In a recent video interview with Collider, journalist Hunter Daniels asked Johnny Depp about his next project, Dark Shadows, which will be directed by Tim Burton. “What is your version of Dark Shadows going to be like,” Daniels asked, “and are you excited to film it?”

JOHNNY DEPP: Very excited to film it. You know, it’s something Tim and I have talked about for a number of years, because we were both fans as kids. You know, you run home at three o’clock in the afternoon to go watch this gothic soap opera on television, with vampires and everything . . . . So . . . let’s see . . . our version . . . it’s something very interesting that’s coming from the screenplay and from the talks that Tim and I have had, which is it retains that sort of bizarre distance that everyone has with one another in terms of the characters. Maybe Barnabas in this version is maybe a little more . . . maybe he waxes a little more poetic now and again, but it’s definitely in keeping with the original. The original series.

In other Dark Shadows news, Helena Bonham Carter has confirmed to the Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye that, as rumored, she will play the role of Dr. Julia Hoffman, “a psychiatrist with expertise in blood research who, attracted by strange occurrences at an old estate, becomes friendly with the Collins family, led by Barnabas (Johnny Depp), who happens to be a vampire.”

“I thought it would be easier to keep it in the family,” Helena told the reporter. “Tim’s directing, and it’s all the people he collaborates with: Johnny and everyone. It keeps us together as a family. Otherwise, he’s off doing that, and I’m off doing something else, and the kiddies have to go backwards and forwards. It’s only a small part and it will be fun.”

The Zone thanks Theresa and Emma for sharing the interviews; you can read more about Dark Shadows on the Zone’s News & Views forum.