Burton Bags Bond Babe: Eva Green In DARK SHADOWS

As I was typing up this week’s news about Jackie Earle Haley and Bella Heathcote both listed as being “in talks” for roles in Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s Dark Shadows redux, I found myself wondering when they would announce who was playing Angelique, the main villain in the supernatural soap update. In the original series, Angelique was a constant pain in the ass for Barnabas Collins.  She was a servant girl in 1795 with whom he messed around, to his shame. When he tells her it’s over, she goes berserk and puts a curse on his entire family. People start dying, lost souls roam the property, Barnabas becomes a vampire; it’s a real dick move on Angelique’s part.

Angelique continued to pester the living shit out of Barnabas throughout the centuries, and throughout the series.Now, according to deadline.com, this pivotal role has been cast, and as far as I’m concerned it’s more good news as Eva Green (Casino Royale) has taken the role of Angelique. If you’re in proximity to any of the show’s hardcore fans, you will doubtlessly hear them freeeak the hell out over a brunette being cast in the role originated by Lara Parker. But as her last big blockbuster* proved, hair color doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of casting iconic roles, and Eva Green is certainly easy to imagine as a temptress with a mean streak. It’s becoming harder and harder to remain cynical with the kind of casting news we’ve gotten this week. Green is the goods; it would seem Burton and Depp aren’t screwing around here. I hope they can pull this off.

*Here’s some crazy six degrees-type shit for you: when last Dark Shadows was resurrected, as a failed pilot for the WB in 2004, Eva Green’s Casino Royale co-star Ivana Milicevic played the troublesome Angelique.