ok black, carpet!
There were quite a few people in suits there but some people made the effort and dressed up as scary characters, one even came as Marilyn Manson, oh no that was Marilyn Manson! Burton went over to the crowd outside and signed autographs.
The movie had impressive 3D and the audience were really into it, cheering especially loud when Elfman's and Burton's name came on screen. Elfman and some of the others were hanging out in the foyer after to speak with fans. All in all it was a fantastic experience and I urge everyone to see the 3D version of the film if they can."

Thanks to Allan for the report and don't forget you can learn more about the 3D version of the film on our NMBC page. It's interesting that John Lasseter was at the premiere, since there are rumours that Burton may make a film with Pixar sometime in the future.

In other Nightmare news, Toon Zone has an interesting interview with Disney producer Don Hahn about the process of making the film 3D.

Borat and Burton to team up?

The latest, most exciting news about Sweeney Todd is that Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat, Bruno and Ali G) is reportedly in talks to appear as Todd's rival barber, Signor Adolfo. You can read more about the story here. Let's hope the rumours are true!

Nightmare songs and 3D premiere news!

With just over a week to go until the release of the 3D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas, there's lots of exciting news coming out. You can listen to several of Elfman's songs covered by artists such as Fiona Apple and Marilyn Manson on the myspace page for the film. There will also be a star-studded premiere for the film in Hollywood on October 16.

Burton nominated for award at Movies.com

Tim Burton has been nominated for best director in the 1st Annual movies.com Reader's Poll, alongside Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and George Lucas. Burton is in fourth place at the moment, so if you want to show your support click here to vote.
In other news, there are reports that Sweeney Todd will begin filming at Pinewood Studios in England from the 5th February next year. Also Burton will be attending the 50th London Film Fesival, starting 18th October.

Marilyn Manson and other artists to cover Nightmare

The latest news about the upcoming rerelease of The Nightmare Before Christmas is that there will also be a new double CD soundtrack in stores. One disc will features Elfman's original music while the other will have covers of the songs by artists (and Nightmare fans) such as Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple and Panic! at the Disco. This sounds like it could be either genius or completely awful. The CD will be released October 24 and you can read more about it here.

Jim Broadbent to join cast of Sweeney Todd?

The latest rumour about Sweeney Todd is that Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent, who was to star in the new movie version of Hairspray, will now appear in Burton's musical instead. Curiously, Broadbent will be replaced in Hairspray by Burton regular Christopher Walken. Read more about this story here.

Happy birthday, Tim!

Just to remind everyone that Tim Burton turns 48 today! Post your birthday wishes here, and your plans for the day (movie marathons, etc.)