Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp will team for a feature film version of the classic 1960s soap opera “Dark Shadows.”

The film will shoot in the fall, with Depp set to play the vampire Barnabas Collins, according to producer Graham King.

“We’re actually going to shoot that film next September/October with Tim Burton and Johnny,” King confirmed in an interview Friday in Los Angeles.

To guarantee a fall release, King is already prepping production with screenwriters.

“We’ve been working on the script a lot, even though he’s working on ‘Alice,’” King said. “We’ve been given a script. John August wrote the first screenplay. We’re making some changes, but the film’s going to be in production …”

From 1966 to 1971, “Dark Shadows” was a daytime gothic soap opera on ABC, featuring Jonathan Frid as Collins. NBC attempted a prime-time series reboot in 1991 that stared Ben Cross.

Just added scans of the last EW issue (thanks to The Zone and Thereza), and a outtake from this same magazine. See it:

Magazine Scans > A – L > Entertainment Weekly – December 07, 2009
Magazine Scans > Photoshoots – Newer – 2000′s > #77

Captain Jack Sparrow isn’t the only daring adventurer in Johnny Depp’s repertoire, as the actor plans on bringing his own unique spin to the historical Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa.

According to Variety, Depp will star as Villa in an upcoming biopic titled “Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman with Six Fingers,” which is easily one of the longest, most terrific titles I’ve heard for a prominent film in the past couple of years.

Depp will share the screen with Salma Hayek, who is in “advanced talks” to star in “Pancho Villa,” most likely as the titular woman with six fingers. Does that mean she only has six fingers total, or six fingers on one hand ala “The Princess Bride”? All six fingers are crossed for the latter.

The film comes courtesy of Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica and screenwriter Gordan Mihic, based on the novel “The Friends of Pancho Villa” written by James Carlos Blake. Blake’s book focuses on Villa as not only an excellent and accomplished soldier, but also as a big fan of “dancing, partying and making love.”

If you’re wondering about how “The Friends of Pancho Villa” might affect Depp’s upcoming work on the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, don’t worry too much. According to Variety, the film isn’t expected to begin production until 2011 due to Depp’s prior commitments.

Johnny Depp sizzles on the cover of EW’s Best of the Decade issue, on newsstands December 7 (Monday).

The 46-year-old actor was chosen by EW as one of the mag’s fifteen favorite entertainers of the decade! Also on the list are Tina Fey, Beyonce and Jon Stewart.

When the decade began, Johnny Depp wasn’t the Johnny Depp of today—one of Entertainment Weekly’s 15 Entertainers of the Decade.

Yes, he was a talented and critically acclaimed actor. But he wasn’t yet a surefire box-office draw. Then, in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl happened. Capt. Jack Sparrow was one of those without-a-net performances, so singular and subversive that it’s hard to believe Depp got away with it. An added bonus was that the actor, now 46, was able to sink his soul into a blockbuster character without selling it. And no one was more baffled by his and the movie’s success — the first of the three Pirates films eventually raked in $305 million — than Depp himself. Read more… »

Three-time Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp will collect the Bahamas International Film Festival’s career achievement award later this month.

Festival patron and fellow Bahamian resident Sean Connery will present the award during the event, which runs from December 10-17.

“We are proud of all [Depp’s] remarkable achievements and the great contributions he has made in all walks of life,” Bahamas Minister Of Tourism, Minister Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, said. “We are glad this prestigious award and tribute is going to almost one of our own.”

For full details visit the official website.