ENTERTAINMENT: Johnny Depp To Start 'Dark Shadows' In April With Tim Burton Directing

According to Deadline Hollywood, .Filming on "Dark Shadows" starts this coming April and no word on a release date but it might be Xmas of 2011 if they push it but I'm guessing it'll be 2012. And, the screenplay is being done by "Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" novelist, Seth Grahame-Smith, (Tim Burton is producing the film version of "Abe Lincoln" with Timur Bekmambetov scheduled to direct.) All this is exciting for many reasons.

1)Johnny Depp is da bomb. We hated that "69 Jump Street" tv show and he's made a crappy movie or three, but he's an awesome (albeit, odd) actor who's made some terrific movies. And, we always thought he should have played Lestat in "Interview with a Vampire" rather than Tommy Boy...Mr Depp IS a vampire, so it's dream casting.

2)Tim Burton is da bomb, too. He's made some crappy movies and he insists on doing way too many remakes of older properties but he has a killer design aesthetic; ALL his movies LOOK amazing, (even the turkeys), and let's face it: "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", "Beetlejuice", "Edward Scissorhands", "Ed Wood" and "Sleepy Hollow" are hella fun.

3)If you're over 45, you remember the original "Dark Shadows" tv Gothic soap opera from the late Sixties and younger fans might have caught it in reruns, the failed tv remake in the 90's or been exposed to it via a hard-core fan. And, since campy and scary and odd are right up the Depp/Burton Alley, this movie could be killer...also, the whole "people are NUTZ about any Vampire" thing going on right now, couldn't hurt.