Rickman Talks Wonderland

Thespain Alan Rickman, who is casted in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland as the constantly smoking Caterpillar, recently opened up a little bit about his role in the anticipated Tim Burton movie. Alice in Wonderland is being shot utilizing all three live action, animation and stop motion with particular characters being shot with a combination of the different techniques together. The film, which is currently shooting in Culver City, is targeted for a March 5th 2010 release date and also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Michael Sheen, Christopher Lee, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas and Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

Alan Rickman says that his character will feature his face with a animated body, while he will be acting with a live action Alice (Wasikowska). "It’s my face on an animated caterpillar. So, it’s a mixture. The movie is a mixture of live action, animation, and stop motion, so it’s very complicated and I don’t think all three have been put together ever before. So I’ll be with a live action Alice. I will be a construct," Rickman told Movies Online. Rickman unfortunately doesn't have any idea yet of how he will look in Wonderland, saying that he has only done early voice and video recording. He told Buzzline, "I don’t know what it looks like, so 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." Alan Rickman elaborated on on the process on creating his character by saying, "I’m a voice, but I have been filmed because it’s my face who will be on the end of something that will be the caterpillar."

Rickman was asked if he had worked with Mia Wasikowska at all and if there was anything he had seen on set. Rickman who has only met Mia once, got a chance to see a tiny bit of the set and exactly what was going on. He told Movies online, "I met her yesterday because they’re shooting right here (Culver City). If you make yourself into the invisible person, you can go in and have a look." He later told Buzzline, "They’re shooting with her and Helena, although Helena finished yesterday." Continuing on he added, "I saw Helena [Bonham-Carter] and Crispin Glover yesterday. 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." Could be that Rickman saw a bit of the courtroom scene where Alice defends the Naive of Hearts (Crispin Glover).

Alan Rickman's final comments seem to point to his wonderment of the creative process that the actors are undergoing. He said, "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." Would we expect anything else from Tim Burton? More to come on Alice in Wonderland as it develops.

Are you excited for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland? The cast is outstanding, I just hope we don't end up with another Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At least with Danny Elfman doing Burton's score again we will have a musical treat combined with Burton's wicked imagery.