FROM MTV.COM: Johnny Depp surprised fans at the Disney 3-D panel at San Diego Comic-Con by showing up at the end of Tim Burton's presentation of footage from "Alice in Wonderland."
Although Depp didn't answer questions, the crowd screamed and cheered when the actor was onstage, the room filling with flashes of cameras.
The shocking addition of Depp to the stage was a great end to the panel discussion, which began with filmmaker Tim Burton getting cheers of his own from the crowd. In a presentation that included a teaser trailer of various footage from the film in 3-D, Burton laughed about all the wacky characters who populate the world of his version of "Alice in Wonderland," including the Mad Hatter, played by Depp; the Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter; and the White Queen, played by Anne Hathaway.
Johnny Depp, Tim Burton Preview 'Alice In Wonderland' At Comic-Con
WOW. As a longtime fan of all things "Alice in Wonderland"-related, I've been looking forward to Tim Burton's take on Lewis Carroll's stories with something that far exceeds "great interest." It's more like "rabid enthusiasm," or "release more content before I go postal." And now that the first in-motion look at the movie has arrived, I find my vocabulary pared down to a single word: WOW!
For those of you fretting and raising eyebrows over this new Alice's (Mia Wasikowska) age or Johnny Depp's (he plays the Mad Hatter) star billing, know that Burton's story is a sort-of sequel to the Carroll original. You'll see all sorts of familiar characters and locales of course, but things have changed -- and quite a bit -- since Alice's first visit to Wonderland.
UPDATE: Apparently a certain website got a little overexcited about the "Alice" trailer and decided to run it a day early. These things happen. We've been asked to pull it down, and will of course comply out of respect for Disney, Burton and his talented team.
Keeping reading for some thoughts on the shiny newness. Read more...
UPDATE: The typo has been corrected below, but just so you all know: the Facebook fans on the winning page will get to see the "Alice" teaser on July 23, a full day before its proper release.
Every time I see something new from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," I lose a few more of my increasingly precious marbles. Don't tell anyone, but I'm planning to stow away in Splash Page editor Rick Marshall's luggage so I can catch the delicious new "Wonderland" footage at Comic-Con.
But wait! Maybe I don't have to! To drum up interest in the movie -- like that's really a problem -- Disney is running a Facebook promotion. A trio of fan pages have been created, one each for Anne Hathaway's White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen and Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. The fan page with the most followers at 4pm (Pacific) on July 23 gets first crack at the debut teaser trailer for the movie.
Look: we all know that Depp's Hatter is going to take this contest. No question. Just fan up now. Then continue past the jump to check out the newly released "official" synopsis along with four new images. Oh. YES! Read more...
First, a frightful(ly awesome) image to start your week with:
It's 4:30am as I write this, so forgive any ramblings. I just love MTV that much. The above pic comes from a USA Today first look feature for Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."
Yes, that's Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. There's an equally terrifying shot of Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts. There's also a look at Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and some delicious, Flash-powered concept art. Clearly, I'm not getting back to sleep anytime soon. You won't see this until 9am though. Enjoy your week all... sweet dreams!
When Tim Burton announces a film project, there are rarely any surprises in the casting department. It's more like a check-list that ends with Christopher Lee. But is there really anything wrong with that? Martin Scorsese does it all the time!
With that introduction, it will come as no surprise to you that Burton's partner, Helena Bonham-Carter, has been added to the cast of Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." It probably won't even shock you to find out what legendary Lewis Carroll character she's playing -- the Red Queen, fond of red roses, croquet matches, and shouting "Off with their heads!" But again, can we really complain, when Bonham-Carter plays ferocious and unhinged so well? Read more...
