Tim Burton’s newest master-piece, “Alice in Wonderland” based on a literary classic by the same name will screen within The Cool Kidz selection. Lead hero is Alice Kingsleigh, a girl whose life takes an unexpected turn. At a Victorian party organized in her honor she is proposed by Hamish, a respectable but dull son of Lord and Lady Ascot. Without explanation she runs away, following a rabbit wearing a white waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch, whom she sees running across the yard. Following the White Rabbit across the field, Alice sees him disappearing into a hole in the ground and suddenly she falls in it too. She is falling through a strange passage like something out of a dream and eventually ends up in a round chamber with many doors. After a bit of struggling with a small bottle labelled “DRINK ME”, which will make her miniature and a cake decorated with “EAT ME”, which will make her gigantic, she will manage to find a way through a door and enter a marvelous world, known to its inhabitants as Underworld.
Barton, who often uses a concept of parallel worlds in his films, where luck favors the outsider, couldn’t miss the opportunity of creating his own vision of Lewis Carroll’s all time classic “Alice in Wonderland”.
On Carroll’s story Barton says: “She is part of our culture to great extent. She inspired so many theatre plays, television and film adaptations, including Disney’s beloved animated film from 1951.”
Some interesting film trivia:
Johnny Depp is known to prepare long and hard for each of his roles. The role of a Mad Hatter is no exception. Long before the production started, Depp water painted sketches of the Mad Hatter the way he imagined him and later discovered his vision is not far from Burton’s.
The Mad Hatter is suffering from mercury poisoning, which was an frequent ailment in hatters from that period who used that element in their craft. Depp and Burton accentuated Hatter’s madness by changing his makeup and clothing according to his mood.
Crispin Glover plays Stayne, the Knave of Hearts, but the screen only shows his head. This character’s body, which is seven-foot six-inch tall, is computer generated. On the set, Glover wore a green suit and stilts to appear taller. Completely covered in makeup, his face is scarred and he wears a heart-shaped patch covering his left eye. As a finishing touch, Stayne’s costume, body and even his cape are computer generated, only his face is real.
