Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments
Alice in
Wonderland
4/2/09 - Walt Disney Studios and IMAX Corporation announced that
Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp
as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Mia Wasikowska
as Alice, will be released to IMAX(R) theatres simultaneously with the
film's wide release on March 5, 2010. Mark Zoradi, president, Walt
Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, said, "If ever there was a film
that cried out to be presented in Disney Digital 3D(TM) and the premium
IMAX 3D format, Tim Burton's fantastic interpretation of Alice in
Wonderland is that film. This is going to be an eye-popping
cinematic experience as Tim takes moviegoers down the rabbit hole and
into the dimensional world filled with incredible characters, sly humor
and wild adventures."
1/12/09 – SCIFI Wire reported that British comic actor Matt Lucas plays Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton's interpretation of Lewis Carroll's classic books. The film combines animation, live action and motion capture in a 3-D experience. It is not due in theaters until 2010. Lucas also supplies a voice in the CGI animated version of Astro Boy. That film is from Imagi and is due Oct. 23.
12/8/08 – SCI FI Wire reported that Anne Hathaway, who plays the White Queen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie, said her character is entirely live action in a practical costume. The film, based on Lewis Carroll's books, combines live-action, computer animation and motion-capture animation in 3-D. "I am actually an actor not affected by CGI in it," Hathaway said. "I believe I'm one of the very few." Specifics on the look of the characters are still under wraps, but Hathaway shared her impressions of her rabbit-hole persona. "If I was a bunny holding a knife, that's what my character would look like," she said. "I'm sorry, that's my impression."
12/5/08 – SCI FI Wire reported that Alan Rickman, who plays Caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, said he has recorded his voice role and awaits the completed animation. The caterpillar will have the face of Rickman to go along with his voice. "I don't know what it looks like," Rickman said. "I've only done the first stage of it, which is them recording me saying these lines, quite badly. Then somewhere down the line, they'll have animated it, and I'll redo it. I'm a voice, but I have been filmed, because it's my face which will be on the end of something that will be the caterpillar." While Caterpillar is an animated character, some actors are performing motion capture and others will appear in live action. The lines blur as even some live actors will have CGI additions. Rickman observed some of his costars when he was on stage. "I saw Helena [Bonham Carter] and Crispin Glover yesterday," Rickman said. "They're a mixture of the two, actually, because there's Helena in a costume and in makeup, but her head is going to be made three times bigger than it actually is on top of the costume. I think they're all just blinded by the color green. It must be quite something to be surrounded by that much violent green all day long, but the costumes, one or two I saw, are incredible. I'm sure it'll be visual genius again." Alice in Wonderland is scheduled for release in 2010.
12/4/08 – SCI FI Wire reported that Richard D. Zanuck, who is producing the Tim Burton-directed Alice in Wonderland film, said when the film is released in 3-D, viewers will never know it was shot in 2-D and converted later. On Dec. 2, James Cameron criticized Burton's decision to convert 2-D footage to stereoscopic 3-D in a keynote address to the 3-D Entertainment Summit. Burton's Alice will be the first film to combine motion-capture animation with live action and stop-motion animation in 3-D. Zanuck said Burton adds his distinct visual style to a faithful representation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale. Zanuck added that production on the live-action portion is wrapping up. "We're almost through with our part of it, which is shooting the live actors, but they'll be animated," he said.
10/28/08 - Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman have joined the cast of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland remake. Lee has taken on an undisclosed role, while Rickman will play the hookah-smoking Caterpillar. Eleanor Tomlinson is another new addition. She will star as Fiona Chataway, a friend of Alice created specifically for the Burton adaptation. Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Sheen and Matt Lucas are also among the star-studded cast. Alice In Wonderland is scheduled for release in 2010.
10/24/08 - Crispin Glover has signed on to play the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie for Disney, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Glover joins Mia Wasikowska as Alice and a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter. Burton is using a combination of live action and performance-capture technology to tell the Lewis Carroll story. Glover is no stranger to performance-capture technology, having worked on Robert Zemeckis' animated Beowulf. In Alice, the Knave of Hearts is put on trial for stealing the Queen of Hearts' tarts and is defended by Alice.
10/7/08 - Anne Hathaway has signed for a role in Alice in Wonderland, which Tim Burton is directing for Disney, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Helena Bonham Carter also has joined the film. The movie, which stars Mia Wasikowska as Alice and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, will use a combination of live action and performance-capture technology to tell the Lewis Carroll story. 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. Richard Zanuck, Joe Roth and Jennifer and Suzanne Todd are producing.
10/1/08 - British actor Michael Sheen will appear in Tim Burton's re-imagining of the classic children's story Alice in Wonderland, Variety reported.
9/25/08 - The daylong presentation at the Kodak Theatre, home of the Oscars, delivered repeated surprises as actors emerged onstage to tout animated 3-D movies, live-action thrillers and comedies--with animal co-stars ranging from guinea pigs and chihuahuas to humpback whales, the Associated Press reported. Walt Disney Co. previewed a sequel to its 1982 SF movie Tron, a 3-D motion-capture remake of A Christmas Carol and a Tim Burton remake of Alice Wonderland, with Johhny Depp as the Mad Hatter, in a presentation in Hollywood on Sept. 24, the Associated Press reported. Depp will also reprise the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
7/24/08 - Tim Burton and Disney are in final talks with actress Mia Wasikowska to play Alice in Burton's take on Lewis Carroll's classic fantasy novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland, based on a script by Linda Woolverton, will be produced by Richard Zanuck, Joe Roth and Jennifer and Suzanne Todd. It will be shot with live-action and performance-capture footage and presented in Disney Digital 3-D.
12/11/07 - Director Tim Burton will helm a new film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland stories. Burton will also produce the adaptation and will use both live action and performance-capture animation.
AlienAlmanac.com 2008
