Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Timing: 1:56 (116 min)

7.178/10
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7.699/10
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7.3/10
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All about film

Video 5

Photo 95

Actors and characters

Release date

2007-12-21

Country

United Kingdom, United States

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Parkes/MacDonald Productions, The Zanuck Company, MacDonald/Parkes Productions, Dombey Street Productions

Genre

Drama, Horror

Budget

$50 000 000

Revenue

$153 384 272

Website

http://www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/

Director

Tim Burton

Actors

Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders, Gracie May Weldon
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Hugh Wheeler, Stephen Sondheim

Producer

John Logan, Richard D. Zanuck, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Patrick McCormick

Operator

Dariusz Wolski

Composer

Stephen Sondheim

Artist

Audition

Susie Figgis

Editing

Chris Lebenzon
All team (74)

• Christopher Lee was one of the few actors in the film with a musical education and operatic training (along with musical actresses Jane Wisner and Laura Michelle Kelly) and was dismissed from the project. Officially, filming scenes with his character did not fit the shooting schedule.
• During filming, Johnny Depp's daughter was hospitalized in critical condition. Depp had to keep watch at her bedside until the girl's condition improved. Filming was suspended for this period.
• While preparing for the role of the Italian barber Pirelli, Sacha Baron Cohen took lessons in handling a straight razor from a real barber.
• Filming took three months.
• Almost nowhere in the promotional materials was it mentioned that "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" was a musical. Only one of the four film trailers features a segment where Johnny Depp sings. An international promotional trailer containing musical numbers was released a week before the premiere.
• Sweeney Todd's hairstyle is simultaneously reminiscent of Ludwig van Beethoven and Elsa Lanchester's Bride of Frankenstein.
• Filming took place in England at Pinewood Studios from February 5 to June 14, 2007.
• Helena Bonham Carter filmed while pregnant, so her character's waistline thickened and her bust changed.
• Johnny Depp's friend and music producer, Bruce Witkin, took on the task of providing the vocals. It is said that during breaks from filming 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,' Johnny would pace the set and sing the barber's parts.
• Depp has a phobic fear of the sight of blood. Tim Burton even had to order fake blood in orange color so that Johnny wouldn't faint during filming. The actor admits that he still hasn't watched the film from beginning to end: 'It's so scary that during some scenes I had to close my eyes.'
• To prevent information leaks, the film was referred to as “Project 32463” during production.
• It took approximately 90 minutes each day to do the makeup for each of the actors in the leading roles.
• The Russian distribution title of the film, “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” does not entirely accurately reflect the film’s content. The main character does not practice barbering, but only shaves his clients.
• Several Midwestern US states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, North Dakota) refused to distribute the film due to disagreement with the distribution company's pricing.
• Due to Tim Burton’s involvement in the film’s promotional campaign, his youngest daughter, born in December, remained nameless for about four months. Both parents decided that Burton should spend some time with his daughter before naming her, in order to choose the most suitable name.
• The director's son, Billy Ray, appears in the film. In the beach scene in "By The Sea," he plays near a sandcastle.
• The film was delivered to American cinemas under the false title "Skunk."
• Russell Crowe was considered for a long time as the main contender for the role of Sweeney Todd.
• Sweeney Todd is another iconic figure from Victorian England. As iconic as Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, or Count Dracula. He is a manic barber who kills his clients and makes meat pies out of them. If in the 19th century, Sweeney was a character from yellow journalism, today films, cartoons, and even musicals are regularly made about him.
• Mrs. Lovett stabs with a knife so that a piece of dough ends up on the back of the blade. Later, when she returns to the table, the knife is stuck in differently.
• Joanna, who sings about the nightingale, has curtains arranged differently in the interior and exterior shots.
• Hearing the song in the judge's house, the boy steps back slightly from the bench, and when he retreats, he bumps into a beggar. Later, the bench moves somewhere to the right, as he spends a very long time going for his backpack. And the bench itself has shifted in relation to the fence behind the sidewalk.
• When Mrs. Lovett treats the young servant Pirelli, he eats almost half of the pie, but then the pie is whole again.
• When Mrs. Lovett waltzes with Todd in the kitchen, the hero Johnny Depp holds the cleaver alternately at her waist level (wide shot) and at her head level (close-up shots).
• Stephen Sondheim, a classic of the American musical (including co-creator of "West Side Story"), staged "Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" on Broadway in 1979. The musical was a great success and received eight Tony Awards. Its production was revived in both London and New York in 2004 and 2005, and the show received two more Tony Awards in 2006.
• After long and thorough consideration, Paramount decided to postpone filming Tim Burton’s "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" for a year or two and instead assign him a more frightening project.
• Initially, Oscar winner Sam Mendes was chosen to direct.
• Almost nowhere in the promotional materials was it mentioned that "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" was a musical. Only one of the film's four trailers includes a fragment where Johnny Depp sings. An international trailer featuring musical numbers was released a week before the premiere.
• Helena Bonham Carter filmed while pregnant, which is why her character's waistline appears to thicken and her bust changes.
• Johnny Depp's vocals were coached by his friend, music producer Bruce Witkin. It is said that during breaks from filming "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," Johnny would walk around the set and rehearse the barber's parts.
• Depp has a phobic fear of the sight of blood. Tim Burton even had to order stage blood in orange, so Johnny wouldn't faint during filming. The actor admits that he still hasn't watched the film from beginning to end: "It's so scary that I had to close my eyes during some scenes."