Curiouser and Curiouser

2010-03-07 10:00

Gayle Edmunds

Lewis Carroll is the pen name for Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was a lecturer in mathematics at Christchurch University in Oxford, England.

Alice in Wonderland sparked two music CDs, the soundtrack and Almost Alice, a 16-song companion compilation featuring the film’s end credit track Alice. Written and performed by Avril Lavigne, it includes songs from artists who were inspired by the film, including All American Rejects, 3OH!3, Robert Smith, Franz Ferdinand and Shinedown.

To prepare for his role as the Mad Hatter, Johnny Depp began doing watercolor paintings of what the character might look like, discovering his vision was similar to that of director Tim Burton.

Mia Wasikowska, who plays Alice, changes size throughout the film, ranging from six inches to two feet to eight-and-a-half feet, to a maximum of 20 feet tall. The production worked hard to use practical methods rather than special effects and often it was a case of putting Alice on an apple box to make her taller than everyone else.

Actress Anne Hathaway, who portrays the White Queen decided that her representation of the character wouldn’t be completely vanilla. So Hathaway envisioned a “punk rock vegan pacifist” and was inspired by Blondie, Greta Garbo, Dan Flavin and Norma Desmond.

Futterwacken is the Underlanders’ dance of unbridled joy. Composer Danny Elfman was stumped when it came to creating the dance music.

Crispin Glover portrays Stayne, the Knave of Hearts, but only his head appears on screen. For the final film, Stayne’s entire costume, body and even his cape are CGI. Only his face is real.

Helena Bonham Carter endured three hours of makeup each morning to transform into the fiery Red Queen. The special effects team enlarged her head in post production, creating the final look for the big-headed Queen.

Costume designer Colleen Atwood added a red heart to the soles of the Red Queen’s shoes, visible when the pampered royal places her feet on a live pig-turned-footrest.

Tim Burton wanted the animal characters in Wonderland to appear real rather than cartoony. So before creating the White Rabbit, animators spent a day at a rabbit shelter for abandoned rabbits.

The special effects team completed more than 2 500 visual effects shots in total. While the team used a combination of live action, animation and a host of other effects techniques, motion capture technology was not tapped for the film.

To represent the digital characters on set, the production used either cardboard cut-outs, full-size models or else resorted to men in green with eyes stuck to various parts of the anatomy to help the actors and give them something real to react to.

Three versions of the Round Hall (where Alice ends up after falling down the rabbit hole) and the Red Queen’s dungeon were the only sets built for the film. The rest were created digitally.

- City Press

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