Tim Burton to direct DARK SHADOWS? That's the latest rumor . . . .

Deppheads jumped for joy when Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, acquired the rights to make a feature film of the classic gothic TV drama, DARK SHADOWS, last summer, along with Graham King’s GK Films and Warner Bros. Since then, all has been quiet on the DARK SHADOWS front, but now IESB’s Robert Sanchez reports that Tim Burton has been signed to direct the film, and John August is on board to write the screenplay. Mr. August has written the screenplays for several previous Burton projects: BIG FISH, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and CORPSE BRIDE.

No official announcement from Warner Bros., IN or GK Films has been made regarding DARK SHADOWS, although it has been generally assumed that Johnny Depp would play Barnabas Collins, DARK SHADOWS’ charismatic vampire; Johnny has frequently told interviewers of his love for that character. IESB got their information in a roundabout way, as an aside in an interview about another project, as Robert Sanchez explains: “While interviewing GET SMART director Peter Segal this past weekend in Beverly Hills, he spoke briefly about writer John August. Segal says August, who is writing BILLY BATSON AND THE LEGEND OF SHAZAM for Segal over at WB, is jumping back and forth between Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS and his SHAZAM script trying to work on both films at the same time due to a back log of work after the writers’ strike earlier this year.”

We thank Mr. Sanchez for his detective work and for passing along this information–it’s fun to mull it over. Sanchez concludes, “[W]hile we can’t confirm the rumors of Depp starring as Barnabus Collins in DARK SHADOWS, the IESB has confirmed that Tim Burton is attached to direct and John August has been brought in to write the adaptation for the film.” Thanks to Emma for sharing the Sanchez article; hopefully this is only the first of many DARK SHADOWS reports to come. You can read the IESB article here. –Part-Time Poet

Johnny Depp displays new tattoo at the MTV Movie Awards

Johnny Depp had no sooner walked across the stage at the MTV Movie Awards last night than the Zone’s forums began to light up with inquiries about a new tattoo showing on the inside of his left forearm. None of the well-wishers who have seen Johnny this spring, at the many meet-and-greets in the Midwest, have spotted the new tat, as the chilly climate has ensured that JD was always bundled up in layers of clothing and his British tan leather jacket when he greeted fans. For the curious, the new tattoo consists of three words in a large Gothic font similar to his Lily-Rose tattoo: “Silence,” “Exile,” and “Cunning.” You can see a closeup of the new tattoo here, and a different picture of Johnny and his new tattoo here.

And what might its significance be? Given that the three words are unlikely to be random choices, as JD has repeatedly told interviewers that his body is a journal on which he inscribes what matters most to him, we suggest the inspiration comes from the conclusion of James Joyce’s landmark 1916 novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Having vowed to leave Ireland and its constrictions in order to pursue his life’s work as an artist, Joyce’s hero Stephen Dedalus offers the following manifesto:

“I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use–silence, exile, and cunning.” This declaration of the artist’s independence from any system that might stifle his creativity could well appeal to Johnny, who like James Joyce has always charted his own course.

The Zone thanks AnaMaria and Carasun for the pictures of Johnny, and Theresa for locating and posting the Joyce quotation on the Pit, in the thread called “Picture Discussion: Johnny at the MTV Awards.” To see a larger version of our picture at left, click here. –Part-Time Poet