The promotion machine for Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
is in high gear as the movie’s December 21 release approaches and, I must say, Helena Bonham Carter is a smashing Mrs. Lovett. Her childhood friends are not surprised, according to Bonham Carter’s interview in the December issue of Marie Claire. “One of my friends said, ‘Of course you’ll get the part. We called you Mrs. Lovett when you were 13 – you walked around with her horned hairdo for a year.'” Of course she did.
About the same time, her future boyfriend Tim Burton visited London, where he saw the musical – multiple times – and was equally obsessed. Not until about five years ago, however, did Burton focus on turning Sweeney into a film. And according to the movie’s leads, this may be his best film yet.
The audience at a screening last month agreed, as did a Cinefantastique critic who attended the show. “This movie is pretty much your dream of what it would be when you first heard that Burton and Johnny Depp would be turning the Stephen Sondheim
musical into a movie – it’s a dark, brooding horror-musical-comedy that hits all the right notes.” Concerns about whether Depp can sing apparently were put to rest when a clip of Depp and Bonham Carter singing “My Friends,” the love song to Todd’s razor, was shown at the Venice Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award ceremony for Tim Burton. At first, however, Depp himself shared those concerns.
While Burton’s gory version of Sweeney Todd won’t be for everyone, the more I hear about the movie, the more I’m looking forward to seeing it. In a season of often-fake cheer, this might just be the perfect holiday movie. But a word of warning to Santa: better pass on any snacks left out on Helena Bonham Carter’s table.
