shorts
Walk with Todd
Rampant prostitution, typhus, cholera and blood. Lots of blood. Who wouldn’t want to spend part of their vacation back in Sweeney Todd’s Victorian London?
Now you can, and it’s absolutely free — except for the plane fare, hotel and food. Warner Brothers, the studio behind Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has teamed with audio walk specialists Soundmap to create the “Sweeney Todd’s London” audio tour, which is free to download at Timeout.com/SweeneyTodd.
Starting at the River Thames, where the scorned barber returned (singing, apparently) to his vile London, the tour consists of 17 stops in the Fleet Street area, all of which are significant to Todd’s story of revenge, slashed jugulars and human meat pies. The narrator would like you to believe Todd (played by Johnny Depp in the movie) really existed, and he may have. Thomas Peckett Prest first wrote about Todd in 1846, and Prest was often inspired by crime stories he read in The Times.
The narration is interspersed with music from the movie and sound bites from Burton, Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Mrs. Lovett, maker of meat pies. The download also includes a PDF map to print off before you go.
Or, if you’re not planning to be in London anytime soon you can do what we did. Download it at work, put the headphones on, shut your eyes and dream. —Marni Weisz
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Artifact
This month’s objet de film: Holy Home Theatre!
No, you’re not looking at Batman’s secret lair, but rather the
basement of a private home in Palm Beach, California, that’s been
transformed into the Batcave Home Theatre by the Surrey, B.C.-based
Elite Home Theater Seating company.
This 30' x 40' theatre,
which cost $500,000 (U.S.) to construct — and that’s without any A/V
equipment — seats 12 people. The cave walls are made from a foam
product that’s acoustically efficient and there are speakers hidden in
the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The designers used the Bat
Suit as their inspiration for the sleek black chairs, and since Batman
loves his gizmos, the theatre’s A/V equipment is not hidden away but
left out in the open. —Ingrid Randoja
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Be published in Famous!
We’re starting a brand new feature and want you to be a part of it.
Each month we’re going to ask our readers a question, and our favourite answers will be published in an upcoming issue of Famous. Just go to www.cineplex.com/famouslastwords to enter. So think hard, be creative and maybe even funny. Oh, and do it all in 40 words or less.
This month’s question:
Speed Racer promises to take movie cars to a new level. But if you could make one vehicle from a past movie your permanent ride, what would it be?
Look for the answers to this question in the May issue. Responses may be edited for length and clarity.