Glossary of Terms For Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
Linda Woolverton’s screenplay for Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland has very successfully been kept under lock and key. This has led to a certain amount of confusion or even misinformation springing up and circling reports of the film. Thankfully, having been shown a full copy I can now report that all of the early information I was given by sources close to the film seems to be completely true.
The big surprise for most people, I think, will be that this is at once an adaptation of and sequel to the Lewis Carroll books. This is thanks to a plot wrangle at least as clever as that in Abrams’ Star Trek. Essentially, Wonderland is both a real place and a recurring dream of Alice’s. In this film she’s dreaming of it at a somewhat later part of her life than in the books, so certain things are different. This is just one clever element of a truly charming and surprising screenplay that I’m now really very sure will become a true humdinger of a movie.
To fully understand the script immediately one would need a glossary of terms. Thankfully, Woolverton prepared one and it was circulated to cast and crew. I’ve had it explained to me, so I’m going to pass on what I know to you after the break.
Burton made Frankenweenie as a short black and white film in 1984. It is rumored that Disney decided to shelve the project because the content was too “questionable” for children. However, after the mainstream success of such Burton films as Beetlejuice, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and Batman, the film was given a home video release on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD.
