Sarah Michelle Gellar

T.O.C - Table of Contents
01 - A horror adaptation of Alice in Wonderland?
02 - What’s the game like?
03 - Wasn’t this movie supposed to come out in 2001?
04 - I read that the movie will have a different plot!
05 - How old is Alice in the movie?
06 - What are the currently known cast and crew?
07 - Who’s providing musical talent for the Soundtrack?
08 - I’ve heard that Marilyn Manson is starring!
09 - Is this movie going to be completely in CGI?
10 - Will SMG be blonde in this movie??
11 - Is this movie about Alice Liddell?

01 - A horror adaptation of Alice in Wonderland? What for?

Actually, this is not an adaptation of Carroll’s books, it is an adaptation of American McGee’s video game, which is also called Alice. The video game is set about ten years after the second book, and is NOT a remake of the first Alice book as some seem to believe.

02 - So what’s the game like, what is it about?

The game takes place after her second adventure Through the Looking-Glass And what Alice Found There. A candle in Alice’s house is knocked to the floor by a cat and causes the house to catch fire - Alice luckily survives, but her parents die. Alice enters a deep state of catatonia and is institutionalised in an Asylum. After being in the asylum for several years, she responds to a mysterious summons to return to Wonderland, and the place is barely recognisable. Something has gone very wrong. Undaunted by the diseased atmosphere, confusion and mortal danger that surrounds her, Alice commits to restore Wonderland to its proper state, in hopes of regaining her sanity as well.

Note: This has nothing to do with Disney’s "Alice in Wonderland" film. That was simply another adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s books.

03 - Wasn’t this movie supposed to come out in 2001?

You are quite right. This project has gone through plenty a change. The film began as a project spearheaded by American McGee in 2000. The project’s history is a rocky one and despite initial success, it met with disaster and fell into obscurity for several years. For a long time, it seemed the project was lost and that the film would not happen.

Prior to this announcement, there were earlier attemps to create a film based on the videogame. Unofficially, the project was often referred to as Dark Wonderland. Negotiations began even before the game was finished in 2000. American McGee and two film producers pitched the idea of making a movie to Dimension Films. Head of Dimension Studios, Bob Weinstien was shown the CG trailer for the game and "then he slammed his fist down and said, ’we are making this movie.’". Dimension Films hired John August to write a film treatment and Wes Craven was supposed to direct the film. However, Craven did not care for August’s treatment and despite attempts by other writers to put forth ideas for the story, no progress was made. The studio became displeased with the two film producers and the project collapsed.

According to screenwriter John August, neither the alleged title Dark Wonderland nor any rumored casting were real. Wes Craven, in answering questions about the proposed film, also indicated that the project never even reached a stage in which casting would be considered.

For several years, there was no news of the film. Fans sent e-mails to John August and American McGee and both replied that they did not know what was happening with it. Despite being the creative force behind the game, McGee did not own the rights to it. Four years after initial announcements, in April 2004, McGee stated that the film rights had been moved to 20th Century Fox. McGee wrote that they "love the project and are going to make it", but he was skeptical. And in the end, the project would not be produced by Fox, but another year would pass before there was an update.

Finally, On June 21, 2005 news surfaced that the film adaptation was going to be produced. The project had moved to Universal Studios and would be titled, Alice, with Erich and Jon Hoeber adapting the script.

Marcus Nispel was set to direct. The news came in connection with the announcement that actress Sarah Michelle Gellar had been cast as Alice. American McGee was listed as an executive producer on the project.

Originally planned for release in 2006, the release date was later changed to 2007.

On February 3, 2006, it was announced in an interview that the script for Alice had been completed, and that filming could begin as early as the summer.

from Wikipedia.com

04 - I read that the movie will have a completely different plot than the game! Something about a Wicked Aunt.

That is an old script. It’s probably been scrapped by now.

A synopsis for this old script can be found here: http://www.abandonent.com/content/films/alice.html

05 - How old is Alice in the movie?

Alice is admitted into the asylum somewhere around age 8-9 (1864). The last date recorded in the case book (that came with the original edition of the game) is 1874, when Alice is 18/19 years old. In the case book, on the date of September 7, 1873, Alice presented her doctor with a picture of the Cheshire Cat (which is the first character she meets up with in the game). This has lead us to assume that she enters Wonderland around the age of 17/18.

The above appears to be a somewhat correct calculation. This is from McGee: I know this one has been asked before. When I wrote the story for the game I did some kind of calculation to ensure that she was aged 18 when the new adventure into Wonderland began. Again, not exactly sure of her age in the movie - and again, not sure it’s critical to the story.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was born on April 14th, 1977. That makes her 30 years old, i.e 12 years older than Alice. If you haven’t noticed; in Hollywood, it is quite normal to cast actors in much younger roles. Quite weird, but at least we can say that this movie is going by the (Hollywood) book!

06 - What are the currently known cast and crew?

Director: Marcus Nispel - http://imdb.com/name/nm1197971/

Production Companies: Collision Entertainment, Firm Films

Distributor: Universal Studios - http://www.universalstudios.com

Writers: Erich Hoeber, Lewis Carroll (original story), American McGee (characters), Jon Hoeber

Producers: Scott Faye, Julie Yorn, American McGee, JoAnne Colonna, Karen Lauder, Damien Saccani

Alice: Sarah Michelle Gellar - http://imdb.com/name/nm0001264/

07 - Who’s providing musical talent for the Soundtrack?

As of yet, no one knows. We can only hope that Chris Vrenna, the composer of the game’s soundtrack, will work on this version as well.

08 - I’ve heard that Marilyn Manson is starring as the Queen of Hearts!

You’ve heard wrong! That was simply a rumour. Mr. Manson was cast to play the Queen in another Alice film, "Living Neon Dreams" (http://imdb.com/title/tt0371796/), but is now making his own film about Alice instead. His movie will bear the name "Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll" (http://imdb.com/title/tt0758775/).

09 - Is this movie going to be completely in CGI like Final Fantasy?

No, although it had been considered for "Dark Wonderland", Alice will be live-action. As you might expect, no live-action movie is without CGI effects these days.

10 - Will SMG be blonde in this movie? SMG is blonde, correct?

Incorrect times two. Alice was light blonde in Disney’s movie adaption. Sarah’s natural hair colour is brown.

In the original Alice books, her hair colour is blonde (though the illustrations are black and white. They were colorised in "The Nursery Alice"). The REAL Alice, Alice Liddell, had brown hair. This is most probably why McGee has chosen Alice to have brown hair in the game. That, or to illustrate the changes she’s gone through.

SMG’s hair should be fine - but no - she will not be blonde; that is, if they decide to go by the game. We all know how different the Doom movie turned out.

11 - Is this movie/game about the Alice from the books, or Alice Liddell?

Lewis Carroll DID base his book-Alice on Alice Liddell.

In essence, it IS Alice Liddell in the game, but it is not the "real" Alice Liddell, it is the Alice Liddell that Carroll populated his books with (so in short, it’s the book-Alice). Since the Alice books are featured in the game, one might argue that McGee chose to "cast" the real Alice Liddell, that the books appear as a sort of cameo, or that he simply chose to morph/merge these two Alices on purpose.

But consider this: Since the book version of Alice has blonde hair, and Alice Liddell had brown hair, one could also suspect that McGee gave "game-Alice" brown hair to purposely show that it is in fact, the real Alice, the real real Alice - Alice Pleasance Liddell - and not the blonde, book version of her.

Really, you’d have to make up your own mind on this matter. OR NOT [2] ! The following is straight from the horse’s mouth (that is, American McGee): Alice in the game is supposed to be Alice from the book. No idea what the film writers are thinking on this subject though. From what I read of the script it isn’t critical. It wasn’t critical to the game either.