Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).
Drama, Horror, Musical |
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a musical period slasher film directed by Tim Burton and an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Tony Award-winning 1979 musical of the same name. The film re-tells the Victorian melodramatic tale of Sweeney Todd, an English barber and serial killer who murders his customers with a straight razor and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, processes their corpses into meat pies. The film stars Johnny Depp as the title character and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett.
Having been struck by the cinematic qualities of Sondheim’s musical while still a student, Burton had entertained the notion of a film version since the early 1980s. However, it was not until 2006 that he had the opportunity to realize this ambition, when DreamWorks announced his appointment as replacement for director Sam Mendes, who had been working on such an adaptation.
In 1846, Benjamin Barker, a barber, arrives in London, accompanied by sailor Anthony Hope. Fifteen years earlier, he was falsely convicted and exiled by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who lusted after Barker’s wife Lucy. Barker adopts the alias “Sweeney Todd” and returns to his old Fleet Street shop, situated above Mrs. Nellie Lovett’s meat pie shop, where she sells the “worst pies in London”. Lovett tells him that Turpin raped Lucy, who then poisoned herself with arsenic. The couple’s daughter, Johanna, is now Turpin’s ward. Todd vows revenge and re-opens his barbershop after Mrs. Lovett, who loves him unrequitedly, presents him with his old straight razors. Anthony becomes enamored with Johanna, but is caught by Turpin and driven away by his henchman, Beadle Bamford.
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: John Logan (screenplay), Hugh Wheeler (musical), Christopher Bond (musical adaptation)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly
Cast:
| Johnny Depp | … | Sweeney Todd |
| Helena Bonham Carter | … | Mrs. Lovett |
| Alan Rickman | … | Judge Turpin |
| Timothy Spall | … | Beadle |
| Sacha Baron Cohen | … | Pirelli |
| Jamie Campbell Bower | … | Anthony |
| Laura Michelle Kelly | … | Lucy / Beggar Woman |
| Jayne Wisener | … | Johanna |
| Ed Sanders | … | Toby (as Edward Sanders) |
| Gracie May Weldon | … | Baby Johanna (as Gracie May) |
| Ava May | … | Baby Johanna |
| Gabriella Freeman | … | Baby Johanna |
| Jody Halse | … | Policeman |
| Aron Paramor | … | Policeman |
| Lee Whitlock | … | Policeman |
| Nick Haverson | … | Pirelli & Todd Customer |
| Mandy Holliday | … | Pirelli & Todd Customer |
| Colin Higgins | … | Elixir Sniffing Customer |
| John Paton | … | Gasping Man |
| Graham Bohea | … | Contest Bald Man |
| Daniel Lusardi | … | Boy Prisoner |
| Ian McLarnon | … | Man in Need of a Shave |
| Phill Woodfine | … | Shave Customer Slit Throat |
| Toby Hefferman | … | Happy Customer |
| Charlotte Child | … | Happy Customer’s Wife |
| Kira Woolman | … | Happy Customer’s Child |
| Helen Slaymaker | … | Jolly Friend |
| Jess Murphy | … | Jolly Friend |
| Nicholas Hewetson | … | Jolly Friend |
| Adam Roach | … | Jolly Friend |
| Marcus Cunningham | … | Jolly Friend |
| David McKail | … | Minister |
| Philip Philmar | … | Mr. Fogg |
| Gemma Grey | … | Inmate |
| Sue Maund | … | Inmate |
| Emma Hewitt | … | Inmate |
| Buck Holland | … | Barber Customer |
| Peter Mountain | … | Fleet Street Dandy |
| Harry Taylor | … | Mr. Lovett |
| Stephen Ashfield | … | Pie Customer |
| Jerry Judge | … | Pie Customer |
| Norman Campbell Rees | … | Pie Customer (as Norman Rees) |
| Jonathan Williams | … | Pie Customer |
| William Oxborrow | … | Pie Customer |
| Tom Pleydell-Pearce | … | Pie Customer (as Tom Pearce) |
| Laura Sanchez | … | Pie Customer |
| Johnson Willis | … | Pie Customer |
| Jon-Paul Hevey | … | Pie Customer |
| Liza Sadovy | … | Pie Customer |
| Jane Fowler | … | Pie Customer |
| Gaye Brown | … | Pie Customer |
| Shane James Bordas | … | St. Dunstan’s Market Patron (uncredited) |
| Stefana Brancastle | … | Lady in the Market (uncredited) |
| Victoria Bull | … | Blonde Madwoman (uncredited) |
| Cecilia Colby | … | Dancer (uncredited) |
| Leigh Daniels | … | Market Lady (uncredited) |
| Julie Eagleton | … | Wealthy Shopper (uncredited) |
| Elizabeth Ford | … | Mother (uncredited) |
| Tim Glanfield | … | Road Digger (uncredited) |
| Kas Graham | … | Music Box Man (uncredited) |
| Kasia Halpin | … | Market Girl (uncredited) |
| Anthony Head | … | Man in Street Who Greets Todd after Competition (uncredited) |
| Les Loveday | … | Bird Seller (uncredited) |
| Vince McGahon | … | Poet (uncredited) |
| Laura Meakin | … | Asylum Patient (uncredited) |
| Sophie Morris-Sheppard | … | Mad Woman in the Asylum (uncredited) |
| Tatsujiro Oto | … | Chinese Opium Dealer (uncredited) |
| Chloe Page | … | Picnic child (uncredited) |
| Nick Thomas-Webster | … | Opium Den Customer (uncredited) |
| Paul Vigrass | … | City Gentleman (uncredited) |
| Vesna Vujat | … | Market Lady (uncredited) |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia