Historic Blunder Gets Sweeney Todd Posters Scrapped

Posted by Michelle Graham (michelle@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 4, 2007

Based on what Digital Spy is reporting today, whoever designed the newest posters promoting Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is probably not very happy right now and neither is the person who hired them, I’m betting! While the poster’s background is very striking, with beautiful lighting and a great shot of Depp, that big ol’ clock tower looming through the attic skylight is problematic.

For those of us who’re NOT big on knowing what historic period each piece of architecture belongs to, it seems that the tale of Sweeney Todd, the lovable rogue with a glint in his eye, is based in the early 19th century, half a century before Ben appeared on the skyline. Whoops! It appears that the art department has taken the complaints from fans about the historical inaccuracy quite seriously, and has scrapped the offending promo poster, with producers promising a new one before ol’ Todd hits our screens later this month.

Todd’s promo campaign has been raging across the internet over the last month or two, with promotional material popping up at least once a week to whet the appetites of the already salivating Burton fans who eagerly await the coming of the new Burton-Depp-Bonham Carter collaboration, especially with the addition of the slimy Severus Snape, Alan Rickman. Whether the movie will be worth all the drool coming from the fanboys (myself included) remains to be seen, but from the snippets that have popped up, and from the trailers, it’s gonna be one heck of a ride!

Up for Discussion: Did you notice the Big Ben issue when you first saw the poster that we released following Comic-Con in August? Do you care?

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