'09
USA Today has the first photos of the characters in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, due out March, 2010, and they look fantastic. Johnny Depp wears a red curly wig, goofy expression and top hat as the Mad Hatter while Helena Bonham carter is a haughty, cruel Red Queen of Hearts. Anne Hathaway plays The White Queen in a long blonde wig and full red lips. USA Today also has scrollable large pictures of the concept art from the film, but no photos of the young woman who plays Alice, a 19 year-old Australian actress, Mia Wasikowska, from HBO’s In Treatment:
You might have gone down the rabbit hole before. But never with a guide quite as attuned to the fantastic as Tim Burton.
Those who have grown curiouser and curiouser about what the offbeat reinventor of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory might conjure up in his version of Alice in Wonderland can feast their eyes on this array of concept art and publicity images, due to hang in movie theaters this week to promote the March 5, 2010, release.
“It has been Burton-ized” is how producer Richard Zanuck describes the director’s vision of the Lewis Carroll classic. Many elements are familiar, from the enigmatic Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) to the fierce Jabberwock (Christopher Lee). But none has been presented in this sort of visually surreal fashion.
“We finished shooting in December after only 40 days,” Zanuck says. Now the live action is being merged with CG animation and motion-capture creatures, and then transferred into 3-D.
The traditional tale has been freshened with a blast of girl power, courtesy of writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast). Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn’t remember.
Among those who welcome her back is the Mad Hatter, a part tailor-made for Johnny Depp as he collaborates with Burton for the seventh time. “This character is off his rocker,” Zanuck says.
Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska, 19, best known for HBO’s In Treatment, has the coveted title role. “There is something real, honest and sincere about her,” Zanuck says. “She’s not a typical Hollywood starlet.”
There is the usual Burton-esque ghoulishness (Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen, whose favorite retort is “Off with their heads,” has a moat filled with bobbing noggins), but Zanuck assures most kids can handle it. “The book itself is pretty dark,” he notes. “This is for little people and people who read it when they were little 50 years ago.”
[From USA Today]
I thought the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake fell a little flat, but Sweeney Todd was incredible, due in no small part to the excellent storyline that Burton was working with. It was too gory for my taste though. I love that the producer assures us that it’s appropriate for little kids and won’t be too violent or scary. This movie is likely to be a hit across the board.
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Photos
- Diet secrets from Jessica Alba's nutritionist [Hollywood Life]
- Hef's twins have beautiful hair [D-Listed]
- The Twilight kids: more "Hills" than cool [Lainey Gossip]
- Ellen premieres on Idol tonight [Popeater]
- Cute photos of Anna Paquin and Steven Moyer exercising [Popsugar]
- JWoww wants bigger implants [Celebslam]
- Look at Handy Manny now [Go Fug Yourself]
29 Responses to “First picture of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland”
-
I can’t wait to see it. And the makeup looks so good. Everytime Johnny and Tim collaborate, they make a hit. Doesn’t Johnny’s eyes look a little weird? His left eye is looking more up while his right one is looking straight on. Maybe it’s just me…lol
-
I really have high hopes for this one to be better than Charlie and the Chocolate Family.
-
Johnny Depp looks like a fruit in this pic,but I would still take a bite of him anyday.:)
-
While his recent films have been good, I’d been worried that Tim Burton had lost his edge. He hasn’t really topped his work from the 90s. These pictures, however, make me think he finally has.
-
Do you think they just made Helena’s head look so out of proportion just for the promotional still or that they’ll use CGI to make her appear that way in the movie as well? The article alludes to CGI but I’d sure hate to see the Queen of Hearts as a bobblehead. Otherwise, I love it.
-
This looks so effing good! I cannot wait!!!
-
Johnny Depp looks a little bit like Madonna in there…look at the eyes and teeth…
-
Incredible!!!
-
That’s Johnny Depp? I would have thought it was Elijah Wood.
-
Wif, i thought it was elijah wood also. i LOOOOOOOVE helena bonham carter… i’d watch anything with her in it
-
is it funny that i think he looks like elijah wood in this picture?
-
i’m fully converted to Johnny Depp but while I like Tim Burton’s imagination I just don’t care much for his movies
-
is that hathaway? what character is she? (it says the title character is played by someone else).
you know what would rock, putting in christopher walken or gary oldman… OHHH gary oldman would rock in something like this… frankly, i’m sick of johnny depp and i’m not sure why he’s such a big star… he sucked in charlie and the chocolate factory and his version of the pirate role was a ripoff…
-
cLOWNS SCARE ME…i cant WATCH THIS …omg… this is going to scare the crap out of me.
-
Looks like fun. Alan Rickman is playing the Caterpillar, Christopher Lee is the Jabberwocky, and Stephen Fry is the Cheshire Cat.
-
I hope they don’t screw this up like they did Willie Wonka. I absolutely LOVE Johnny Depp, but that truly was an awful, awful movie.
-
Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen, not Alice
-
Wow, he looks really scary! His hands look corpse like.
-
Argh - we have to wait til 2010?! HURRY UP AND FILM IT ALREADY!!!!
-
I am on the “Damn, is that Elijah Wood?” bandwagon. Though Madonna does seem like a possibility.
I am totally looking forward to this movie. Of course I would pay to watch Johnny Depp read out of the phone book.
-
Can’t wait to see this movie!
-
huh,why do some say willy wanka was so horrible?
I thought it was fantastic!
A totally different take on it-Depp’s was almost maniacal/socio-pathic in a control freak sort of way,rather than an unstable/I need company cuz I’m so insecure Gene Wilder sort of way.
What did you hate about it,for people who disliked it? -
To fizXgirl314: But he was marvelous in Sleepy Hollow.
-
Wow, I am kind of surprised people are so excited for this. Tim Burton pretty much ruins any sort of remake he touches. Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as examples.
-
omg, if i saw that kind of alice in wonderland when i was a kid i would be scarred for life!
-
Can. Not. Wait!
I love Burton and co. The cast alone for this film gives me great hope that it will be awesome.
-
I have to admit that I haven’t loved on Tim Burton’s work since Corpse Bride. Everything he’s put out since I was in high school seemed TO ME to be running to catch up with The Nightmare Before Christmas. I haven’t been able to really LOVE much that he’s done since then.
But I really, really, REALLY want to.
I love the way his films look. His “vision” is flawless, and we got early glimpses of that with Batman and Beetlejuice. The execution and scripts, sometimes? Not so much.
I liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was beautiful and new, but it wasn’t as good as the first one. It had no soul at all. I liked Sweeney Todd, but there was something missing. You have neither sympathy nor fear for the characters in it. Edward Scissorhands was a good movie, but the basic moral of the story (the whole suburbia is sad theme back before it had been done to death) was lost in a story so proud of itself for being “out there” that it forgot to be coherent. I saw Sleepy Hollow, but I don’t remember much about it (which is all the review it needs, I guess).
Even though I’ve been disappointed by Burton over and over again…I still long to see his films. No one sees things the way he does. You can tell without ever even seeing his name in the opening credits that you’re watching a Tim Burton film because his style is so unique.
So. I will go see Alice in Wonderland, and I will go in with high expectations. I will wait impatiently, fully believing–again–that THIS one will be the masterpiece I’ve been waiting for.
Whether or not this movie turns out to be “the one,” I am sure that it will be gorgeous, immersive, and entertaining at the very least. In all seriousness, you know, Tim Burton IS going to make that one film that we’ve been hoping all the others would be. Someday it will happen and I don’t want to miss that…because it will really be something else.
You can’t get more twisted than Alice, and no one does twisted better than Burton. I’m positively giddy.
-
I’m curious.
They really did a great job on the makeup. I can tell that visually this film’s going to be wonderful.
I’ve never seen Alice in Wonderland, though, so I can’t really make any comparisons…but if I like it, then I like it regardless of the modifications.
Leave a Reply
Celebitchy aims to be a friendly, welcoming site where people can discuss entertainment stories and current events in a lighthearted, safe environment without fear of harassment, excessive negativity, or bullying. Different opinions, backgrounds, ages, and nationalities are welcome here - hatred and bigotry are not. If you make racist or bigoted remarks, comment under multiple names, or wish death on anyone you will be banned. There are no second chances if you violate one of these basic rules.By commenting you agree to our comment policy
Use the "Report this comment as spam or abuse" link to ask the moderators to delete a comment if it's offensive. If your comment disappears, it has been eaten by the spam filter. Please e-mail cbcomments at gmail.com to get it retrieved.
Get an icon next to your name by signing up for a free Gravatar
omg omg i CAN’T WAIT . I love it .
Report this comment as spam or abuse