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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), processes their corpses into meat pies. Having been struck by the cinematic qualities of the stage musical while young, Burton had entertained the notion of a film version since the early 1980s. However, it was not until 2006 that he had the opportunity to realize this ambition, when DreamWorks Pictures announced his appointment as replacement for director Sam Mendes. Sondheim, although not directly involved, was extensively consulted during production. Depp, not known for his singing, took lessons in preparation for his role, which producer Richard D. Zanuck acknowledged was something of a gamble. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street had its premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on 3 December 2007, and was released in the United States on 21 December 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2008. The film received critical acclaim, and was praised for the performances of the cast, musical numbers, costume and set design, and faithfulness to the musical. It grossed over $153 million against a production budget of $50 million. Since its release, the film has been widely assessed as one of the greatest musical films of the 21st century. Plot In 1846, Benjamin Barker, a barber, arrives in London, accompanied by the young sailor Anthony Hope. Fifteen years earlier, he was falsely convicted and exiled to Australia by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who lusted after Barker's wife Lucy. Barker adopts the alias "Sweeney Todd" and returns to his old Fleet Street shop, situated above Nellie Lovett's meat pie shop. Recognizing Barker, Lovett tells him that once he was exiled, Turpin raped Lucy and drove her to suicide before adopting the couple's daughter, Johanna, as his ward. Todd vows revenge and re-opens his barbershop after Mrs. Lovett, who loves him unrequitedly, presents him with his old straight razors. Wandering the streets where he encounters a beggar woman, Anthony becomes enamored with Johanna after seeing her sing by a window above the street, but is caught by Turpin and driven away by his henchman, Beadle Bamford. Rival barber and snake oil salesman Adolfo Pirelli is publicly humiliated by Todd in front of Bamford, but recognizes Todd by his razors and reveals himself as his former apprentice. He attempts to blackmail Todd, who flies into a rage and kills him. Lovett is shocked but accepts Todd's justifications, having grown emotionally attached to Pirelli's downtrodden assistant Toby Ragg, whom she adopts as a son. Intent on marrying Johanna, Turpin is recommended Todd's services by Bamford but they are interrupted by Anthony before Todd can kill him, revealing Anthony's plans with Johanna and causing Turpin to storm out and throw Johanna into a madhouse. Believing Johanna to be lost to him forever, Todd vows to kill as many people as he can out of revenge and seduces Mrs. Lovett into being his partner in crime. She gets the idea to bake Todd's victims into pies, and Todd rigs a trapdoor to drop his victims' bodies into her bakehouse, while Anthony continues to search for Johanna. With both their businesses prospering, Mrs. Lovett tells an uninterested Todd of her hopes to marry him and retire while the unnamed beggar woman begins spreading rumors about the foul-smelling smoke rising from the shop chimneys. Anthony rescues Johanna, planning on hiding her in Todd's shop. However, Todd sends Turpin a letter about the ploy to lure him back to the shop. Toby becomes wary of Todd and tells Mrs. Lovett of his suspicions, vowing to protect her. She assuages him but is forced to lock him in the basement after he discovers Pirelli's purse. Bamford arrives to inspect reports of the stink from her chimney, but is tricked and murdered by Todd. Mrs. Lovett informs Todd of Toby's suspicions, and the pair search for the boy after he escapes into the sewers. Meanwhile, Anthony brings Johanna, disguised as a boy, to the shop, and has her wait there while he leaves to find Todd. The beggar woman enters the shop looking for Bamford, and Johanna hides in the trunk. The woman recognizes Todd, but upon hearing Turpin coming, Todd kills her and sends her through the trapdoor. Todd explains to Turpin that Johanna had repented and is coming to him, offering a free shave in the meantime. Todd reveals himself as Benjamin Barker, before slashing Turpin's throat and dropping him down to Lovett's bakery. Todd discovers Johanna but doesn't recognize her, preparing to kill her as well before being forced to spare her by Mrs. Lovett's scream when the dying Turpin grabs at her dress downstairs. When Todd recognizes the beggar woman as his wife Lucy, he realizes that Mrs. Lovett lied about her death and kills her by throwing her into the oven. Toby reappears and slits Todd's throat with his own razor as he mourns over the body of his dead wife. Cast Production Development Tim Burton first saw Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, as a CalArts student in London in 1980. Burton recalled his experience of seeing the show, saying, "I was still a student, I didn't know if I would be making movies or working in a restaurant, I had no idea what I would be doing. I just wandered into the theatre and it just blew me away because I'd never really seen anything that had the mixture of all those elements. I actually went three nights in a row because I loved it so much." Burton was not a fan of the musical genre but was struck by how cinematic the musical was, and repeatedly attended subsequent performances. He described it as a silent film with music, and was "dazzled both by the music and its sense of the macabre." When his directing career took off in the late 1980s, Burton approached Sondheim with a view to making a cinematic adaptation, but nothing came of it. Sondheim said, "[Burton] went off and did other things."Director Sam Mendes had been working on a film version of the story for several years, and in June 2003 Sondheim was approached to write the script. Although he turned down the offer, Mendes and producer Walter F. Parkes obtained his approval to use writer John Logan instead. Logan had previously collaborated with Parkes on Gladiator, and claimed his biggest challenge in adapting the Sondheim stage play "was taking a sprawling, magnificent Broadway musical and making it cinematic, and an emotionally honest fil.... Discover the Michael D Barber popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael D Barber books.