Johnny Depp is joining an elite Hollywood club. With his latest turn in the movie “Dark Shadows,” he’ll become one of slew of actors–Robert Pattinson, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt to name a few–to play a vampire.
Depp is teaming up once again with collaborator and Director Tim Burton. The 47-year-old actor will play vampire Barnabus Collins in an adaptation of the 1966-1971 gothic television soap opera by the same name.
Check out these vampires; click to enlarge.
Depp joins a storied Hollywood tradition that goes back to the turn of the 19th century. But Bela Lugosi who played the count in the 1931 film, “Dracula,” is considered the club’s charter member.
Since then, more films have been made about Dracula than any other fictional character. While Lugosi set the standard, every actor who has played the part has put their own spin on the role. Among the last to portray the Count in a film are actors Frank Langella in 1979 and Gary Oldman in 1992.
The latest films and television shows have moved away from that caricature. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are arguably the first actors to portray vampires as beautiful lost souls. They starred in the 1994 film “Interview with a Vampire,” based on Ann Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater also starred.
Vampires, lately, have been played by Hollywood hunks like Alexander Skarsgard, Collin Farrell and Ian Somerhalder. Of course, Robert Pattinson is the most famous of them all.
His character Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” film series, is the first touchy-feely emo vampire. He’s sworn off human blood and feasts on animals instead. Skarsgard’s Eric Northman in the HBO hit “True Blood,” also coexists with humans. But other vampires have been blood thirsty.
In “Dark Shadows,” Depp will take the character out of the realm of beefcake and back to its creepy, ghoulish origins. He’ll star with Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Lee Miller.
Check out the photos of the Hollywood vampire club above.
