Johnny Depp to Star in Tim Burton Film of Sweeney Todd

Johnny Depp will star in a film version of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd, to be directed by Tim Burton for DreamWorks Studios. No other casting has yet been announced.

The project will mark the sixth collaboration between Depp and Burton, who previously worked together on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and Sleepy Hollow. Depp is the star of the current release Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Based on a play by Christopher Bond, Sweeney Todd tells the tale of a mad barber and his partner in crime, a harridan who bakes his victims into meat pies. The original Broadway production of the musical, starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury, opened in 1979 and won eight Tony Awards. Since then, the show has been presented in theaters, opera houses, and concert halls around the world. Director John Doyle’s acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd, starring Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone, opened on Broadway last season and will continue its run through September 3. A previous Broadway revival played at Circle in the Square in 1989-90.

The screenplay adaptation of Sweeney Todd will be written by John Logan, one of the co-producers of the film, which is scheduled for release in late 2007. Logan’s most recent screenplays include The Aviator and The Last Samurai; he received an Oscar nomination for DreamWorks’ Gladiator.