Sweeney Todd: The best, bloodiest film of 2007?

Johnny, Broadway actors would kill for this part. You didn’t even take voice lessons.

Depp: I don’t know what I brought to it—or if I brought anything at all. I brought a bit of me to it, that’s really all I have to offer. Sitting in front of a piano doing scales, trying to learn how to sing in some operatic form, just seemed counterproductive.

Your voice is very throaty, almost guttural. It sounds almost anti-Broadway. Is that intentional?

Depp: Organically, there’s something natural in my voice that happens when you push it. And it’s aggressive stuff. But one thing I do—that I don’t remember hearing any of the other Sweeneys do—is English, oddly. [In most productions, Sweeney is played with an American accent.] Especially that East End English. That was something I thought I could add.

Stephen Sondheim composed the Broadway musical Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, based on the Bond play. The character of Marjorie Lovett was renamed Nellie Lovett for this version of the story. Sondheim called it a "musical thriller" and, due to its sparse non-sung dialogue, "virtually an opera."

Did you ratchet up the blood to keep up with Hostel?
Burton: I felt like we were just being true to the show. I’ve seen other kinds of productions where they’ve tried to be a little more politically correct, but the first production I saw, blood was flying all over the stage.

People are saying it’s too bloody to win Best Picture.
Burton: Come on, it’s a Christmas movie!