Talks about a big-budget film adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd are again heating up, this time with a new director attached. While DreamWorks the studio which Steven Spielberg founded in 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen was once in talks with Sam Mendes to oversee the project, the film is moving ahead with Tim Burton at its helm, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Burton is reportedly pursuing his frequent leading man, Johnny Depp, to star as the title character.
Sweeney Todd, which features a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, tells the tale of the "demon barber of Fleet Street," fresh out of jail for a crime he did not commit, who cooks up a macabre revenge scheme with his dazzlingly demented accomplice, Mrs. Lovett. Sweeney Todd premiered on Broadway in 1979, winning eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The current acclaimed Broadway revival of the musical recently picked up Tony Awards for Best Orchestrations Sarah Travis and Best Director John Doyle. John Logan Any Given Sunday, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, The Avaitor is adapting the work for the silver screen.
Burton's films include Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetle Juice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, the 2001 Planet of the Apes remake, Big Fish, the 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. He was expected to next direct the film Believe It or Not, starring Jim Carrey, but instead will work on Sweeney Todd first.
