Q: Your upcoming Alice looks like it might be a more adult interpretation, considering she's meant to be 19...
A: With Alice, the imagery has been around for so long, it's so iconic. The problem with the books is that they're episodic and kind of random events that the movies have always suffered from the idea of a passive little girl going, "Oh, that's weird. Oh, I'm shrinking! Oh, I'm growing! I say!" So the goal was to try and take that imagery and be true to it but make it a new movie. So she's older, which puts in context. That's what's always been missing.
I think, with all these stories, whether it's Alice, or The Wizard of Oz, or any of these classic stories, they're always exploring what's in a person's inner psyche. You see Alice -- Mia Wasikowska -- is intelligent. She's got an internal life because all of these things are symbolic for working out whatever psychological problems you have. That whole question of fantasy versus reality -- most fantasy speaks to reality. It speaks to something real in somebody's life. That's why those old stories told around campfires were told because they connect to real emotion. It's not just a story about Goat Boy and Lizard Man...
Q: That sounds like it could be a fun movie!
A: I know, huh? But there's a reason they're being told. So I try to put some logic into it. I carry a little book and just try to draw sometimes, and that helps as a sort of visual journal to help explore ideas. Sometimes it helps to doodle to spark something. That's the great thing about the middle of the night. Then you get up and you go, "What the ...? I didn't realize Vicks Nyquil was that strong!"
Q: But your version of Alice won't be as adult as Alan Moore's was in Lost Girls...
A: It's a Disney movie! [Laughs]. Look, these things are what they are. They're best left open for interpretation. That's what I love about Roald Dahl on downwards -- all children's literature is somewhat politically incorrect. We're not doing anything in it that's more than what's already in Alice in Wonderland.
Q: Alice will mark the seventh film you've done with Johnny Depp, Dark Shadows the eighth...
A: With Alice, the imagery has been around for so long, it's so iconic. The problem with the books is that they're episodic and kind of random events that the movies have always suffered from the idea of a passive little girl going, "Oh, that's weird. Oh, I'm shrinking! Oh, I'm growing! I say!" So the goal was to try and take that imagery and be true to it but make it a new movie. So she's older, which puts in context. That's what's always been missing.
I think, with all these stories, whether it's Alice, or The Wizard of Oz, or any of these classic stories, they're always exploring what's in a person's inner psyche. You see Alice -- Mia Wasikowska -- is intelligent. She's got an internal life because all of these things are symbolic for working out whatever psychological problems you have. That whole question of fantasy versus reality -- most fantasy speaks to reality. It speaks to something real in somebody's life. That's why those old stories told around campfires were told because they connect to real emotion. It's not just a story about Goat Boy and Lizard Man...
Q: That sounds like it could be a fun movie!
A: I know, huh? But there's a reason they're being told. So I try to put some logic into it. I carry a little book and just try to draw sometimes, and that helps as a sort of visual journal to help explore ideas. Sometimes it helps to doodle to spark something. That's the great thing about the middle of the night. Then you get up and you go, "What the ...? I didn't realize Vicks Nyquil was that strong!"
Q: But your version of Alice won't be as adult as Alan Moore's was in Lost Girls...
A: It's a Disney movie! [Laughs]. Look, these things are what they are. They're best left open for interpretation. That's what I love about Roald Dahl on downwards -- all children's literature is somewhat politically incorrect. We're not doing anything in it that's more than what's already in Alice in Wonderland.
Q: Alice will mark the seventh film you've done with Johnny Depp, Dark Shadows the eighth...