Barber Black Sheep

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday January 11, 2008

Helen Barlow

Johnny Deep plays a psychotic hairstylist in Sweeney Todd. HELEN BARLOW reports.

FEW stories are darker than that of Sweeney Todd, the fictional homicidal barber who was fond of a straight razor. So it makes sense that a master of the macabre, Tim Burton, would try his hand at this murderous 19th-century story. What's surprising is that the version he decided to revise was Stephen Sondheim's 1979 musical.

Filmed in a grimy monochrome, Burton beautifully evokes Oliver Twist-era London, where all kinds of skulduggery thrives. Besides the red barbers' pole, the only vibrant colour comes in the form of spurting blood, as Depp's barber slits the throat of yet another victim before his accomplice and would-be sweetheart, Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), turns them into popular pies.

Still, there's a method to Sweeney's madness. The former family man had been falsely convicted of a crime by an evil judge (Alan Rickman) and transported to Australia, only to return to find his teenage daughter is now the judge's ward. In true gothic style, he exacts his revenge, but to get to the judge Sweeney must dispense with other people first.

The film's tone is in keeping with some of the previous Burton-Depp collaborations, namely Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Corpse Bride, but the singing comes as a complete surprise, although as Burton notes dryly, "there's no dancing".

"I've never been a big fan of movie musicals but this one is my favourite because it mixes horror movies and music together. It's quite uncharted territory, because I don't think there are that many R-rated musicals out there these days."

Burton admits he was unsure whether Depp could sing. Depp was a struggling musician who became an actor almost by chance. Rather than be dubbed, Depp sang in a way he felt was raw and natural, and he has now earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Meanwhile, even if she is Burton's partner, Bonham Carter's skills had to be approved by Sondheim.

"Everybody in the film is not a professional singer, which was really amazing because it's not easy music to sing,'' Burton says. "There's something strange about singing. There's something coming from within people's souls that's very exposing.''

As always, the look of the characters was also important. "I like people that look weird," Burton says. "I always wanted to make a movie that harked back to the days of Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney and Peter Lorre. We watched a lot of old horror movies, including The Return Of Doctor X, the only horror movie that Humphrey Bogart ever made."

Sweeney's white stripe in his hair in fact refers to Bogart's ghoulish doctor in that film.

sweeney todd: The Demon Barber of fleet street

Director Tim Burton Stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman

Rated MA15+. Opens January 24.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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