October 7, 2008 - Anne Hathaway (Get Smart) and Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) have joined the cast of director Tim Burton's live-action and performance-capture retelling of Alice in Wonderland.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Hathaway is playing the White Queen, a benevolent monarch who is deposed and banished by her sister, the Red Queen (Carter), who has an affinity for crying out, 'Off with their heads!' The White Queen needs Alice to slay a creature known as the Bandersnatch."
Bonham Carter -- Burton's off-screen squeeze -- has appeared in his films Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish and Planet of the Apes.
Yes, of course Johnny Depp is going to be in this.
While Burton and Depp have had a very close relationship in film for many years, this film poses a unique threat for both men.
Considering "Alice" is a classic of fantasy storytelling, one has to wonder how Burton's vision will turn out.
While venom has dripped from many theatre-goers in relation to his remake of "Willie Wonka" and "Planet Of The Apes" - rightfully so for the later - his film version of "Sweeny Todd" did prove that Burton still has it when it comes to darker material. Will he slightly tweak Alice's already moody landscapes, bizarre charcters, and lucid-dream pacing into something fresh? It's hard to say.
Burton is not the first person to revision the many characters of Wonderland. Does anyone remember the "Alice" game for PC from America McGee?
American McGee is best known for his work on shooters like Quake III, but he split off from id Software recently and his first effort is Alice, a twisted romp through his own version of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. The trick is that Alice, now older, is the lone survivor of a house fire that kills her family. She's stuck in an asylum and must regain her own sanity by returning to the madcap Wonderland she visited as a child. She's a darker person now, and, perhaps consequently, Wonderland is correspondingly dark.
The Queen of Hearts cruelly rules the land, the White Rabbit is tattered, the Cheshire Cat sports a pirate earring and a mangy, emaciated look, and the Mad Hatter is even madder than before. Alice, armed with her characteristic politeness, athletic ability, and a large knife, must venture through this dark Wonderland righting wrongs while thwarting the Queen and her army of playing-card guards.
One is left to wonder why American McGee hadn't been approached by a film studio. Did Burton "steal" this idea? Are they going to be simular?
We'll just have to wait and see.
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