Inside Info From the Culver City Set of "Alice In Wonderland"

**UPDATED October 27th: You can add Alan Rickman to the cast of AIW too! The cast for this movie is now approaching insane - If the buzz wasn't already enough, the addition of Rickman and Lee position the movie from all performance angles from odd to evil. Rickman will play Caterpiller, while Lee's part is still up in the air. Updates to follow!

Jim here. ZDonk recently had the opporunity to visit the set of ALICE IN WONDERLAND in Culver City, CA. Zack Roth's father Joe is actually a producer on the movie so the info seems legit enough (and understandingly not too too juicy).

Here is part of his report:

"The set itself was insane - the whole soundstage was draped in green-screen material, and there were dozens of motion capture cameras hanging overhead - it seemed like half the crew was there just to figure out how to make all the technologies work together.

This version of Alice In Wonderland won’t be your fluffy lollipop Disney movie. With Tim Burton directing, and Johnny Depp starring as the Mad Hatter, expect to see a darker, more twisted take on Lewis Carroll’s original narrative. Luckily Johnny Depp was working that day, and I got to see him in character. He looked startlingly crazy - Burton’s take on the Mad Hatter was pretty wild.

Linda Woolverton adapted the screenplay and I am told added some socio-political context to the film’s narrative. No doubt there will be several drug references and crazy mind blowing visuals, but the story will actually have some significant meaning. I don’t want to give away the framework of the story, so all I will say is that Alice and Neo from the Matrix have a lot in common in Disney’s 2010 release…but what does it all mean?!?!"

Check out his full report right here. What the hell does that mean? The Matrix? Remember that scene where Neo chooses between the red and blue pill and the references to AIW? Hmmm.

In related news, Slashfilm reports Christopher Lee has been cast in an unannounced role (most likely the King of Hearts) and Eleanor Tomlinson has been tapped to play a new role specifically made for Burton's vision - a friend of Alice (Fiona Chataway), who appears before Alice falls into the hole. (Yep, spoiler alert - there's a hole of some kind!) And as we already suspected, Danny Elfman is penning the score.

Christopher Lee is plain awesome. Instant credibility to whatever role he plays. Wise choice!