Eva Green Talks Her Character In DARK SHADOWS. Kathryn Leigh Scott Returning To The World

I’ve never seen the old original dark soap opera DARK SHADOWS, so it’s gonna be a bit tough for me to follow what’s going on in the upcoming movie version, directed by Tim Burton, not to mention Burton’s movies in recent years haven’t given me enough reason to be stoked.
Eva Green plays Angelique Brouchard in the upcoming Tim Burton-directed movie version, DARK SHADOWS, which has a cameo appearance by actress Kathryn Leigh Scott who played Maggie Evans in the old original series.
They got to talk to movieline and The Dark Shadows News page respectively about their roles in the film..

Eva Green on her character..

“Oh, it’s a very different character. She’s an extreme character, completely obsessed with a man [laughs], and will do absolutely anything to get him, to own him. She looks like Barbie, but a bawdy Barbie. She’s a big character, and lots of fun to play, that’s for sure.”

On working with director Tim Burton..

“Tim is very normal, and he is extremely open to suggestions, which is a luxury. He wanted me to feel as comfortable as possible. It was a real collaboration, which is very rare, and he was very kind, very creative, very supportive and we really got on.”

Kathryn Leigh Scott on being cast in the movie version..

“It’s highly unusual, because people always want to reinvent the wheel and make something new and their own. Hollywood just normally doesn’t do that. But I think that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and everyone connected with this project… for them, it’s a labour of love. They wanted us to be a part of it. That’s so refreshing and so wonderful. I think that, more than anything, has endeared the fans to this new film.

I love the sort of Rip Van Winkle twist… The film starts in 1972 and Dark Shadows went off the air in 1971 – I love the idea of that. I think that what they have done with the story is to make it fresh and new – to really appeal to the sensibilities of an audience some 40 years later. They needed to make it their own, but the fact that they included us and made us a part of it is really magical.”

On Johnny Depp playing Barnabas, in comparison to Jonathan Frid‘s original portrayal..

“With this huge current interest in all things vampiric, this is film has the advantage of being about the granddaddy of all contemporary vampires – Jonathan Frid’s Barnabas. Johnny Depp has created what is essentially a valentine to Jonathan Frid, while at the same time making it very distinctly his own. So I think for someone 14 years old, who has no awareness of the original show, they will be be catapulted into the heart of the real Dark Shadows. Johnny Depp will become their Barnabas Collins.”

It will be very interesting to see what Eva Green brings to that role of Angelique. We did the original Dark Shadows on a budget that wouldn’t pay for a day or two of filming on this new production. They have so much more, by way of resources, and will use them. We have only what we originated, 45 years ago.

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Brouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.
Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.
Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

DARK SHADOWS opens May 11th, 2012