As a follow-up to my post
HERE on Tuesday this week, Mad Hatter has revealed the second Disney/Burton "Alice" poster. I think Alice and the White rabbit both look like they could a nap, otherwise it has a lovely mix of fantasy with a dark undertone (as you would expect from director Tim Burton) plus the Burton trees!
Of course, The Mad Hatter now wants 9, 000 Facebook 'likes' to unveil the third art piece...
If you want to join the madness go
HERE. (Only 3, 700 'likes' to go till the next one... Ah, publicity - gotta love the stunts.)
On the subject of putting Alice in Wonderland on film, I came across this article I thought the Alice fans may find interesting. It's fairly lengthy with a lot of great detail for those interested in the challenges of adaptations of Carroll's work, as well as those interested in animation. It's aptly titled "It Would Be So Nice If Something Would Make Sense For A Change" - which is a perfect description of article, film and the film's process.
For those who don't know, Walt had a long history with Alice and was keen to do a film on the classic work for many years. He kept hitting roadblocks of one sort or another until when the film was finally being developed/in production, he was so tired of it all he barely gave it any attention. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like had he still been enthusiastic and able to dedicate time and effort to the film.)
Here's an excerpt:
Pick up just about any book about the history of the Disney Studios, and you're going to run into the same stories, often told in the same words, about the miserable hell that was the production of Alice in Wonderland, which eventually saw release in July, 1951. The problem seems to all boil down to a small nexus of issues: first, there was the fact that Walt eventually had to face, which is that nobody could possibly make a film of Carroll's novels and expect it to turn out like Snow White, or even Pinocchio. The books were too mired in linguistic play, and given over rather to the creation of absurd situations than the development of plot or specific conflict. To surpass this difficulty issue, it seems like he eventually conceived of the film as a sampler platter, if you will, of animation and design: let it be the cartoon version of Carroll's writing in effect, not in detail, an opportunity for the animators to cut loose and make surreal situations with beautiful artwork...
You can read the whole article
HERE.
NOTE: The three illustrations are by the legendary
Mary Blair who was working for Disney as a concept artist at the time of developing Alice. Her style, designs and color palette greatly influenced the whole film. You can see more of her art
HERE, (scroll down for a huge gallery) and buy a book on her work
HERE. A Disney Alice in Wonderland
story book using Mary Blair's concept art for the illustrations, was released in September last year (and I posted an entry
HERE).
Too cute not to share!
"Edward Scissorhands" is a movie it took me a very long time to see. When it was first in theaters I found the poster disturbingly like the "Freddy" horror posters and, despite what people were saying, didn't want to subject myself to anything remotely in that genre.
Many years later I saw the movie and quickly realized it wasn't a horror at all but a beautiful modern (and romantic) fairy tale of a boy misunderstood simply because of how he looks. It's quite reminiscent of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with a light and magical aspect (for the most part) instead of the heavy Victor Hugo touch. The PG rating is more because of the unfortunate boy/creature's appearance than anything else, otherwise the film is touchingly humorous, beautifully fantastic and very romantic. The film is in many people's favorite fantasy film picks and has even been adapted into a very successful ballet.
The supposedly true story of how the first snow came to fall on the town, is being told to a child by her grandmother. An old inventor is slowly completing his life's work: a boy he names Edward but Edward's creator dies before he can give him the hands he made for him and the poor boy-creature is left alone in the mansion/castle he was created in.
One day a kindly Avon lady comes knocking one day and takes him under her wing. In all his years with his substitute hands that are made of knives and scissors, the gentle-hearted Edward has learned to use them to create beautiful things. This helps people get over their first fearful impression of him to start with but nothing is straight forward - of course. Especially when Edward falls in love with the Avon lady's beautiful daughter...
In a quick search for favorite Christmas movies it's not surprising to see "Edward Scissorhands" on the peoples lists. The music alone has some beautiful winter/Christmas-sounding pieces but when you add the story you add the heart.
As a follow-up to my post HERE on Tuesday this week, Mad Hatter has revealed the second Disney/Burton "Alice" poster. I think Alice and the White rabbit both look like they could a nap, otherwise it has a lovely mix of fantasy with a dark undertone (as you would expect from director Tim Burton) plus the Burton trees!
For those who don't know, Walt had a long history with Alice and was keen to do a film on the classic work for many years. He kept hitting roadblocks of one sort or another until when the film was finally being developed/in production, he was so tired of it all he barely gave it any attention. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like had he still been enthusiastic and able to dedicate time and effort to the film.)
Here's an excerpt:
Alice in Wonderland is getting a Burton-style make-over. His visually stunning and surreal style should make a good match for the equally surreal story.
