Dear Gordon,
I know you weren’t too happy about learning that Tim Burton had cast an 18-year old to play his Alice for the new version of Alice in Wonderland that he’s shooting for Disney and with the idea of Johnny Depp playing the Mad Hatter. Well, Hollywood Reporter said that Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter are joining the cast as the two chess-themed monarchs, the White Queen and the Red Queen, respectively.
In addition, HR’s details reveal that in Burton’s film, the two will play sisters with the former having been banished and asking Alice to slay a creature called a Bandersnatch, presumably in order to get her kingdom back—while anyone who’s ever read Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There knows that such a thing never took place.
I’ll be over here while you finish ranting.
Sincerely,
Trisha Lynn
Gordon McAlpin says:
No ranting, only tears.
EionSunrider says:
why can’t Burton adapt American McGee’s Alice instead?
It would be so much more cool…
Trisha Lynn says:
Cool, but I think it might be even too much for Burton.
Jane says:
Actually the idea of them being two sisters comes from the book: Beyond the Looking Glass, in which Alice is transported into our world and tells her story to Carroll who changes it into the version we know.
Graehaus says:
Ehh, i gotta admit. It will be eye candy. but Burton is very predictable these days.
Genevieve says:
Ohhhh Burton…. I knew about Depp as the Mad Hatter, and I was just hoping that when he was going to cast Carter in a role it wouldn’t be the Queen of Hearts. That’s damned disappointing!
That he is rehashing possibly the most surreal children’s story ever to make it more linear and directly connected to Alice is actually giving me heartburn. That he’s pulling from “Through the Looking-Glass” when there was so much material not used from the first book in the original cartoon is also disturbing; what exactly is being cut? Is Alice 18 because this is a sequel, or is he infected with “Wizard-of-Oz-itis”?
It’ll be pretty to look at, though!
Graehaus says:
tho Depp as the Hatter, that will kick so much a$$, that will bring me in,. Depp rocks.
Liam Kruger says:
The story actually reminds me a bit of the ‘graphic novel’, Hatter M. Same concept with ousted White Queen…except on reflection, I think they’d killed the White family and Alice was the last surviving member in an Anastacia-esque perspective. Either way, it could be quite cool – although I’d worry about it being a little too clean-cut with White = good, Red = evil. It is Disney.
Lethal Interjection says:
This just in: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in a Tim Burton directed film.
You can basically read that every few years and it applies.
I’m not complaining, really, just getting a little sick of seeing actor/director alliances. Depp and Carter are great (though, I’d really like to see some depth from Carter, I feel her stuff is a little too similar from role to role), and I will definitely see the movie, I just get a bit tired of it.
MaskedVigilante says:
I’m with you, Lethal. I’d also like to add to the list:
Ridley Scott/Russel Crowe
Scorcese/DiCaprio
Enough already. There are other, better actors out there who don’t get a chance unless these superstars and their director alliances somehow fall through, which they never will. DiCaprio will never turn down a Scorcese roll, and so on.
Personally, I think Joaquin Phoenix stole “Gladiator” and Mark Wahlberg stole “The Departed”.