dark shadowsIf you were worried that the mix in Tim Burton’s palette was becoming too colourful with his upcoming adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s Alice In Wonderland then the news that Burton’s next project returns him to his beloved muted Gothic tones will be a relief.

SciFi Wire spoke to producer Graham King and discovered that Burton will be employing the services of Johnny Depp in bringing a big screen adaptation of the 60s US TV soap opera Dark Shadows.

SciFi Wire quotes King: We’ve been working on the script a lot, even though he’s working on Alice…We’ve been given a script. John August wrote the first screenplay. We’re making some changes, but the film’s going to be in production, as I say, September or October of next year.”

The source material is unknown to me, and I’m not sure it’s been seen in the UK, but any project which puts Depp and Burton together (and particularly if it returns them to Ed Wood territory) is good news for me. A thousand plus episodes of the vampire soap opera will surely be enough to pull a decent story out of and maybe they’ll be someone whose take on the supernatural is enough to Eclipse the next Twilight film.

Dark Shadows will be filming next year. Eyes, ears and sharpened fangs will be waiting for more news.