Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Never forget. Never forgive.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
![Watch film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — Sweeney Todd (2007) Original Trailer [FHD]](https://www.acmodasi.in/amdb/images/posters/y/9/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street-2007-vhCYS.webp)
Budget
$50 000 000
Revenue
$152 523 164
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
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
Short description
Benjamin Barker was a barber in London, married with a young daughter, until a corrupt judge had him convicted on a false charge and sent to a penal colony on the other side of the world. Fifteen years later he escapes and returns to London under the name Sweeney Todd. He finds nothing left of the life he had: his wife is gone and his daughter is in the hands of the man who ruined him. Mrs Lovett, who runs a pie shop below his old rooms, takes him in and tells him what became of his family. Todd resolves to take revenge on the judge and the judge's accomplice, and goes back to work as a barber, while Mrs Lovett becomes far more than his landlady.
Tim Burton directed this adaptation of the Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, with a screenplay by John Logan. It was Burton's fifteenth film as director and followed Corpse Bride, with Alice in Wonderland coming next. Johnny Depp plays Todd and Helena Bonham Carter plays Mrs Lovett; the cast also includes Alan Rickman as the judge, Timothy Spall as his accomplice, and Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber.
Made for 50 million dollars, the film took about 153 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from around 406,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 from roughly 6,500 votes. The film critics' rating of 8.1 from 232 reviews is notably higher than either audience figure.
What's left behind the scenes
- When Mrs. Lovett treats the young servant Pirelli, he eats almost half of the pie, but then the pie is whole again.
- The film was delivered to American cinemas under the false title "Skunk."
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- To prevent information leaks, the film was referred to as “Project 32463” during production.
- 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.
- 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.
- Sweeney Todd's hairstyle is simultaneously reminiscent of Ludwig van Beethoven and Elsa Lanchester's Bride of Frankenstein.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Filming took place in England at Pinewood Studios from February 5 to June 14, 2007.
- The first performer to play the role of Mrs. Lovett in the musical was the famous Angela Lansbury. In Burton's film, she is played by Helena Bonham Carter, who beat out Annette Bening and Toni Collette.
- Every single actor underwent a preliminary audition with the musical's author, Stephen Sondheim.
- While preparing for the role of the Italian barber Pirelli, Sacha Baron Cohen took lessons in handling a straight razor from a real barber.
- 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.
- Filming took three months.
- It took approximately 90 minutes each day to do the makeup for each of the actors in the leading roles.
- 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.
- 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.
- Helena Bonham Carter filmed while pregnant, which is why her character's waistline appears to thicken and her bust changes.
- Initially, Oscar winner Sam Mendes was chosen to direct.
- The director's son, Billy Ray, appears in the film. In the beach scene in "By The Sea," he plays near a sandcastle.
- Russell Crowe was considered for a long time as the main contender for the role of Sweeney Todd.
- 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."
- Joanna, who sings about the nightingale, has curtains arranged differently in the interior and exterior shots.
Similar movies
7.9/10
7.9/10
7.7/10
7.3/10
7.3/10
7.2/10
7.2/10
7.2/10
7.1/10
7.1/10
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
