Just A Minute With: film director Tim Burton

By Mike Collett-White

VENICE (Reuters Life!) - U.S. director Tim Burton, master of the macabre with hits like "Edward Scissorhands" and "Corpse Bride", sticks to dark tales with his next film about Sweeney Todd, the brutal barber of Fleet Street.

At this year's Venice Film Festival earlier this month the 49-year-old was honored with a career Golden Lion Award, handed to him by Hollywood star and long-time collaborator Johnny Depp.

Depp stars in the title role in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical due for release in the United States in December. It also stars Burton's partner Helena Bonham Carter.

Reuters caught up with Burton in Venice.

Q: Your next movie is based on the story of Sweeney Todd. What is it about the story that makes it so popular, with a series of revivals and adaptations recently hitting stages around the world?

A: "I don't know if it was that popular in terms of just mass culture as a musical ... It's probably my favorite musical just because of all the different elements -- the horror, the humor, the drama and the beauty of the music all juxtaposed in there. I just felt like on stage the one thing that they don't have the opportunities to see (is) the actors' faces and eyes, so this is a case where we almost felt like we were making a silent movie with music."

Q: Although many of your films feature music, this is your first proper musical. Why do it?

"This is the first pure (musical) and this musical is even different from most in the sense that there's a lot of music in it. This one is almost musical throughout. That was an extra challenge that I got excited about, really."