Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

...and Mrs. Lovett, of course!

What do you KNOW about Sweeney Todd?

What do you THINK you know about Sweeney Todd?

Are you sure?

Read on...

THE Sweeney Todd websites you NEED to see!

Fact & Fiction about the Demon Barber & Mrs. Lovett

Official Tim Burton Movie Site: EVERYTHING about the NEW Johnny Depp film!
IMDB's Sweeney Todd Page: The Internet Movie DataBase page for the character "Sweeney Todd" showing ALL the film versions, including the current one!
Sondheim.com: Home webpage of the original musical's creator, with lots of background about the cast and production!
Official British Movie WebSite: Features different downloads (including a screensaver) from the film

Sweeney Todd

The man/the myth

What do you REALLY know about him?

Sweeney Todd is a character who first appeared as one of the protagonists of a penny dreadful serial entitled The String of Pearls (1846-1847). Claims that Sweeney Todd was a real person are strongly disputed by scholars, (Full text) although there are possible legendary prototypes, arguably making the story of Sweeney Todd an example of an urban legend.

In the original version of the tale he is a barber who murders wealthy customers by slitting their throats with a straight razor."straight razor" in North American English and letting the dead bodies fall through a secret trap door beneath his barber's chair, and into the basement below the first floor pie shop. After Todd has robbed his dead victims of their goods, Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime (in some later versions, his friend who wants to become his lover), assists him in disposing of the bodies by having their flesh baked into meat pies, and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her pie shop, because "times is hard" and she cannot afford the meat. Todd's barber shop is situated at 186 Fleet Street, London, next to St. Dunstan's church, and is connected to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in nearby Bell Yard by means of an underground passage.

The tale surrounding the character became a staple of Victorian melodrama, and later a Tony award-winning Category: Sweeney Todd - : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical)|Broadway musical in 1979. Sweeney Todd has also been featured in several films, the most recent being based on the musical: Category: Sweeney Todd - : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), directed by Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp in the title role.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Tim Burton

Weird and Wonderfully-Warped!

Timothy William "Tim" Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, screenwriter and set designer, notable for the quirky and often dark, gothic atmosphere pervading his high-profile films. The protagonists are usually misfits or outsiders, physically or emotionally different or scarred.

The director of two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), he often collaborates with actor Johnny Depp and actress Helena Bonham Carter prolifically in films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride in 2005. His 2007 film Category: Sweeney Todd - : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, also starring Depp and Bonham Carter in the leading roles, won the award for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) and Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) at the 65th Golden Globe Awards. It was also nominated for Best Actor, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at the 80th Academy Awards. He has also collaborated extensively with composer Danny Elfman, in all but two of his films.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Johnny Depp

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp IIThe Johnny Depp Zone (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor, known for his portrayals of offbeat, eccentric characters such as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

He has collaborated with director and close friend Tim Burton in seven films, the most recent of which include Category: Sweeney Todd - : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and the upcoming Alice in Wonderland (2010). Depp garnered acclaim for his portrayals of real life figures such as Edward Wood, Jr., in Ed Wood.

Films featuring Depp have grossed over $2.2 billion at the United States box office and over $4.7 billion worldwide.Johnny Depp - Box Office Data Movie StarDepp has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Collectible Demon Barber Goodies!

Before Johnny Depp was...Tod Slaughter!

In the 1930s, a non-musical version featuring the appropriately-named Tod Slaughter as Sweeney killed them at the box-office.
Now, you can have cool merchandise featuring Johnny Depp's predecessor in the Demon Barber role!
PLUS: they make PERFECT Halloween fashion accessories!