Taken from IMDB board: Sondheim appeared on an Aussie TV show last night to promote Company. He talked a little about the Sweeney film...
Host: And it's now translated to film, I believe, Tim Burton has just directed Johnny Depp?
SS: Yes, indeed, filming was finished just... two weeks ago.
Host: And what sort of imput did you have into that process?
SS: Well, the screen-writer John Logan came to me, he'd done his adaptation of it, and I put in my two cents worth. Obviuosly you can't do the full piece because it would take too long, and so you have to do some - I hope - judicious cutting, and so he'd done some of that. I thought some of that was too judicious, and some of it not enough and so there are songs that have been cut and there are cuts within songs. But generally it's pretty much the score. The plot is very little changed - there are details of the plot which have been changed, but it's pretty faithful to the piece. Now, the whole style in which it's being told and the acting style is different than a stage acting style, it's much more of a film noir, low-key acting style, but the transition into the music seems to me to work. Now, it hasn't been put together, yet, so I've only seen, you know, seen it in - no pun intended - slices, and it's got a lot of blood in it, and that's fine by me, it's a very bloody movie.
Host: And I didn't realise Johnny Depp could sing...?
SS: Everybody forgets he started in a band. He was a band singer before he became a tv star. He was not the lead singer, but he was a backing singer, he was very musical, and he sings too.
Funny. No talk of Helena at all. Lame interview but thanks for posting what little we can hope for. It is how things go. You would think the show reaks with blood! The way it always comes up whenever you hear talk of this. I would hate to have worked wardrobe. This will affect ratings I bet. Though it really should be R because it is about revenge and murder. Give it an R and all the PG'ers will still be there but some of the G'ers might be scared away.
I will see it with trepidation. I hope I won't be too disappointed.
I can't tell you how much Sondheim giving his approval on these aspects of the film has raised my spirits.
I look forward to this movie even more than I did before, and that's saying something.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
humbug, I thought the same thing. It's such an ambiguous statement....as opposed to him just saying one way or the other if he thinks Depp is any good.
I've not read a lot of Sondheim interviews....is he usually pretty diplomatic, or does he speak his mind?
"Word of advice: Be who you are, wear what you want---just learn how to run real fast." Marc, UGLY BETTY
Yes, he's got a mouth, but he's also extraordinarily clever with words (would we be Sondheim fans if he weren't?). There are SO many other ways he could have made that statement that the sheer...faintness of his comment seems quite dire.
Hell, I'm very musical, and I sing, too, but nobody in their right mind would let me sing anywhere outside my shower.
Depp sings a bit in Chocolat and I was very....underwhelmed by his vocal abilities. I'm sure for ordinary stuff he's just fine, but for Sondheim....and not just any Sondheim, but SWEENEY?? I guess we have to put a lot of trust and faith in the recording engineer.
I was at the show "An Audience with Stephen Sondheim" which was on the 2nd of July. He talked MUCH more about Sweeney Todd, but a lot of it was cut for TV. He said stuff cuts made in the songs "Johnanna", "God, That's good!" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" (The reprises I assume). He didn't talk about the cast much.
A little known fact is that in the original screenplay, Pan's Labyrinth was Pan's FLAByrinth. Hmmmmmmm...glad they changed it.
Didn't Depp lyp synch someone else's voice in 'Cry Baby'? I don't think he is very vocally strong... and he's playing Sweeney... Ah, well, I'll just have to keep faith and try to keep my hopes high.
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
Listening to a live BBC interview with Sondheim right now.
quick notes:
Sacha Baron Cohen is brilliant in film. Sondheim saw tape of SBC singing, blown away. Sondheim fan of Ali G, SBC was his choice for the role. SBC is "not camp" in the film, "creepy", "sleazy", and sinister".
Sondheim approved of Carter but not Depp. Depp came with the project.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
Thanks. It sounded in one interview that SBC was struggling with shaving and cutting and it was going to be a problem. Now I feel a little better about that. I was just concerned how much they cut back the songs. He sounded kind of disappointed about the score in the first interview posted here.
Johnny may be re-recording some stuff in post production. We will have to hope for the best. It looks good!
I’ve noticed that Sondheim dishes differently from interview to interview. Just having finished listening to his live BBC interview, I have to say he was clearly goofing on Depp in classic coded Sondheim way.
Depp (pause) umm… (longer pause) Depp came with the project. I approved all the other parts.
Yet in the other interviews he’s given in the past few days he’s praised Depp, but always manages to add that he was in a real rock and roll band and everything.
… then informs the interviewee that he was only the backup singer.
You wait for the laugh, but it never comes. Updated On: 8/6/07 at 08:51 PM