Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland : Behind The Scenes

With the release of Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland creeping closer and closer, anticipation is starting to reach fever pitch (especially now that it has been announced that Tim Burton is coming to Melbourne for his ACMI Exhibition).

So our good pals over at Disney have been good enough to shoot WATCH OUT FOR | MOVIES some rare behind the scenes images and video from the upcoming 3D flick based on the classic Lewis Carrol books.

First up, a sneak peak at some of the coolest characters from the flick including the Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter), Caterpillar (voiced of Alan Rickman), White Rabbit (Michael “Tony Blair” Sheen), Dormouse and Back To The Future‘s Crispin Glover as the Knave.

THE WHITE RABBIT (voiced by Michael Sheen) is always late, always in a hurry, always rushing about. Charged with finding Alice and bringing her back to Underland so that she can fulfill her destiny, he shows up at her garden party in an effort to lure her back down the rabbit hole.

“He is a warm character”, says Sheen, “But, at the same time, he can be quite fussy and quite strict with Alice as well. He has an edge to him, a nervous energy, always feeling like he’s behind time. Time is very important to him, but he’s quite brave when called upon”.

IRACEBETH, THE RED QUEEN (Helena Bonham Carter) is the tyrannical monarch of Underland. With her oversized head, fiery temper and propensity to scream for people’s heads to be chopped off, she rules her subjects through fear.

“She has got emotional problems”, says Bonham Carter. “It takes nothing, practically, for her to lose her temper. Her tantrums are that of a two-year-old”. Her younger sibling, the White Queen, has designs on the throne and crown that Iracebeth once stole from her.

ABSOLEM, THE CATERPILLAR (voiced by Alan Rickman) is the all-knowing and absolute guardian of the Oraculum, an ancient document that depicts every major event, past, present and future, in Underland’s history. Alice is taken by the White Rabbit and the Tweedles to meet Absolem, so that he can ascertain whether she is, in fact, the real Alice who first visited Underland as a child, the Alice who is destined to help them.

They find the bulbous blue caterpillar atop a mushroom in a mushroom forest surrounded by misty smoke. Several times Absolem challenges Alice to come to a better understanding of herself, forcing her to face the difficult question: “Who are you?”

ILOSOVIC STAYNE, THE KNAVE OF HEARTS (Crispin Glover) is the head of the Red Queen’s Army. Seven feet, six-inches tall, with a scarred face and a heart-shaped patch covering his left eye, Stayne is an arrogant, tricky character who follows the Red Queen’s every order. He is the only one capable of pacifying her and calming her dramatic mood swings.

“I am the martial element for the Red Queen”, says Glover. “The Red Queen has a fair amount of short-tempered reactions to things that people do, and so my character has to be quite diplomatic”. His darker side emerges in the shadows of the castle hallways.

MALLYMKUN, THE DORMOUSE (voiced by Barbara Windsor) is a swashbuckling mouse in Underland who wears riding breeches. She refuses to believe that the White Rabbit has found the right Alice, the one who can help return Underland to its true splendor, and is only too happy to poke poor Alice in the ankle with a hat pin when Alice insists she is only dreaming. But the tough little mouse comes through in a pinch when Alice is threatened by a clawing creature called a Bandersnatch. Her loyalty to the Hatter is unmatched, and she willingly faces the prospect of death to stand by him.

Not enough? Didn’t think so – that’s why we also have a sneak peak at footage from the Underland… is anyone else officially UBER-EXCITED? Yep, thought so!