Sleepy Hollow June 17, 2011

Tim Burton reimagines the classic Washington Irving story about the Headless Horseman and timid, neurotic Ichabod Crane. Johnny Depp's Crane is not the superstitious schoolteacher of the original story, but a firmly rational constable, haunted by his own past, who is aiming to use the most modern forms of analysis to solve a series of gruesome murders plaguing the upstate hamlet of Sleepy Hollow. Burton creates an intensely moody rural town, shrouded in constant fog, ringed with craggy forests and peopled by an eccentric mix of hearty characters—among them patrician town elder Balthus Van Tassel (Michael Gambon) and his witchcraft-dabbling daughter Katrina (Christina Ricci). Shot by visionary cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Sleepy Hollow pays tribute to the lurid yet murky atmosphere of England's Hammer Film Productions, whose favorite horror star Christopher Lee cameos here.

This program is in conjunction with the current Tim Burton exhibition on view at LACMA.

Official Website: http://www.lacma.org/event/sleepy-hollow