Johnny Depp: ‘Vampires shouldn’t look like underwear models’

Star reveals he took inspiration from original 'Dark Shadows' actor Jonathan Frid

Johnny Depp has revealed that he paid close attention to original Dark Shadows actor Jonathan Frid for his new role.

Depp takes on the part played by Frid in Tim Burton‘s remake of the cult 1960s gothic soap opera. And now he has said that he was faithful to the original actors portrayal, stating that “a vampire should look like a vampire,” in response to recent portrayals such as in Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.

He told Flicks And Bits: “Every angle I tried, I kept coming back to Jonathan Frid’s iconic performance. Approaching Barnabas, even in the early days of trying to explore the possibilities of the character, no matter where you went in your head, if you tried to veer away from the original Jonathan Frid character, it was apparent to both Tim and myself that it had to be rooted in Jonathan Frid’s character. It just had to be.”

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Depp went on to explain the appeal: “It was so classic and this sort of classic monster, like Fangoria magazine or that kind of thing. So, in terms of that, Jonathan did have, when he was playing Barnabas, there was a kind of rigidity to him, that pole up his back, this elegance that was always there.

“And yeah, I did believe, Tim and I talked early on, a vampire should look like a vampire an it was a kind of rebellion against vampires that look like underwear models.”

Frid died in April this year, aged 87. Dark Shadows is on general release now, and you can watch the trailer below.

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