Oh, man. Oh, man. OhmanohmanohmanohmanohMANNN! The movie version of “Sweeney Todd” is coming this Christmas and I am literally wiggly with anticipation. But fretful, too. Like smelling-salts fretful, Auny Pittypat fretful. Like I’m not sure it’s gonna be done RIGHT. And, yes, it is a VERY BIG DEAL to me.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before — well, not suure, but mostly sure — but I did a production of “Sweeney Todd” in Seattle years ago. It was a joint production of the Seattle Light Opera and The Seattle Repertory Theatre, so there was a general tingliness in the Seattle theatre community over this upcoming production. At the time, I was a young and feckless college graduate — with a Bachelor’s in Theatehhh, no less. I mean, I was an actress with a piece of paper that proved it, goldurnnit. I was also deeply in love or something with The Weirdo who would later be Fiance #2 and one of our main pastimes — ahem! — was listening to the soundtrack “Sweeney Todd.” Because, basically, lounging around crappy apartments and listening to angsty soundtracks is all part of the initiation rite into the brotherhood of actors worldwide. You dare not call yourself an actor unless you’ve done this, repeatedly, with others, spontaneously singing the parts uproariously together OR spontaneously ignoring everyone else in the room and doing your own thing to the music. This, my friend, means you are a theatre geek, you are ON YOUR WAY, you have earned your right to start treading the boards. Oh, and I had done that. All of that. Obsessively, with “Sweeney Todd.” And all of this added up to an overall fatheadedness that made me brash enough to think I could just mosey on down there and audition.
Uhm, I’m getting far afield here. I’ll save the rest of that story for later. I will! This post was supposed to be about these posters. I want y’all (I am Southern! See my acting??) to tell me which one you like best, mmkay, and I will shove my opinions down your throats.
Sweeney #1
While I like the atmosphere of this one — the huge sloping window, the portrait in the background, the austerity of the room — I don’t like Sweeney’s pose here or the blood on the floorboards. Ooooh, people are being killed here, oooooooh! Ya think? There’s a lyric in Sweeney Todd that goes like this: Sweeney was smooth, Sweeney was subtle, Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle. Yes, Sweeney WAS subtle. Sweeney was a killer, but he was careful about it. “Set a sort of a scene, he did.” So I don’t care for the blatant look-at-my-crotch pose. It doesn’t work for me. Not subtle, too forward. To me it says, “I am Johnny Depp. Notice my crotch, my chair, my razor. Pay no attention to my Edward Scissorhands wig with the Bride of Frankenstein white streak.” And if Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle, then I can only imagine that this spreadeagled pose could singlehandedly (singlecrotchedly?) cause the mass migration of the entire rat population of London.
Sweeney #2
This is the one MB and I recently saw in the theater. I prefer this misty Sweeney, walking away from us, razor dangling from his hand. It’s more subtle. More mysterious. Quietly menacing. I feel like if you don’t know Sweeney, you’d look at this image and say, “Who is this guy? What’s that in his hand? What’s he up to?” I like that. I love the mood. Sets a sort of a scene, it does. BUT for me, they ruin it with the giant BEWARE at the top of the thing. I feel the marketing here. I can hear the bunch of guys in suits sitting around a table and saying, “But lots of people don’t know Sweeney. We want them to KNOW they should be scared, that they will want to be SCARED. If they’re not strongly BEWARED, they won’t come and that would be bad and ACK! ACK!” Whereupon, all the besuited dudes start sweating and pulling at their ties and the decision is made.
BEWARE.
BEWARE, goobers!
But that’s just me. What do y’all think? (Okay. Please. Someone just hand me the Oscar, already.)
I’m thrilled about this movie. Nervous, too – because of my regard for the material -but I can’t wait to see what they do with it.
I’m leaning towards the first poster.
The second poster reminds me too much of a Jack the Ripper type tale – I think I’ve even seen that exact poster for a Jack the Ripper movie … so I don’t think it’s good to repeat – although it’s a beautiful image, in and of itself.
The first one has a personal psychosis to it – that really fits with the musical, I think. And it also pinpoints that Johnny Depp is in it – which is obviously good marketing since maybe Sweeney Todd doesn’t have a TON of cultural cache with the hoi polloi (forgive me).
I’m not wacky about his Beethoven wig in that first poster though.
I prefer the first – I would prefer it more if Mr. Depp* was leaning forward, or just sitting up normally… contemplating the razor, like a librarian would contemplate a book… Just an everyday barber who likes to take a little off the top (and a lot off the bottom).
*tangent rant – that is JOHNNY BLINKING DEPP, not Sweeney Todd. That is Johnny Depp AS Sweeney Todd. I hate, hate, HATE this whole “Actor X IS Character Y!” bunkum! It’s lazy and shlockey and waaaaay overdone. Knock it off!
sheila — I didn’t know this image — or one similar — had been used in a Jack the Ripper before. Hm. He does look psychotic, it’s true. And the wig, yes. Uhm, please tone that down for the movie. I’m hoping they do. It’s Beethoven. It’s Scissorhands. It’s Mark Twain. It’s Einstein. Please. We’ve seen this hair. It’s really bugging me, actually.
And I’m trying not to think of that Skeletor Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. I guess walking proof that she makes the worst pies in London. Now if she fattens up as the movie progresses …. as her pies get better …. THAT would amuse me.
NF — The first one IS more impactful, I think. Just … I don’t know. The legs, the pose …. it’s distracting to me.
And Johnny Depp IS Sweeney Todd. He is. HE IS, got it??? 😉
And what do you all think of the “Never Forget … Never Forgive” in Poster #1? I don’t haate it, but — totally picky here — it’s not quite the lyric from the show and the first time I saw it, it seemed like advice, you know, “We recommend that you never forget and never forgive.”
Okay! Permission! Thank …. Somebody!
I like the Actor X IS Character Y thing – especially if I am already excited for the performance. Gives me a thrill and makes me think: “Oh oh I HOPE SO.” Gets me even more excited.
Just did a bit of research – the original Broadway production had the cartoon poster – with Mr and Mrs Sweeney Todd singing like crazy – he is wearing the striped pants Depp is wearing in that top poster and wielding his bloody razor – it’s very bloodthirsty looking, but since it’s a cartoon it has a kind of Edward Gorey feel to it. (second reference to Gorey on your blog in one day, Tracey!!)
The poster for the most recent revival with Patti Lupone – is more abstract – and much more horror-movie-ish. It’s more MODERN, too – you can see the influence of the 70s and 80s slasher films in the art design. There’s the old-fashioned razor – and in it, you can see a pair of psychotic eyes reflected.
Kind of effective but in a totally different way from the first poster.
It’ll be interesting to see how preview audiences and focus groups respond to these two posters for the new movie. To some Depp will be the draw – to others Sweeney Todd itself … to others Tim Burton … Both posters tell totally different stories, as they stand now.
I love this kind of stuff!!
The stills I’ve seen of Depp walking around in costume shows that his hair is not quite that insane in the actual film. It looks a bit more greasy and stringy, as I recall.
Also – it depends on who you are marketing to. They obviously know that there are nutty Sweeney Todd fans out there … but it seems like they’re marketing to Johnny Depp fans. Which is smart, obviously. Also cause it’s being released at Christmas – as opposed to Halloween or something like that … it says something. It’s funny already – and creepy. “Merry Christmas! Meet the murdering barber!”
I like that. It has that darkness, that morbid gruesome chuckle in the face of death ….
I don’t know – I could totally be disappointed by this film … but I’m keeping my hopes up for now. (Skeletor notwithstanding.)
sheila — Yeah, I love the greasy, stringy Sweeney hair. Like, dude has other things on his mind than his coiffure.
And — oh — I remember that poster. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it’s the cartoon on the original soundtrack CD. Bigheaded Sweeney and Lovett, huge mouths open, almost look like bobbleheads — is that the one you’re talking about? I love that.
And actually, I read somewhere when I was downloading these images about a month ago that Poster #1 is the newest incarnation. Anyone else been in a theater to see either of these posters? Sounds like they may be “going” with #1. I am outvoted!! Damnassdamners. 😉
Didn’t you and I have a big ol’ convo about the revival of Sweeney, like, last year? Somewhere on this blog … in the comments … like, after last year’s Tonys? I seem to remember it. How we didn’t like Lupone as Lovett? And other obsessive miscellania??
Yes – they look like little insane bobble-head troll dolls. Singing lustily – it’s crazy!!
So… I’ve never seen it.
Yes!!! (about your Lupone comment)
I think I might have linked to some massive piece in the NY TImes about her rendition of the part … I should check – I do remember talking about this with you quite a bit.
Tracey:
http://www.footlightsgallery.com/imagelg/sweeney.jpg
hahahahahahaha
sarahk — Oh, YOU ARE GOING TO. THAT IS IT! WE (and I’m throwing sheila under the bus here, too) DEMAND IT.
sheila — Did you link to an NY Times piece? I need to find that now.
sheila — HA! I was just searching that! It makes me giddy with psychosis!
There was a huge piece about what was lacking in Lupone’s performance. ??? Sound familiar?
Okay. Hm. Yes. But now I wanna reread it.
I’m like Pearl the Landlord about this whole thing. You know, when she screeches, with her little fingers all taut and bent:
“I WANT MY MONNNNNNEY!!!”
Except:
“I WANT MY SWEEEEEEENEY!!!”
Now I’m all interested in the article on Patti Lupone! I’ve never been a huge fan of hers for some reason…As to the posters, the first one looks too much like that Life cover of Bill Clinton for me to like it very much 🙂 And the second does remind me of a Jack the Ripper poster…why can’t these ad guys have an original idea!?!? (not that I could come up with anything better at the moment).
sam — For me Patti Lupone is up and down. I think she comes across as cold, bitchy, and a lot of that is just her physicality. Her angles, her nose. She doesn’t seem warm, you know? She seems haughty. So that worked for Evita, ambitious, brazen, class-climbing ho’. When she did Mrs. Lovett — and I only saw that brief number on the Tonys — I felt it didn’t work. Her coldness worked against her. You need to warm to Mrs. Lovett. She is FUNNY. She is appalling and FUNNY. She tries to mother Sweeney, tries to seduce Sweeney, she’s tryin’ everything she can think of and she needs to take the audience there with her. I think the bit on the Tonys included “Worst Pies in London” and she was just robotic to me:
Wait.
What’s your rush.
What’s your hurry.
You gave me such a fright.
I thought you was a ghost.
Blah.
Blah.
Blah.
I still don’t get the casting of her. If they wanted to go for some grand diva of theater casting, I would have gone with Bernadette Peters. Maybe she was busy. Or maybe it was just around the time she lost her husband in that plane crash. Anyway, SHE is someone I could see as a new Mrs. Lovett. That crazy kind of warmth she is capable of emanating.
It’s weird because Patti Lupone has about the best voice in the business – but it’s true – there’s something imperious about her – which SO WORKED for her in Argentina – one of the most unbelievable stage performances ever!! And in a way – her fame since then has always been larger than any role she did.
I saw her in Noises Off – which is totally an ensemble piece – and her fame tipped the balance of the show and it wasn’t always a good thing. Not her fault – but certainly something to notice.
And in terms of movie posters: there are no more original ideas. The form is set – there’s nothing new under the sun – it’s what you DO with the form that makes a memorable poster (like, to my taste, the most recent poster of Jodie Foster’s new movie – a cliche from beginning to end – but totally eye-catching – made me want to see it!)
Bernadette Peters would have definitely been a much better choice. I actually got to see her in the revival of Gypsy a few years ago in NY. What a phenomenal performance. I went with a friend of mine who had never seen a musical let alone one on Broadway. She was impressed as well. I had to really work at not singing all the songs sotto voce as I sat mesmerized by the performance!
I remember getting a quick “look to the right, this is the supposed shop for Sweeney Todd” reference on our last tour of London from a double decker bus as we drove down Fleet Street. I will need to do more research (obviously).
Yes ma’am, miss tracey. Whatever you say. I will see it. Is it scary? I don’t like scary stuff.