2010 fantasy adventure film from Walt Disney Pictures "Alice in Wonderland" directed by Tim Burton, written by Linda Woolverton, and stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry.
"Alice in Wonderland" is The film uses a technique of combining live action and animation and an extension of the Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
Tim Burton takes a stab at Lewis Carroll's timeless tale of a young girl (Mia Wasikowska) lost within a fantasyland with this 3-D production of Alice in Wonderland. The Lion King's Linda Woolverton provides the script, with Hollywood heavyweights Richard Zanuck and Joe Roth heading up the production team. Burton veteran collaborator Johnny Depp co-stars as The Mad Hatter in the Walt Disney Productions picture.
"Alice in Wonderland" was originally set to be released in 2009, but was pushed to March 5, 2010. Principal photography was scheduled for May 2008, but did not begin until September and concluded in three months. Scenes set in the Victorian era were shot at Torpoint and Plymouth from September 1 to October 14. Two hundred and fifty local extras were chosen in early August. Locations included Antony House in Torpoint, Charlestown, Cornwall and the Barbican.
Motion capture filming began in early October, at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, though the footage was later discarded. Burton said that he is using a combination of live action and animation, without motion capture. He also noted that this was the first time he had done green screen. Filming of the green screen portions, comprising 90% of the film, was completed after only 40 days. Many of the cast and crew felt nauseous as a result of the long hours surrounded by green, with Burton having lavender lenses fitted into his glasses to counteract the effect.
Sony Pictures Imageworks designed the visual effects sequences. Burton felt 3D was appropriate to the story's environment Burton and Zanuck chose to film with conventional cameras, and convert the footage into 3-D during post-production; Zanuck explained 3-D cameras were too expensive and "clumsy" to use, and they felt that there was no difference between converted footage and those shot in the format. (Director James Cameron, who released his 3-D film Avatar on December 10, 2009, criticized the choice, stating, "It doesn't make any sense to shoot in 2-D and convert to 3-D.") Filming also took place at Culver Studios.
