Johnny Depp knows he has a lot to live up to when Dark Shadows hits theaters on May 11.

He took time out today to pay his respects to Jonathan Frid, the original Barnabas Collins from the Dark Shadows TV series, who died on April 13.

Depp called his predecessor, who has a cameo in Tim Burton's upcoming film, an "inspiration."

"Jonathan Frid was the reason I used to run home from school to watch Dark Shadows," Depp said in a statement obtained by E! News.

"His elegance and grace was an inspiration then and will continue to remain one forever more. When I had the honor to finally meet him, as he so generously passed the torch of Barnabas to me, he was as elegant and magical as I had always imagined. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. The world has lost a true original."

Kathryn Leigh Scott, who also starred on the original series and has a cameo in the film, wrote on her website that she is grateful to have known Frid as the "charismatic, entertaining, complex and plain-spoken man that he was."

"I won't ever forget the moment when the two Barnabas Collinses met, one in his late 80s and the other in his mid-40s, each with their wolf's head canes," she says of the day Frid met Depp on set.

"Jonathan took his time scrutinizing his successor's appearance. 'I see you've done the hair,' Jonathan said to Johnny Depp, 'but a few more spikes.' Depp, entirely in character, replied, 'Yes, we're doing things a bit differently.'"

Critics will weigh in on the new Dark Shadows, of course—but it may be the longtime Frid fans who have the last word on how well Depp and Burton honors the original Barnabas.

滬江娛樂快訊：今年5月11日，約翰尼·德普與老搭檔蒂姆·伯頓的全新力作《黑暗陰影》（Dark Shadows）即將上映。它根據(jù)60年代同名超自然電視劇改編，該劇長(zhǎng)達(dá)1225集，是一部氣氛陰森的電視劇，幾乎集合了所有哥特式恐怖片里出現(xiàn)過的角色，如吸血鬼、怪獸、巫婆、狼人、幽靈、僵尸等等。

德普曾表示他從小就一直很喜歡《黑暗陰影》這部劇，此次該劇被搬上大銀幕就有他的一份功勞。據(jù)悉，德普會(huì)扮演片中的吸血鬼元老波拿巴·柯林斯（Barnabas Collins），這個(gè)角色在原劇里是由Jonathan Frid扮演的。早前他曾表示“這對(duì)于我來說就像畢生的夢(mèng)，當(dāng)我是個(gè)小孩的時(shí)候我就非常喜歡《黑暗陰影》這部電視劇，我超喜歡Barnabas Collins這個(gè)角色(原劇中由Jonathan Frid扮演)，Jonathan Frid的優(yōu)雅與氣場(chǎng)一直激勵(lì)啟發(fā)著我?！斑z憾的是，今年4月13日J(rèn)onathan Frid不幸辭世，德普也表達(dá)了對(duì)這位吸血鬼前輩的無限敬意。