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Alice (and her commitment issues) go to Wonderland
Just as writer-director Nick Willing completely turned The Wizard of Oz on its ear with the Syfy's Tin Man, he's up to the same trick with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, reinventing it as an upcoming modern-day, off-the-wall four-hour Syfy movie entitled Alice. The biggest change? Alice isn't a little girl anymore, but rather a 20-something with daddy issues and commitment problems.
All those tweaks were fine with Canadian actress Caterina Scorsone, whose credits include Goosebumps and 1-800-Missing. She beat out 300 women for the coveted role of Alice Hamilton and interacts with a wide variety of re-imagined characters that includes the Hatter (Andrew Lee Potts), the Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates), Jack Chase (Philip Winchester), the King of Hearts (Colm Meaney), Caterpillar (Harry Dean Stanton), Dodo (Tim Curry) and the White Knight (Matt Frewer).
"In the Lewis Carroll story, Alice was this young girl, and in this version she's not," Scorsone said in an exclusive interview. "That's significant. In the books, because she's a child, she doesn't have a lot of history and life of her own. In this version, Alice comes with a full trunk of luggage with her own traumas and history and scars. In the original story, Alice finds herself in Wonderland and walks through this world and encounters these really interesting characters, and so her adventure is these little vignettes."
Willing's adaptation, however, provides Alice with a rich interior life. "It becomes clear that she's been abandoned by her father as a child," Scorsone said. "So she's got all of these daddy issues, relationship issues, and a lot of emotional repression. Basically, throughout the course of the film, we journey with her into her interior life, which is Wonderland, and she becomes liberated from herself. So it's this beautiful journey of maturation for this woman who really hasn't been able to embrace her womanhood up to this point."
Alice will premiere at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Dec. 6 and conclude on Dec. 7. Though it hasn't even aired yet, there's already buzz about a sequel. Scorsone, who'll be seen next in the Mel Gibson film thriller Edge of Darkness, revealed that she'd be into returning for another adventure as Alice.
"This was just a really, really positive experience on a personal level," she said. "So the combination of having had a really strong, interesting female character to play and having a really great group of people to work with, and not having to do it for years [as a TV series regular], I think I'd be all over it, doing more. I know that they have been talking about it, so I know there are some ideas for it if they wanted to do more. And, yeah, I'd totally be game."
By Gia at 3:05 PM ON 11/24/09
WHEN THE FREAK are we gonna get a TIN MAN Sequel???!!! Screw the Alice sequel!
By OldMan at 3:24 PM ON 11/24/09
I'm with Gia on this one (but I actually do want to see Alice).
But hey - when are we going to see a Tin Man sequel?
By ispiscifi at 3:34 PM ON 11/24/09
Knowing that the writer-director of this ain't-Alice is one and the same as the perpetrator of Tin Man causes all my major appendages to droop in despair.
Sure, there was good stuff in Tin Man, and some of the performances were more than passable. But the story line was thin and threadbare, and you didn't even have to blink to miss the ending. A big story needs a big ending: Catharsis, not catatonia.
By another spiffy b movie at 3:50 PM ON 11/24/09
Oh great. The same writer and director of Tin Man. Sorry, but that miniseries sucked. It had some good ideas, but ultimately fell flat. And the acting was so poorly done. (I'm such a fan of Zooey and Neal too). But it could easily be blamed on the direction as well.
At any rate, it seems this will be another attempt by Spiffy (or is it Spyffy) to capitalize off another big screen movie coming out soon.
By muahahah at 4:16 PM ON 11/24/09
Add a giant komodo dragon! Then your talking syfy channel gold!
By Scipio at 6:06 PM ON 11/24/09
I had liked Tin Man up untill that last part, if they would have wrapped it up without the muppet-esque witch it would have been much better.
By cabaretlights at 12:07 AM ON 11/25/09
So daddy issues...does that mean we can expect something between Alice and the White Knight?
By Saku Rintanen at 12:22 AM ON 11/25/09
Meh...take your daddy issues, relationship issues, emotional repression and GO SEE DR. PHIL!!!
By KC at 12:44 AM ON 11/25/09
Sorry - Tin Man blew chunks.
By Slander at 12:51 AM ON 11/25/09
God, Tin Man was terrible. There were some good cast members, but the script was like bad Mary Sue fanfiction. And, seriously, Zooey Deschanel couldn't act if Audrey Hepburn herself rose from the grave and gave her lessons.
In short, Tin Man was a fine notion, but a very disappointing execution. I appreciate the effort, but I'll have to pass on Alice.
By Shitefy at 7:06 AM ON 11/25/09
I have to agree with most of the comments above regarding Tin Man.
It proves that Syfy can not produce decent mini series, films. Whether it be a lack of artistry, budget etc there is a huge lack in these shows.
By sparrowlord01 at 11:01 AM ON 11/25/09
Man I wish these producers and writers would stop chopping up classics just to get some press points. When you mess with something this much, the outcome is never that good.
As for this soon to be turkey.. I quote Freddy Mercury of Queen.
Da Da DUmp Dump Dump, Another one bites the dust...
By Hank Jekyll at 12:57 PM ON 11/25/09
Ill wait for the Tim Burton version, I think his vision might be less stupid.
By chris at 3:47 PM ON 11/29/09
tinman 2 comes out this spring april or may 2010
By jb at 3:21 PM ON 11/30/09
Sorry, as with Tinman I will not be setting my HD Tivo to record this crap. If its by the same people who gave us the aforementioned show I'll pass.
By Bill Codner at 1:37 AM ON 12/09/09
I liked it, enough said Peace
By jenn at 7:06 PM ON 12/12/09
Sequel for Alice and Tin Man please!!! Ah i love them both. Andrew Lee Potts is absolutely amazing!
By Randomfan at 7:18 PM ON 01/31/10
I know a lot of people are looking for a Tin Man sequal first, but I honestly can't wait until they do another Alice
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Randomfan:
I know a lot of people are looking for a Tin Man sequal first, but I honestly can't wait until they do another Alic...More »