Caray, Caray!

I have another great choice for Barnabus, Arturo Barba (Turco) from El señor de los cielos.
 

Urban:

Thanks so much for this one. I loved Dark Shadows and have most of it on DVD.

I have to say I see Cesar Evora as Barnabas. The voice, the regal stance, the dress, he'd be perfect.


 

Cesar would need to get down to his ideal weight. Totally agree on the voice; he always sounds amazing.

Now, what does Arturo Barba sound like?
 

I was too old, had toddlers, and lacked a tv when Dark Shadows came out, so I never got to watch it, not even in repeats. But, every time I cross the Tappan-Zee Bridge going over to the East side of the Hudson, I always look for the castle-like structure someone told me they used for the outside shots in Dark Shadows.

UA--Great theme. I LOVED your snapshots and I don't care who they play, give me lots of Diego Olivera in long hair and Cristian de la Fuente in 15th Century (no, make that 16th C) dress (while men still looked macho and not the frufru of the 17th). MmmmmmYummmm.
 

Did I get the time-frame wrong? In your version, it starts back in the 15th C. or so, but most of it takes place in the early 1800s?

When was the original?
 

In the original series, Barnabas was born in 1763 and became a vampire in 1795. Much later in the series there was a flashback to an ancestor named Amadeus Collins who was around for the Salem Witch Trials (1697).

Quentin was born in 1870 and became a werewolf in 1897 as the result of a gypsy curse. He was cured by an artist who made a Dorian Gray portrait that took on the curse and made him immortal.

By 1970 the various leaps around in the Collins family history between the non-contiguous generations made it necessary to fudge a sci-fi protocol into Parallel Time. Had Barnabas ended up in the 1860s he would have run into someone from 1840 who would have recognized him. Instead he entered Parallel Time in 1970 where his counterpart had led a normal life. Had the producers of the series been planning it from the beginning rather than winging it they might have thought about having Barnabas' parents be Mayflower arrivals so he would have been born 140 years earlier.
 

I don't remember what Barnabas nor Diego Olivares sound like

here is Arturo Barba, Turco
5:53 7:57 and probably more

http://msnlatino.telemundo.com/novelas/El_Senor_de_los_Cielos/video/el-senor-de-los-cielos-capitulo-73-1-5-08-02-13/9d65748f-06ea-4406-8403-0f25c73a65b5


 

Good voice, but a bit geeky. Love the video quality Telemundo has, though.


 

UA I forgot who the original Barnabas was so I cked it out. I don't know how to post a picture. Search images of Jonathan Frid, he was not handsome, he looks tall & thin just like Arturo Barba, who is 6'4",he is perfect. Now I have to see if I can find his voice on youtube.
 

Found this episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Bv4tTRR3c
 

Hopefully Mejia wont read this. It definitely needs Estrada or Moreno
 

Variopinta, I couldn't agree more. Carla Estrada is the best choice for period costume productions and this would have numerous storylines over the generations with the same set of actors playing multiple roles.

Jonathan Frid wasn't handsome but had an air of authority and a very courtly manner not equaled by any other actor in the series. Not to mention a killer voice. Cesar Evora's is half an octave deeper.

My apologies to all for the photos going awry. I thought I had found
out how to put two on a line without having them jump to the next one.
 

The photos look okay to me. Hmmm... some of them are MORE than okay.

I would be happy to see ANYTHING from Carla Estrada. And I would be happy to see something unique. Vampires really aren't my bag, but I seem to be in the minority there! Regardless, if you can find a role for Sergio Sendel, I'm IN.
 

I love that Ivan Sanchez plays the violin. While Barnabas didn't have musical talent in the original this could be an interesting addition to his character.

If she were ten years younger I'd want Edith Gonzales for Angelique. She otherwise has what it takes for this very complex and fascinating character.

There are a few omissions in the cast, particularly the few child characters. I am undecided how old they need to be and don't know all the kids on Televisa's payroll.
 

URBAN!!!! This is FANTASTIC! I SO hope that someone at Televisa is reading this and that YOU become involved. I have great faith that you could do this!

This hunk of a Diego Olivera Dude, I am SWOONING!!

Would you really want the wonderful Silvia Navarro as Angelique? I just can't see her in that diabolical role (I've been watching Dark Shadows on Netflix).

Agree that Evora would have to lose quite a bit of weight to be a believable Barnabas. Even though Jonathan Frid is not handsome, I agree that his voice and the way he carried himself made him attractive in a way I can't quite describe...at least from what I see on the Netflix series.

Like your choice of role for Romo as Julia. I think she would be very good in that.

Most of all, I LOVE the fotos you have picked of these actors. Such talented people and a sight for sore eyes.

I am really hoping that something will come of this.

Ms. Estrada, please read what our Urban Antropogolist has proposed!!

Fatima
 

Loved Romo as Julia....Ivan Sanchez would be one of several possible choices for Barnabas. Sanchez can play both authoritative and complex-freaky at the same time...agree to bring in the violin....or harpsichord ! Fun article great responses here!! Gertie
 

Fatima, Sylvia is the best possible choice at this time.

Angelique isn't pure evil. Like Oscar in QBA she has an obsession. After some time of doing harm that usually snowballed on its own into bad consequences, she began developing a conscience. The fact that she never got off the hook for that in the original makes Dark Shadows great potential opera material. (I have a dream cast for that one, too).
 

Urban, I haven't gotten that far along in the series, so I now see your reasons for choosing Navarro.

You have an incredible eye for these kinds of things. I so hope that someone out there who can make this happen is reading this. I'm glad you would still want to use the music from the original series. That sets the theme for each new episode.

BTW, Sebastian Rulli is a hunk, too! Are those pecs real or do the male actors get implants just like the women do? Not trying to be "gossipy", but really wondering if the men in novela land have to go to the same extreme as some of these women.

Gosh, I just can't get over this whole idea! Super, super!

Fatima
 

Wow, UA--I'm going to have to grab me some Dark Shadows. Fatima, thx for the suggestion. I'll look for it on Netflix. Hope I don't get "Obsessed."

Has Silvia N ever played an antagonista, or semi-antagonista, redeemed? I don't know her early work where she might not have been the lead.
 

Anita, I am really enjoying the Dark Shadows series. The Netflix says that there are 4 collections, but I'm really in the early stuff right now.

After watching the episodes and reading Urban's idea here, I'm really excited about the possibilities!

Fatima
 

Anita, I don't think Sylvia has ever played evil (or crazy). Then again, it took a long time for Edith Gonzales to do that and she was brilliant. I'd say they were on the same level of talent.

She looked great with Christian de la Fuente in AB, had good chemistry with Rene Casados in CME, and would look wonderful with either of my choices for Barnabas.

My one regret in this cast list is that I can't see Jorge Salinas as Barnabas because I can't picture him in every period of clothing. He's never done a novela de epoca and I can't imagine him in the 17th or 18th centuries. He's got the great compelling eyes and a deep-enough speaking voice and a great emotional range, but it's difficult picturing him in certain centuries.

Or in fangs. ;)
 

I never watched Dark Shadows. school and work took up too much time. This is an interesting cast although i am no fan of Santamarina and Vidal. Surely you can find a spot for some of Telemundo's best - Diego Soldano and Jorge Luis Pila come immediately to mind. There is some borrowing among the companies and this one would be an all star all gorgeous show. LOL
 

Can't imagine Salinas in every period of clothing?

The man's managing a Mariachi Traje in QBA. He looked suitably, even ruggedly, rural in LQNPA despite being in a wheelchair and cleaned up well to be a spiffy businessman as QBA opened. I can't imagine him not looking fine in most any period.

There might be good reasons for him not to play Barnabas, but I don't think costuming issues are high on the list.

It may be a bit late for Jorge to play a show's primary slice of beefcake, but DS isn't Anne Rices' universe and I don't remember too many scenes with Barnabas gettin' nekkid.
 

There was so much you couldn't do on TV in the 60s and getting laid was one of them. By the time Quentin was boinking the maid in the 1897 story arc it was 1970 and I'm sure Dan Curtis took some heat for that.

But if Jorge wanted this role I'd say he should have a shot at it. Jonathan Frid was 43 when he took on the cape and his character was meant to be 32.

I've said it a zillion times, but I'd be willing to bet that people aged faster in centuries past when they didn't know to stay out of the sun or have the right skin care products.

BTW, Anne Rice wrote her iconic Interview With the Vampire in 1970, when the parallel time story had Willie Loomis decide to rewrite his bio of Barnabas Collins on the basis of meeting ours, the vampire. He kept him in the coffin using a crucifix. This was a device to get Frid out of the series for the time necessary to shoot House of Dark Shadows.
 

UA--You did mean Silvia had good chemistry with Juan Soler in CME, no? Rene Casados was her step-dad, whom she adored, but chemistry? Nopis in my recollection.
 

Chemistry isn't just about sex or romance. Stage chemistry is about whether you perform well together.

It also translates platonically to intellectual interaction. My college buddy and I are both people who were born under the Blarney Stone and both of us are insanely eloquent. Together we dominate a group conversation to the degree that others drop out for fear of not measuring up.
 

Urban you should truly try to pitch this to Televisa. I think they need to try doing something different, if not as a novela, then maybe as a series.

Back in the 80's and early 90's Televisa loved the horror genre. There were two major horror series then: La Telaraña and La Hora Marcada.

La Telaraña was a series simmilar to Mujer.. Casos de la Vida Real in that they would usually make episodic stories sent by the public in letters explaining creepy experiences they had lived. There were ghosts stories and strange events, it was all the more scary because you knew the episodes were based on real stories from real people.


La Hora Marcada was a show simmilar to Tales from the Crypt. The episodes were all written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro. Two Mexican directors that have now gotten to work in Hollywood. Emmanuel Lubezki, who's done the cinematography for Cuarón's films, made the cinematography for several of the show's episodes and you can always tell when he worked in them because they looked so great and creepy. I still remember one with a noir style in which Leticia Calderón played a femme fatale.

EVEREYBODY in televisa worked in those shows.

La Telaraña had the newbies, less known stars, tv personalities and the more seasoned actors who just appreciated the work but you can see a very young Fernando Colunga, Daniela Castro, Andrea Legarreta, Alejandro Ibarra, Leticia Perdigón, etc. So it's a treat for telenovela fans in retrospective.

La Hora Marcada had the more known personalities: Helena Rojo, Eduardo Palomo, Leticia Calderón, Edith González, Enrique Rocha, Julieta Rosen, Patricia Reyes Spíndola, Guillermo García Cantú, Ana Colchero, Manuel Ojeda, etc.

All the actors always remember those experience fondly. They really enjoyed doing something different and I think that they'd jump at the chance to do something like this again.


 

Oh, I forgot to sign my large post.

It was me, Jarocha up there.
 

I wish I knew how to pitch this; I'd have done it years ago.

The problem now is that Johnny Depp owns the rights to the series and he betrayed the fans with the Tim Burton travesty. People are still angry about this.
 

Urban- What a fun topic. It seems like as time passes, Televisa is getting less experimental with their material.

Jarocha- You always tell us about such interesting stuff that they have done in the past. I guess these days everyone is more concerned about the bottom line. They don’t want to risk anything that would cost a lot, and might lose them money.

As for Silvia Navarro, she has always played the protagonist in her tns. But I think she’s pretty versatile, and in her movies and plays she experiments with off-beat, self-centered/selfish, tough girl, or out of control characters. I would like to see her try her hand at playing someone evil. I think it would be good for her to build that skill, plus it would be fun.

Here is SN in late 1800s period costume: http://dechismes.com/silvia-navarro-toda-una-revolucionaria/

In 1940’s costume/look: http://dechismes.com/silvia-navarro-en-todos-eran-mis-hijos/

http://www.tvnotas.com.mx/2010/10/18/C-315-silvia-navarro-cumplira-su-sueno-de-abrir-un-restaurante.php

And in a futuristic look: http://on.fb.me/14aIFtt

 

Urban, Jarocha thinks this is a great idea, too!

Couldn't the Televisa people change things up a bit to get around Depp's ownership of the rights? BTW, I do agree about that Tim Curry Fiasco of a "Dark Shadows". I had NO idea of the 60's predecessor when I saw it, so couldn't quite figure out what was happening. Was he trying to make it another "Rocky Horror Picture Show"?

Anyways. You are a very smart woman. Why don't you connect with Jarocha and see what it takes to pitch the idea to Televisa.

Nothing ventured. Nothing gained.

I wish I knew how to make things show up in boldface type, but

DO NOT WASTE THIS IDEA!!!

Fatima
 

On another note, but pertinent to prior discussions.

Fresh Air had a wonderful interview (almost 20 minutes!) with the Mexican actor Demian Bichir (whose brother played the odious doctor in CME). I had incorrectly stated in one of my posts that this actor had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In fact (and I really did know this), he had been nominated for Best Actor.

The interview is fascinating. He mentioned several films he had done in Mexico. There is one, in particular, which I am going to try to find that he did with Penelope Cruz and another very famous Spanish actor.

He comes from a family of actors (including his parents. The link to Fresh Air is: http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/

When you go to the page, you will see that it was today's program.

Enjoy!

Fatima
 

One more thing. When Bichir was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor, the very first person he called was his mother. I heard the interview (in Spanish and I understood most of it!!!) he did with a Spanish speaking radio station. The announcers were nearly brought to tears, too, when they heard him tell about the phone call to his mother.

Well, I guess I'm full of minutiae this morning, but seeing how this man is related to a family of TN actors, thought I'd pass some of the info on to my Caray friends.

Fatima
 

Thanks so much Fatima! I think because we here watch these tns from Mexico and other parts of LatAm, where so many LatAm actors get their start or continue to work, we are always happy to see and hear of them succeeding on a larger world stage. Well done to Damian!

Along those lines, Instructions Not Included, the movie written and produced by Eugenio Derbez, Mexican star and tv personality, is doing extremely well on its debut weekend this weekend. Perhaps Hollywood will wake up to the fact that Mexican Americans, and Latinos in general, want to see more movies with Latinos starring, and where a Spanish/English/Spanglish mix is the norm.
 

UA: That's too bad about the rights. Interesting that Johnny Depp has them, I thought the studio had them.

Fátima: Démian Bichir also made telenovelas in his beginings, like both of his brothers. I remember him in Lazos de Amor where he played a suitor for Lucero.

He had made movies before but his career took off when he left Televisa for TV Azteca and he worked in great hits like Nada Personal and Demasiado Corazón. Many actors from Mexican movies worked there at that time since Azteca offered them benefits without an exclusivity contract and that's how they formed a social network and started including each other in more projects.

Here's Demian in Demasiado Corazón for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUY644uP_90

That novela is filled with Mexican film stars.

Jarocha
 

Vivi: I think Televisa being the only network back then and not having to compete with cable and the internet gave them the freedom to experiment.

Nowadays is all about the rating and they are less interested in risking their money to try new things. At the same time, it's not so bad because other new networks are taking the task to fund these diverse projects so they can create their own identity as networks but, of course, they have less resources than Televisa.

Jarocha
 

It is unfortunate that ratings are forcing Televisa and now probably Telemundo to down grade their creativity. I remember back I think the 90's when Telemundo came on the novela scene a lot of first rate actors from Televisa jumped ship because they wanted more creativity in their work. Televisa played hard ball with them and pretty much told them they would never work for Televisa again. Obviously that has changed because some of those actors now work at Televisa. Now Telemundo is starting to lock people into exclusive contracts. It's a lot like the old Hollywood studio system. The actors get a certain amount of job security but it is not such a good thing for the viewing audience who get stuck with the same old same old.
 

Vivi in DC, you are SO welcome and my pleasure. Glad I could contribute something to the conversation. :))

Jarocha, thank you SO much for that super background information and the youtube link!

Come on, Urban, don't give up on your idea. DON'T.

Fatima
 

All TV networks in the US are getting more and more into "non-scripted" programs which are now too similar to each other as well. It's pathetic.