Alice In Wonderland: Press Conference Report

Published on February 25, 2010 by Martyn Conterio · View Comments

alice I’m not the biggest fan of press conferences. They can range from intimate affairs with a few people gathered around a table to full blown mega- conferences. This was one was massive. Two hundred and fifty people attending, if you want some facts and figures. On the whole, these kinds of things can be truly awful and occasionally descend into deepest tedium and total nonsense, before resurfacing back into reality. The gathered talent often treat the whole farrago with a mixture of fun, bemusement and, on occasion, annoyance. International press conferences do tend to enter another realm of the unreal and absurd – rather fitting for Alice in Wonderland, no?

It kicked off in the ballroom at the Dorchester in upmarket Mayfair after having to sit waiting for Godot…well as close to that as can be. It took me ages to get my interview slot with Richard Zanuck! In attendance were: Crispin Glover, Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Tim Burton, Joe Roth, Dick Zanuck, Danny Elfman and Helena Bonham-Carter all came out in force to be subjected to some of the most ludicrous, risible and just plain old-fashioned insane questioning. To highlight this, here’s the full un-edited transcript between a Hungarian journo and Anne Hathaway:

Hungarian Journalist: I have a question for Miss Anne Hathaway: You were cast as a princess and now you’re a queen. There are so many Disney princesses who couldn’t make it. They are desperate and wanted to get the role of Alice. I wanted to ask you, what do you suggest for those who studied like you…there are so many out there. What would you say about why you made it and they didn’t?

Anne Hathaway: (laughs) I don’t know I can necessarily answer that. I owe so much of my career to luck. My mother always told me that luck is preparation meets opportunity and, um, I’ve been given extraordinary opportunities to work with filmmakers long before I was talented enough and deserved to work with them. I’ve learned a lot from them. I just keep getting hired. I consider myself lucky and I don’t know who is responsible for it.

HJ: You wouldn’t suggest anything for them that they shouldn’t do?

AH: Why don’t you tell me what you suggest?

HJ: You’re interested in my opinion?

AH: (mockingly) We all are!

HJ: I never see you not wearing panties.

AH: I’m not sorry to say I’m happy to hear that.

Moving swiftly on…Johnny Depp doesn’t walk into a room, as saunter. He’s followed by a smirking Crispin Glover and a bounding Helena-Bonham Carter. There is rapturous applause for Anne Hathaway when she finally enters – and an outright crescendo when Tim Burton strolls in and takes his place.

The star of the event was undoubtedly Mr. Depp, who took every question with grace and answer with ut-most politeness – even the really strange ones: especially the strange ones. It is natural for journalists to get tongue-tied in the presence of such a ridiculously handsome bastard as Depp, but for so-called professionals, some of the questions went on, and on, and on, and Ariston. Several times, host Mark Salisbury had to cut off rambling journos like he was the executioner for the Queen of Hearts.

Burton has the air of a really cool and fun art teacher. He sometimes appeared bored with proceedings and sometimes made fun of some of the questions. After one journalist took too long in asking something, Burton mockingly asked, “Is there life after death?”

Despite the occasional outbreaks of journalistic lunacy, here’s some snippets from the panel on a variety of subjects:

Mia Wasikowska on the pressure of playing Alice:

“There’s a certain amount of pressure when you’re playing such an iconic character and very well known and loved by some many people. We discussed that from the beginning and one of the things we wanted to do was take away that baggage that comes with being Alice and get behind the teenager behind the iconic image.”

Johnny Depp on playing the Mad Hatter with a Scottish accent:

“The Scottish accent was something I did mess around with on Finding Neverland. That was a bit more Aberdeen, and Tim and I talked about the Hatter being made up of different people and going to extremes…go dark and dangerous with the Scottish accent. I hope I arrived there.”

Tim Burton on the Disney versus UK cinema chains boycott:

“I’m happy it’s resolved. I’m just happy.”

Crispin Glover and Anne Hathaway are asked would they consider living in Wonderland, if they could:

Glover: “I’d definitely consider it.”

Hathaway: “I’d be happy to live in a world with no rules!”

Johnny Depp on how Helena Bonham-Carter affects the Burton-Depp dynamic and why he will always work with Burton:

“We only started quarrelling when Helena showed up.”

“He’s one of the true artists working in cinema.”

Tim Burton on what attracted him to making the film:

“What really intrigued me was the opportunity to make a 3D Alice in Wonderland. It seemed like a proper mix of the medium and the material. A few years ago, I don’t know if I’d have been intrigued by it, but it just seemed like the trippy-ness of the world and the tool of 3D seemed like a good mix. And also, going back, there’s about twenty different versions and I’d never really connected with them. The characters and imagery and the icon way it has infiltrated culture was just so strong.”

How the actors felt reading the books as children:

Helena Bonham-Carter: “You know what? I can’t remember. Okay, so my made up answer is…I can’t remember.”

Mia Wasikowska: “My most vivid memories of Alice as a kid were when my mum used to put myself and my siblings in front of the stop-motion Czech Alice. I remember watching it and feeling incredibly disturbed.”

Anne Hathaway: “When I was a young kid I had a wonderful teacher in the fifth grade who had us memorise the poem, The Jabberwocky, and we all had to get up and recite it to everyone.

Johnny Depp: “I can remember reading the book as a kid…the condensed version and then obviously the Disney cartoon. The story is so episodic and all over the place, but I remember more than anything was just the characters. Even people who haven’t read the book know the characters.”

Tim Burton responding to a question about the different between Underland and Wonderland:

“It’s spelled different and that’s about it.”

…And there you go folks. A report from the front line of press conference madness. If I can work it out, I’d be happy to put out the press conference audio on the site. I’ll get back to you on that.