Some sequences of Sweeney Todd and the Digital 3D version of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas are the special events of the “Tim Burton Day”. The 64th Festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is to be awarded to Tim Burton by his long-standing colleague, Johnny Depp.
The screening of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in the new Disney Digital 3D version, and a world premiere of some sequences from the eagerly-awaited Sweeney Todd are the special events planned for the “Tim Burton Day”, to be held on Wednesday 5th September.
On that day, Johnny Depp will hand the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to the American director Tim Burton, awarded by the 64th Venice Film Festival (29th August – 8th September 2007), directed by Marco Müller and organised by the Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Davide Croff.
Two years after the world premiere of Corpse Bride on the Lido, Tim Burton returns to the Festival to receive the 2007 Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. To pay homage to one of the boldest, most visionary and innovative of American film-makers, able to charm and fascinate the widest of audiences, the Venice Film Festival has organised a special “Tim Burton Day”, to be held on Wednesday 5th September. The programme will include not only the awards ceremony in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema, but also the world premiere of some sequences from Burton’s latest film, the cinema adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s prize-winning musical-thriller, Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd is co-produced by Warner Bros Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, and stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener and Sacha Baron Cohen. The film will be released in the United States on 21st December 2007, distributed by Paramount, and in Italy in early 2008, distributed by Warner Bros Pictures Italia.
Sweeney Todd is a famous musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, first presented in 1979 on Broadway and initially starring Lean Cariou, Angela Lansbury and Victor Gaber. The musical, adapted from a theatrical work by Christopher Bond, and characterised by nocturnal, gothic atmospheres, won eight Tony Awards (the Broadway Oscars), including Best Musical. The story is set in Victorian England and is the story of a man who, using his barber’s shop as a cover, returns to London after years of absence to take revenge on those who destroyed his family. In Burton’s film, the deadly barber of Fleet Street is played by Johnny Depp, working with the director for the sixth time (the other films being Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005; Corpse Bride, 2005; Sleepy Hollow, 1999; Ed Wood, 1994; and Edward Scissorhands, 1990). The screenplay is by John Logan, who in the past produced the screenplays for Any Given Sunday (1999), Gladiator (2000), The Time Machine (2002), Star Trek: Nemesis (2003), Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), The Last Samurai (2003), and The Aviator (2004). The sets and décor are by the Italian Oscar winners Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo. The film is produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, John Logan, and Patrick McCormick is executive producer.
