"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 6 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

It was 189 years ago today that illustrator John Tenniel was born in London and the legacy of his work is only expanding with the release this week of "Alice in Wonderland," director Tim Burton's sequel to the familiar tales of writer Lewis Carroll. Tenniel was the artist whose strange and evocative illustrations added so much to the reading experience for every generation that embraced Carroll's two "Alice" books, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass"

"If you go back to Tenniel, so much of his work is what stays in your mind about Alice and about Wonderland," Burton said. "Alice and the characters have been done so many times and in so many ways but Tenniel's art really lasts there in your memory."

Tenniel was already a major name in political cartooning (and, unfortunately, blinded in one eye from a fencing wound) when he took on the illsutrations for Carroll's strange fantasy. The job was frustrating one due to the intense detail work and specifications that came from Carroll (whose real name, by the way, was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) but Tenniel had a passion for drawing animals and Wonderland gave him a singular opportunity for creatures of the fantastic. Tenniel was also meticulous soul and a demanding, artist -- the first run of 2,000 copies of"Alice in 1865, for instance, did not meet his standards and were pulled back. The project was well worth the trouble, however, when the book became an instant literary sensation.

Tenniel's illustrations, like the one above, were engraved into wood blocks to be used in the woodcut process of printing. Those blocks now reside at Bodleian Libraryin Oxford. Tenniel died in February 1914 at the age of 93 having seen a great many things in a long and rich life -- including the first "Alice in Wonderland" film in 1903.

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

The White Queen as domestic goddess

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

 

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 7 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

Should the Cheshire Cat's grin make us reconsider the nature of reality? Can Humpty Dumpty make words mean whatever he says they mean? Is Alice a feminist icon?

Those are a few of the questions in"Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser," a book by William Irvin, a philosophy professor at King’s College in Pennsylvania, who has made a specialty of using pop culture to frame his classroom approach.

He took the idea to the bookshelf with in 1999 as editor of  "Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing" and then again, with bestselling results, with "The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh of Homer" in 2001. More books followed, using "The Matrix," Metallica and "The Terminator" as the lenses for examining philosophical topics. Books on “True Blood,” “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” will be released later this year, while the "Wonderland" collection just hit shelves timed to exploit the arrival of Tim Burton's cinematic trip down the rabbit hole .

“Philosophy seems kinda dry and dusty to people," Irvin said, "But everyone is interested in popular culture. We found a way to communicate that to students and the general public by meeting them halfway. For example, ‘The Simpsons’, is one of the most popular shows on college campuses for a long run. That would get students interested in a hurry.”

"Wonderland" is an especially good fit for the series because academics have been making references to Carroll's work for a century.

“Lewis Carroll himself was a sort of philosopher," Irwin said. "Even though he’s writing a children’s book, a lot of the things that are fun for children are philosophical -- nature, the difference of appearance vs. reality. “It’s really engaging in ‘Alice.’ It’s done in a very engaging and intellectually charged way and leads a nice logical puzzle in a way.”

Richard Brian Davis, an associate professor of philosophy at Tyndale University College and Seminary who co-edited the "Alice" book, said the heroine provides a lasting image of feminism.

“Alice does bend the rules on a number of levels, it’s still Victorian England," Davis said. "The role of women in society is still pretty limited. Lewis Carroll is really exploding that myth completely with Alice. We wanted to tap into that. We wanted to latch onto a figure, and we couldn’t think of anybody better. Alice is better than any Disney princess. You might think of a woman who competes on men’s terms so she’s not marginalized. I think Alice goes beyond that. The question is rather 'Can you out-think men.' All through that book, you will see her out think men on every level. I think she’s a much better role model than someone who exercises just sheer power, unlike the Queen of Hearts. This is the kind of woman that a philosophy professor would want his daughters to grow up like.”

Irwin said he hopes to release an “Avatar and Philosophy,” book in the series soon.

“It’s hugely popular and it raises philosophical questions," Irwin said. "It’s the kind of thing that after seeing it they talk about it, and want to keep talking about it. So we take it as the opportunity to want to talk about philosophy."

- Gerrick D. Kennedy

RECENT AND RELATED

The White Queen as domestic goddess

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

 

Picture this: In the back of a move theater, a short elderly man, with a walking stick in reach, holds up a camcorder and aims it at the screen as blue aliens frolic on a moon called Pandora. This guy is not your average film pirate.

The 88-year-old man was stopped by the theater manager in Glendale (southeast coastal Australia, not California), who called the police, according to the Herald in Australia.

The man's excuse for filming his own copy of "Avatar" -- his wife couldn't make it to the showing, and he wanted her to see it. Aw. How sweet.

Police trashed the video from his camera and let him finish the movie, the Herald wrote. We somehow think he wouldn't get it so easy here in the U.S. The Motion Picture Assoc. of America sued a grandpa for $600,000 in 2005, citing illegal movie downloads.

-- Mark Milian
twitter.com/markmilian

RECENT AND RELATED

Spider-Man in handcuffs? J. Jonah Jameson was right!

PHOTO GALLERY: Spider-Man arrested in Hollywood

Real-life Jedi sues U.K. grocery store

Why is Stan Lee signing Jack Kirby's art?

VIDEO: Captain America arrested in Florida 

A Joker revealed! The Student behind the Obama image

Bono says Spider-Man musical is a career highlight

The Superman problem: Can he still fly in 21st century?

The sordid secret of "Superman" co-creator Joe Shuster

Captain America and Spider-Man meet...Honest Abe?

Life imitates comics: Bernie Madoff as the Joker

PHOTO: Moviegoers who were not arrested (AFP/Getty Images). Bottom, Spider-Man in handcuffs in Hollywood (Me Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 7 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

More than 100 variations of "Alice in Wonderland" have been published since Lewis Carrollpenned his tale in 1865 inspiring numerous comic book adaptations as well as several Manga versions in recent years. But its Camille Rose Garcia’s recently released interpretation that is resonating with readers and climbingthe L.A. Times bestsellers list.

Perhaps its her painting style, often depicting creepy cartoon children living in wasteland fairy tales, an approach that may be resonating with young fans curious about the Tim Burton-directed film that seems to be on every billboard and bus across the country. Liesl Bradner chatted with the Orange County native about her love for Children’s books and all things Disney and future hopes to modernize their inaugural princess, Snow White.

LB: Describe your vision of Alice.

CRG: The original John Tenniel illustrations were always some of my favorites and those were definitely lodged in my head. 

I wanted to stay true to his vision but I’m so influenced by Disney. I loved the backgrounds in their early movies, (“Snow White,” “Pinocchio”) so I watched  a lot of those films to try to get more of a color feel.  They were all done in the 30s with watercolor which has that very classic touch. It did occur to me to give Alice black hair, make it more edgy and unique but I wanted to stay true to the classic feel of the book. Using watercolors referred back to the Tenniel work but I added a little bit of a modern gothic touch as well. That was my vision for the work. 

LB: As a longtime fan of  "Alice," how has its influenced your work?

CRG:I always liked the themes of Alice and playing with the idea of landscape being somewhat surreal, cartoonish, not totally based in reality. The story lends itself to the kind of work I do anyway. The sort of shifting of realities.

LB: Was the book your idea?

CRG: Actually Harper Collins came to me. One of the editors was aware of my work and knew the movie was coming out.  A few years ago I was in talks with Disney to do a reinterpretation of Alice for merchandising so I had already done some extensive thinking about this subject.

LB:  Why do you think your interpretation is connecting with readers?

CRG:  The response has been incredible and very unexpected. Maybe its the  familiarity as the story remained exactly the same –its the entire unabridged version. That was a challenge. I didn’t want to divert too much attention away from Tenniel’s illustrations and do an homage to his work with my twist, of course. I can also see the connection with Tim Burton’s vision of the film. We both work in that same dark, goth genre. That quality is resonating with a lot of young people today. The times we live in are very tumultuous, a lot of unknown and frightening things. Its something kids are relating to.
LB: Of the more than 50 illustrations, do you have a favorite?

CRG:  The Lobster-Quadrille. It was new and totally original. Tenniel has never illustrated that scene-  a dance where Alice and friends fling lobsters into the sea.  It was a totally virgin experience for me where I had all the other scenes registered in my head. And I managed to sneak a narwhal  in the background.

LB: Any plans to update other fairy tale characters?

CRG: I would love to do Snow White. That's my dream project. I love how he (Disney) interpreted those old Germanic fairy tales and put his twist on them. I thinks its time someone reinterpreted his reinterpretations.

L.A. EVENT: Garcia will be signing copies of her book at "Down the Rabbit Hole," a book release party and exhibition of original artwork from "Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland," March 6 at Merry Karnowsky Gallery(170 S. La Brea Ave). 

 

-Liesl Bradner

RECENT AND RELATED

The White Queen as domestic goddess

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Images: Top - Cover illustration. Top right- "Advice From a Caterpillar". Bottom left- "The Lobster Quadrille". Credit: Camille Rose Garcia

We all know that Bruce Wayne is much more well off than Clark Kent, and apparently some private buyer wants to make sure that the Dark Knight stays on top, purchasing the first appearance of Batman -- Detective Comics No. 27 -- for $1,075, 500 just days after the comic book touting Superman's first appearance went for $1 million.

Here's the Associated Press' take on it:

DALLAS (AP) — Heritage Auction Galleries says a 1939 comic book in which Batman makes his debut has sold at auction in Dallas for more than $1 million — setting a record for the amount paid for a comic.

The rare copy of Detective Comics No. 27 from 1939 went for $1,075,500 Thursday. A Heritage official says it was sold on behalf of an anonymous consignor and the buyer wished to remain anonymous as well.

Barry Sandoval, director of operations of Heritage's comics division, says that the consignor bought the comic in the late 1960s for $100.

On Monday, a copy of the first comic book featuring Superman sold for $1 million in a sale between a private seller and a private buyer. The comic was a 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1.

What superhero-loving millionaire will step up next in this big-money market melee? And is there any other book out there that fans would pay this much money for?

-- Jevon Phillips

RECENT AND RELATED

Action Comics No. 1 sale pushes Superman to new heights

Forrest J. Ackerman, a life of pop-culture passion

The comic-book marketplace and the slabbing craze 

Fantastic Four as your 401K

Joker creator Jerry Robinson reflects on Gotham's golden age

 Marvel comics flashback: Check out these great 1940s house ads

The Superman problem: Can he still fly in 21st century?

Photo courtesy of DC Comics

BBC America has circled April 17 as the U.S. air date for the new season of "Doctor Who," which will star young Matt Smith, shown above with Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond, the latest passenger aboard the TARDIS.

Like so many fans, I will give Smith a chance, but it will be very difficult to see anyone else in the role after David Tennant's defining stint as the Time Lord. The show does have strong creative leadership, though, with the talented Steven Moffat as head writer, and as a lifelong "Who" fan himself, there's no doubt he will handle the legacy with care.

Here's a trailer that suggests the series will be pumping up the adrenaline . . .

Can Smith make everyone forget about Tennant? Time will tell.

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

David Tennant says 'Who' role was 'impossibly fortunate'

David Tennant, running out of time on 'Doctor Who'

VIDEO: Exit interview -- Tennant and Davies together 

Robert Lloyd: My surreal ride with 'Doctor Who'

Will there be a 'Doctor Who' film?

'Doctor Who,' fighting the past and looking to the future

VIDEO: Matt Smith now on call to take over TARDIS

Discount Doctor: Tennant's replacement came cheap

ELSEWHERE: The BBC's official 'Doctor Who' site

Photo credit: BBC

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 8 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

Today, video from London’s Leicester Square for the world premiere of "Alice in Wonderland." It's right below...

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 8 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage. Today, Hero contributer Gerrick Kennedy talks to character designer Michael Kutsche.

GK: “Alice in Wonderland” was your first experience working on a film. How did you fall into the world of Wonderland and Tim Burton?

MK: It was a huge leap for me because I’m from Germany. I’ve been a pretty successful illustrator but not in the field of movies, and I was doing illustrations for games -- like the packaging. Two years ago I put all the work that I did online [because] I never really took good care about making myself public. When you’re working full-time you’re not really thinking about other jobs. One day I was working in my studio in Berlin and I got this e-mail from Sony Imageworks that was like we have this movie project and we found your portfolio would you like to work on a movie? This was a big deal for me.

GK: But you didn’t know you were “auditioning” to work on “Alice in Wonderland’?

MK: They said there were a couple of illustrators -- kinda like a competition -- so would you please draw a caterpillar. Like think of “Pan's Labyrinth,” real actors with animated features. I did that in one day … I tried to do the best that I could. I got the job and finally met the vice president of Sony Imageworks [Debbie Denise]. She said what movie I’d be working on. She said it was Tim Burton and “Alice in Wonderland.” I was totally like fainting.

GK: What type of creative freedom did you have in your work? Burton has a very unique style. How did you adapt to that?

MK: I worked with visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston – this is the guy who did “Star Wars”! He said we were very early on in the production, we don’t have much direction, take some characters, get some ideas for it and go crazy. That’s what I did. In the beginning, I was a little over the top with it. A little too frightening.

GK: In your early sketches, the Cheshire Cat is more human-like and is slight and slinky, with hot pink stripes and an unsettling, toothy grin, and your Mad Hatter wore industrial goggles and had less whimsy...

MK: Because it’s a Disney production [some of that] didn’t really have that mass appeal. It would have shocked the kids. Tim Burton is a big fan of that book, and the original illustrator. Tim had his own drawings in his London office, so he wanted to have a little bit of a classic feel, so that the animals were more like animals with a twist instead of having a far-off fantasy. Sometimes he gave like a very quick sketch that was really helpful. I would take that and make it really detailed.

GK: With this being a reimagining, as opposed to a remake, how much of the original did you have in your mind as you did your designs? 

MK: I was looking at the original drawings from John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham and I also looked at the clothing from that time to have the feel for this period so that it's rooted in some sort of reality. We gave those characters clothing from that time.

GK: Everyone, of course, is focused on the 3-D element of the film. Did knowing that it would be seen in 3-D have any influence on your designs?

MK: Not for this one. I would doubt, maybe in terms of environment. In terms of design itself, even if you look at it in 3-D the brain kinda recognizes it. It's more about the shape and the perspective.

GK: When did you first get into illustrating?

MK: I was always drawing, from kindergarten age. I didn’t really go to art school, I just self trained. At that time I always felt self-conscious that I don’t know too much, now I kinda find that’s what makes it a little more special. It’s not the taste of the professors or one of my [peers].

GK: You’re from Germany and a lot of the work on “Alice” was done in London. How did that work for you?

MK: I worked from home on “Alice” for half a year. I asked if it was a good idea to come to London. They put me on a plane, and took me to Tim’s office. They took me to the set so I could get a feel for the movie, and the production so that the characters aren’t disconnected. After awhile in Plymouth [where large portions of the film were shot] and in London, when the production moved to Culver City they moved me into a little trailer. They asked if I wanted to sit in the Sony building but I wanted to be as close to the set as possible. Of course I wanted to get a peek at what they were doing, so I had this little trailer in the backyard.

GK: People never see the step-by-step process of creative work, the process that went into it. 

MK: Of course I read the script in the beginning, then they would send me an e-mail about a character that they needed urgently. I would start doing some sketches, scanning them and putting them in the computer and then making the color refinement. But I would also add some fur textures, little things so in the end it didn’t look like a painting on the computer. It had a more realistic feeling. When they decided on Alan Rickman to be the caterpillar I looked at photos of his face. It wasn’t Photoshopping photos of his face that wouldn’t work. So it had to be a design of its own, it kinda has the character of his eyes and the cheeks. Even if they didn’t cast characters, I always try to imagine who could it be, to try and get as much personality as possible. I think it’s crucial.

GK: You worked on a number of characters, also including the Red Queen and Knave of Hearts. Is there one that sticks out as your favorite?

MK: I think the caterpillar. But I also like the twins in a way, which that’s a design that Bobby Chiu did. As crazy as they are they kinda work together really well. I also think that because usually you have a big group of artists working on one character, because we only had like three people designing them (Kutsche, Chiu and Kei Acedera), they were really distinct. They didn’t get watered down. Like too many cooks [in the kitchen]. I think he was careful not to work with too many people.  

Up next for the 32-year-old who said he didn’t “expect to stay in America this long” is character work on “Thor” and “John Carter of Mars,” slated for release in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

-- Gerrick Kennedy

RECENT AND RELATED

The White Queen is domestic goddess

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Illustrations courtesy of Michael Kutsche 

Mark Milian returns to the Hero Complex with big talk about some heroic games -- it's his list of the five best superhero video games ever.  

Any gamer will tell you that games tied to a superhero or movie franchise (or, worse, both) are inherently bad. If we had to bet on whether "Iron Man 2: The Video Game" will be any good, we know where our chips would go. (Fun fact: There hasn't been a good Superman video game. Not one.)

But during those magical times when the stars align and the game developers strike the right mix of brain-soothing Cheetos and Dr. Pepper, out comes a game truly worthy of the superhuman character its name is attached to.

5. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES, Genesis)

Before this game hit Nintendo and Sega game consoles in 1994, superhero games were synonymous with repetitive beat-em-up sequences and stupid or nonexistent story lines. The Maximum Carnage game rewrote the book.

This action-adventure was based on the series of 14 comic books by the same name. While the fighting dynamics, like its sibling hero games, can feel monotonous after a while, the game is worth playing just to experience the enthralling story.

4. Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Superheroes (Dreamcast)

Why settle for one superhero when this game offers you the pick of the litter? It's a shame so many people missed out on this great fighting game -- the best incarnation in the Marvel vs. Capcom series -- due to its home on Sega's oft-ignored Dreamcast system.

Players pick from a stable of Marvel juggernauts including the Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine and, oh yeah, the Juggernaut. The game adapts well to player expertise, so if you and your friend stink at it, you can still mash buttons and have fun.

Marvel vs. Capcom predates the recently released Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which is also a pretty good combination of heroes of comics and gaming.

The countdown continues...

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 9 DAYS
Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage. Today we go visual with a few clips from the movie and a small featurette to whet your appetite as we finally get into the single-digit day wait-mode.

RECENT AND RELATED

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"
"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?
Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"
Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"
"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake
Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor
Tim Burton's White Queen based on cooking star Nigella Lawson
Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland
"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters
Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton
Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

This from the Associated Press, updating the wire story we had posted here initially...

Disneyland's hometown is looking for a few good Supermen — along with a couple Klingons and Wookiees — to keep its famous mouse company.

Anaheim tourism officials said Wednesday that they have submitted a proposal to Comic-Con International's board that would lure the yearly confab of comic book aficionados, sci-fi fans and entertainment industry reps from its longtime San Diego home.

Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau president Charles Ahlers said his city's larger convention center can offer the growing event more meeting space, a greater number of hotel rooms and cheaper overnight stays.

“It's hard to unseat a destination that has grown with an organization — we have some of those here in Anaheim,” Ahlers said. “But in reality, if you are at a stagnant point in your growth and you can't grow any further, you have to look toward the future.”

Comic-Con began 40 years ago and has grown into one of the region's largest annual conventions, routinely attracting some 125,000 people — many in costume — for sessions with celebrity guests and screeners of the year's most fanciful coming attractions.

Internal surveys show attendees spend $60 million on lodging, food and transportation during the four-day July event, which is contractually free to leave San Diego's convention center in 2012.

Anaheim's bid for the convention joins a similar effort to lasso the lucrative event by Los Angeles, leaving San Diego shaking in its boots.

Hotels near San Diego's convention center have offered Comic-Con 300,000 square feet of free meeting space and have proposed doubling the number of dedicated convention guest rooms to 14,000 in an attempt to lock in the convention through 2015.

By then, convention center officials hope to have completed a planned expansion that would leave the event with ample space.

“San Diego and Comic-Con go hand in hand like Batman and Robin,” San Diego Convention Center Corp. spokesman Steven Johnson said. “We want to make sure that dynamic duo stays together.”

Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer acknowledged that the event has been straining against the limits of its current home and that it is considering whether the San Diego proposal would assuage those concerns.

“We love San Diego. The majority of the people who put the show on live here,” said Glanzer, who did not know when a venue would be chosen. “But we have to make a decision that's based on what really is best for the event.”

-- Associated Press

RECENT AND RELATED

Faces of Comic-Con

Tim Burton on '70s Comic-Con: "The last time I was here..."

EVANIER ESSAY: Shel Dorf, remembered 

Forrest J. Ackerman, a life of pop-culture passion

VIDEO: Forrest J. Ackerman, remembered

PHOTOS: A dynamic duo at Comic-Con 2008 and, bottom, a scary dude. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
 

Los Angeles Times film reporter Rachel Abramowitz is back again on the Hero Complex, today it's a piece on her encounters with Jim Cameron...

I first met James Cameron on the set of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and what I remember most is the screaming.

It was a rainy night and Cameron's crew was set up at one of those glass mansions in Malibu, which, for the purposes of the film, was the home of Skynet scientist Miles Dyson, portrayed by Joe Morton. The script pages for the evening were an ambush scene -- Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, had invaded the home to assassinate Dyson -- but Hamilton was the one who seemed under attack. My very vivid recollection of the night was watching Cameron berate the actress. It was only later that I found out that the two were dating; that left me feeling like I had been in Malibu watching a foreign film without the benefit of subtitles.

Cameron is, of course, the T-800 of all directors -- a fierce taskmaster, with almost superhuman drive and very little patience for human fallibility. On the "T2" set, someone had T-shirts printed up with the filmmaker's (supposedly) favorite saying:”If I wanted your opinion, I would have given it to you.” When he’s not working, however, I've found that Cameron can be erudite and charming, and an infectiously enthusiastic evangelist. That’s the Cameron who’s been working the Oscar campaign trail recently. Many of the nominees seem exhausted by the endless rounds of Q&A's, screenings, awards – some have a reason to look haggard after plugging their films and performances for almost a year, since Sundance 2009.  By contrast, Cameron just started his pilgrimage after “Avatar” came out at the end of December, and his cyborg stamina hasn’t flagged yet.

It was the "good" Cameron who got on the phone recently to talk about the role of actors in his revolutionary “performance capture” technology and why he feels that the “Avatar” stars haven’t gotten their due from the Hollywood community. He was disappointed that neither Zoe Saldana nor Sam Worthington were nominated for Oscars or any other significant acting award. Yet he was not totally surprised, because the performance capture technology is so new, and many people in the film industry still are unfamiliar with how the process is done. Many – particularly actors -- are apprehensive about the process, and their role in it.

"Actors have to be taught more about it, that it empowers them and doesn’t replace them, “ says Cameron. “What we’re replacing is the complicated application of prosthetic makeup.”

Even Saldana and Worthington needed reassurances at one point. “I had to look into their eyes and be able to say to them, ‘What we do today is what you’ll see when you go to the premiere,' “ Cameron says he told them, as they embarked on the production of the film. “Otherwise, why would they commit to doing a great performance if you think the performance is going to be mediated and modulated down the line?”

The performance-capture filming takes place on a specialized stage called “the volume.”  Actors wear special skintight suits with reflective markers so their every move can be tracked by more than 100 cameras. To avoid the “dead-eye” look of earlier motion capture films like “Polar Express,” Cameron also developed a special head-rigged camera to record the actors faces and capture the “liquidity of the eyes.”  The camera’s data are fed into computers that render a high-quality 3-D replica of the actors and, in a startling change to the filmmaking process, Cameron was able to add all of his camera moves in post-production.

Early on, when they were doing preliminary tests of the technology, Cameron and his crew realized that the on-screen avatars needed to closely resemble the live-action actors. They had shot prototype footage with Yunjin Kim from “Lost” as Neytiri. The results were not good.

“Her eyes and her expressions, the way her mouth formed speech, just didn’t translate that well, “ Cameron said. “We had no way of knowing whether it was an accurate performance, and it struck us as important for the character to physically resemble the actor as closely as possible, especially the mouth. I cast people I wanted the characters to look like, and then we did laser scans of them, cyber scans, physical busts, plaster molds of their faces. Everything was done in the way you develop physical makeup, and then given to the CG guys to scan and bring to life. “

Cameron also dispelled the popular image of “performance capture” filming as somehow being onerous for the actors. The experience is actually close to performing theater. It’s filmmaking with all the boring parts cut out – no waiting for camera moves, no coverage, no endless waiting around in trailers for lighting, makeup….

“The beauty of it is that it’s uninterrupted. When they do get a performance that’s great, all the coverage comes from that performance. I don’t have to say ‘Do that again for your close-up.' That’s a much more artificial thing to ask an actor to do.”

-- Rachel Abramowitz

RECENT AND RELATED

Beyond Pandora? Jim Cameron talks about an 'Avatar' sequel

Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal turned down "Avatar" lead role

You don't look so good: "Avatar" and the science of queasy

James Cameron on 'Avatar': Like 'Matrix,' it opens doorways

Don't tell Stephen Lang he's the villain in 'Avatar'

LAT REVIEW: 'Avatar' restores a sense of wonder to moviegoing

James Cameron vs. Robert Zemeckis? The inside scoop

Sigourney, queen of sci-fi: 'Outer space has been good to me'

Meet the USC professor who created an entire language for Avatar

'Avatar' designer on Jim Cameron, banshees and 'Delgo' comparisons

Michelle Rodriguez says 'Avatar' was like making 'Star Wars'

'Avatar' star Zoe Saldana says movie will match the hype: 'This is big'

Jim Cameron, cinema prophet? 'Moving a mountain is nothing'

Sam Worthington looks for humanity: 'I don't want to be a cartoon'

 

PHOTOS: Top, James Cameron on the set of "Avatar." (Fox) Bottom, James Cameron at the Golden Globes (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 10 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage. Today Burton describes his version of the Mad Hatter.

The movie is called "Alice in Wonderland" but, really, the star of this film is Johnny Depp, who is making his seventh appearance in a Tim Burton-directed film.

 Depp has made a specialty of hiding his leading-man cheekbones behind oddball disguises and the latest is google-eyed hatmaker whose gone around the bend. He is also an exceptional dancer and a not-half-bad swordsman.

The shock of tangerine curls jutting from beneath his hat and his orange-rimmed eyeballs hint at the story lineage of his madness; orange-tinted mercury was used in the manufacture of felt in Victorian England and sometimes it seeped through the skin -- with nasty side-effects.

"Hatters kind of went mad because they used certain chemicals in the hat process and little things like that really ground it for the performers and for the audience," Burton said. "Even though we don't go into all that about the poison, it creates a full picture that helps ground these characters. So they're not just random weirdos. Yes, they are weird, but there's more."

Depp got the idea for orange from the research he did but Burton seized on the idea for a more personal reason. "There is something really scary about orange hair. Every performer in my childhood who had orange hair, it seemed to signify that they were not to be trusted and could be dangerous. Bozo, Carrot Top, Ralph Malph -- if you go there, it's frightening stuff."

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

The White Queen is domestic goddess

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

In another universe, Jason Bourne or the Prince of Persia might have been running around the jungles of Pandora.

"Avatar" director James Cameron spoke to both Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal  about playing the role of Jake Sully in the sci-fi epic that now stands as the biggest moneymaker in the history of Hollywood with $2.5 billion in worldwide box office.

Both stars, perhaps leery of a blue-in-the-face gig, declined, and the filmmaker instead went with his first choice -- unknown Aussie actor Sam Worthington, who was living in his car before he got the job. Cameron said he offered the role to the big-name stars only to placate the studio chiefs at Fox, who wanted a bankable star to offset some of the risks of the expensive project. 

 "I don’t think they ever had a problem with the CG, “ Cameron said. “Honestly, did I go out and try to woo them? No. I had my heart set on Sam. Maybe they sensed my lack of 100% commitment from me. Maybe it was the subject matter. This was a big 'Star Wars'-type movie. They’re both serious actors.”

Next up for those serious actors: Gyllenhaal stars in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," based on the video game, which hits theaters in May, while Damon will be seen in "Green Zone" and is among the stars working on next year's "Happy Feet 2 in 3D."

-- Rachel Abramowitz

RECENT AND RELATED

James Cameron: "Avatar" is my most personal film

"Avatar" stirs an animated debate in Hollywood

The filmmaking magic behind blue-face emotion

ESSAY: "Avatar" may win Oscar credibility for sci-fi

Cameron on 'Avatar': Like 'Matrix,' it opens doorways

GOLDEN GLOBES: "Avatar" is the big winner

Don't tell Stephen Lang he's the villain in 'Avatar'

REVIEW: 'Avatar' restores sense of wonder

'Matrix,' 'Star Wars'  -- coming soon in 3-D?

Sigourney: 'Outer space has been good to me'

Cameron, cinema prophet: 'Moving a mountain is nothing'

Images: Matt Damon in 2007 in Berlin (Axel Schmidt  AFP/Getty Images). James Cameron goes native (Kevin Lingenfelser)

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 11 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage. Today Burton describes his version of the White Queen.

 

In "Alice in Wonderland," actress Anne Hathaway glides across the screen as the White Queen with a pearly grin that becomes a bit unsettling -- it's somewhere between Glinda the Good Witch and "The Stepford Wives."

A one point she cheerily cooks up a magic potion that includes plenty of nasty ingredients (including some putrid-looking amputated fingers), and it turns out that was a hint to the real-life inspiration for the character, according to director Tim Burton.

"There's this very beautiful cooking show host in England named Nigella Lawson and I quietly had her as my image for this character," Burton said, referring to the comely author and television personality sometimes referred to as the "queen of food porn."

Burton, who previously said that the Red Queen has a bit of Leona Helmsley in her, said Lawson's domestic goddess routine has an eerie edge to it at times. "She's really beautiful and she does all this cooking, but then there's this glint in her eye and when you see it you go, 'Oh, whoa, she's like really ... nuts.' I mean in a good way. Well, maybe. I don't know."

The plot of "Alice" is the quest of Wonderland's strange denizens to return their kingdom's throne to the White Queen -- a quest that requires a champion who may or may not be the returning-visitor Alice. The White Queen is in exile while her shrill sister, the Red Queen, rules the land.

The tense relationship between the royal sisters was an intriguing one to Burton.

"With a lot of people I've known, when it comes to sisters, there's this perception that there's the nice one and the bad one," Burton said. "But then, that nice one, there's also undercurrents there and things going back and forth between the two. She can stay up sharpening knives all night, but she's still the nice one."

Burton said the script by Linda Woolverton and the subversive nature of Lewis Carroll's classic cast of characters both bend the perception of good and evil more than most children's tales.   

"The interesting thing I think was to have them connected, and neither is quite what you expect," Burton said. "What Linda did with that was great. It helps with the thing that really sets Alice apart from so many other types of kids literature, which is the fact that everybody is a little bit off. Even if somebody is good, there's something wrong with them. Everyone is a bit twisted somehow. The White Queen is no exception."

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

Avril Lavigne wanders in "Wonderland"

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

PHOTOS: The White Queen cooks up some trouble in "Alice in Wonderland" (Walt Disney Studios). Nigella Lawson at work in the kitchen ("Nigella Bites").

Superman lifting a car? Not a big deal in today's comics, but when it's the Man of Steel lifting a car drawn on a "very fine"-rated 10-cent-issue of Action Comics No. 1, the deal is the biggest in comics history: $1 million.

Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com, which mediated the deal, told the Associated Press: "It is still a little stunning to see 'a comic book' and '$1 million' in the same sentence."

The buyer remains anonymous, as often happens in these big money deals. The book doesn't reach the record heights of Pablo Picasso's Boy with a Pipe (The Young Apprentice), which sold for $104.1 million at auction in 2004, or a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti that sold for $103.4 million (or $104.3 million,  depending on how you measure it), but comparatively, it's still a wonder.

How have other high-priced comic books fared at auction, you ask?  Well, that's what Hero Complex (and Comic Link, where we got some of the figures) is here for. Most of these books fetched high prices not only because of the issues, but the state that they're in as appraised by the Certified Guaranty Company, or its CGC grade.

Amazing Fantasy #15
Sold for: $227,000.

You-know-who swung into our lives courtesy of this issue, and this specific, near-mint book was part of the noted White Mountain pedigree collection.
 
Fantastic Four #1
Sold for: $52,000

The origin and first appearance of the first family of Marvel Comics takes place here, and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby launch the Silver Age. There are only five graded 8.5 by CGC.

All Star Comics #8
Sold for: $20,000

The introduction of Wonder Woman, the greatest female hero in comics (no debate! unless you want to leave a comment). This 1941 issue is one of only five examples of All Star Comics #8 assigned a grade as high as 7.5 by CGC.

Sensation Comics #1
Sold for: $25,250

The Amazon with the golden lasso made her first cover appearance in Sensation Comics #1. This particular book, at least as far as anyone knows, is one of only six in the world that could be assigned a grade as high as 8.5 by CGC.

Showcase #23
Sold for: $15,928

The Blackest Night saga is currently taking the comics world by storm, and this comic has the second appearance of the Silver Age Green Lantern at the center of it all, Hal Jordan. Apparently, this 1959 issue is extremely hard to come by, and it's even tougher to find one that can match the 9.4 grading that was given.

-- Jevon Phillips

RECENT AND RELATED

First Superman comic scores a heroic price: $317,200

Forrest J. Ackerman, a life of pop-culture passion

Hollywood auction includes Ackerman treasures

Fantastic Four as your 401K

Joker creator Jerry Robinson reflects on Gotham's golden age

 Marvel comics flashback: Check out these great 1940s house ads

The Superman problem: Can he still fly in 21st century?

The sordid secret of "Superman" co-creator Joe Shuster

Photos courtesy of Associated Press, Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 12 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

  

 Today, Todd Martens from the Pop & Hiss blog visits with a review of that new "Wonderland" sound...

Overview: Straight down the rabbit hole to your local mall. Inspired, no doubt, by the success of the soundtracks to the two "Twilight" films, Disney has lined up an array of chart-topping artists for its upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" -- sort of. Two albums will be released on March 5, one featuring Danny Elfman's original score for the film, and one entitled "Almost Alice," which contains 16 songs inspired by the classic story. There's veteran, respected artists, such as the Cure's Robert Smith, and up-and-comer club kids, including 3OH!3 with Ke$ha's pal Neon Hitch. Only the leadoff cut, Avril Lavigne's directly titled "Alice," will be heard in the film, gracing the feature's end credits. 

The latest: A video for Lavigne's song made its debut online this week, featuring the spunky Canadian pop star in the role of Alice. In the video's opening moment, she trades a raggedy T-shirt and black tights for a satin dress paired with white, heart-speckled leggings. Lavinge's fantasy universe comes complete with a piano, giant shrooms and a dinner date with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. It's a world, as EW beat us to noting, that looks not too unlike the one inhabited by Paramore in their video for "Brick by Boring Brick."

The good news: The singer has done soundtrack work before, and had a smash with her "Keep Holding On" from "Eragon." Thankfully, Lavinge's second turn with a fantasy film number avoids the prom theme-like trappings of that one. Here, she's again working with one of her regular collaborators, paired with versatile producer Butch Walker. With "Alice," they have a song that fits in with the darker, more angsty vision Lavigne and Walker cultivated on Lavinge's 2004 album, "Under My Skin." 

That's a good thing. Lavigne's last album, 2007's "The Best Damn Thing," saw her moving slightly away from her rock 'n' roll image, and veering dangerously close to a flavor-of-the-month pop star. For the cheerleading anthem of "Girlfriend," she worked with hot producer Dr. Luke, and though it gave her a radio-ready hit, it hinted that Lavigne was less interested in exploring the emotions and atmospheres of "Under My Skin."

"Alice" starts extremely promising, with wavy synths caught somewhere between a nightmare and a dream. It's a brief overture, soon giving away to more direct (yet ominous) deep-piano notes. Lavigne's voice eases into stark piano-and-drums opening by hitching a ride on a bass line. "Tripping out, spinning down," Lavigne sings, but she sounds rather calm. That doesn't last for long, as Lavigne switches to her outdoor voice on the second verse, and what started out as a rather minimalist song is soon overtaken by Lavigne's ability to holler.

The not-as-exciting: When the song nears its halfway point, Lavigne sings, "I found myself in Wonderland." All the music cuts out, and Lavigne is backed only by a piano and an echo. "Is this real?" she wonders, yet the listener never really gets a picture of the trippy world Lavigne has found herself in. 

She's fallen, she's down, she's hit the ground and she's not going to cry, Lavigne belts over and over, sounding more like a narrator rather than someone conveying an experience. Tim Burton has created a psychedelic visual universe, and the weirdness of the song's opening moments hinted that Lavigne was ready to tackle it. But by the time it's wrapped, "Alice" amounts to little more than some shouted lines of resilience. Worse, it lacks a hook, and seems unsure whether it wants to wander in atmosphere or lunge for a big chorus.

But you should judge for yourself. Watch the video below:

And wait, there's more: You can hear snippets of most of the 16 tracks on "Almost Alice" on the official "Alice in Wonderland" website. 

--Todd Martens

RECENT AND RELATED

POP&HISS: Read more L.A. Times music coverage

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

PHOTO: Top, a scene from Avril Lavigne's "Alice" video. (Buena Vista Records)

 

"ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 13 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. She is welcomed as a returning visitor -- but is she, in fact, the same Alice who roamed the trippy realm as a child? Time will tell. Here at the Hero Complex, we're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

The Mad Hatter came out to play. . . in Hollywood. The Hollywood & Highland complex transformed into Wonderland for a few hours Friday night as hundreds of fans gathered in the plaza's courtyard (and alongside the railings of its upper levels) for an "Alice in Wonderland" bazaar that included appearances by the fantastical film's star-studded cast. "Wonder" friends in the crowd cheered as Tim Burton summoned Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Crispin Glover, Helena Bonham Carter, Matt Lucas and Michael Sheen on stage to cap off the two-hour event. But the screams became deafening when another character joined the tea party. Sporting his trademark tinted glasses and a scarf, Johnny Depp shuffled onto the stage to greet his loyal subjects. And in a matter of seconds, the cast was gone. Prior to what seemed like an illusion, the event — which streamed live on MySpace and was hosted by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Records — also marked the official release of the film's soundtrack "Almost Alice" and featured performances from four featured artists who did a short (almost inaudible) set to highlight included songs. The line-up included  Kerli's "Tea Party," Never Shout Never's "Sea What We Seas," Metro Station's "Where's My Angel" and 3OH!3's "Follow Me Down."

As the bands did their best to pump up the crowd, it was the star cast's appearance that had most people smudging their makeup with joy. And there was lots of makeup. Fans didn't merely attend the event. They lived it. A few dressed as the fluffy White Rabbit. Others donned their best Alice costumes, which included the slutty Halloween leftovers as well as the more wholesome translations. Quite a few tried to rule the plaza as the Queen of Hearts and some even ordered their posse around. And then there were the hatters. Some got gussied up in the vein of Depp's portrayal, while others, like Jaimie Corpus, simply sported the top hat. "This was amazing," said Corpus, 20, who, along with three friends, scored wristbands to catch a VIP screening of 3-D footage from the film at the adjacent El Capitan Theatre. "I've been out here since noon. To see all these bands . . . and to get these wrist bands. And Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, I mean, they were the reason I took the train from Rosemead. I can't wait to see the film. I've been waiting two long years. It's almost time!" — Yvonne Villarreal

Photos: (top) Johnny Depp, Matt Lucas, Crispin Glover and Michael Sheen; (middle) Kerli; (bottom) Fans Shane Theis and John Ward came dressed as Alice and the Mad Hatter. Credit: Yvonne Villarreal

For the last decade, Hollywood has been mining comic books and fantasy novels for its blockbuster source material, with Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Batman and Gandalf leading the vivid parade. Looking ahead, though, the next generation of box-office champions may be coming from a different realm: the digital landscape of gaming.

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" hits theaters May 28, and "World of Warcraft," "Missile Command" and even "Asteroids" are among the gamer brand names that are now in development. But away from the big screen, there's already an intriguing study in the way games and filmmaker are mixing, mashing and matching in this evolving entertainment era: "Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic."

The direct-to-home-video release earlier this month is available on DVD and Blu-ray, and as the name suggests, it is rooted in "The Divine Comedy," the epic 14th century poem by Dante Alighieri that endures as one of the signature works in world literature. This "Inferno," though, will be a bit jolting to anyone whose mental image was shaped by high school textbooks or the classic illustrations by Botticelli or William Blake's watercolor interpretations. This "Inferno" finds its hellish landscape in the game published this year by Electronic Arts and developed by Visceral Games.

 

The game and the animated movie present a bulging-bicep, action-hero version of the visitor to the underworld. Any student hoping to do a last-minute report on the epic poem might be best advised to buy the CliffsNotes instead of this new hyper-violent cartoon, but for fans of animation the voyage through the rings of hell is compelling undertaking; instead of choosing a single animated style and sensibility, this film offers a different art team for each ring of hell, with contributions by noted Asian animation studios such as Production IG (who handled the "Kill Bill" animated sequence), Dongwoo (“Batman: Gotham Knight”), Manglobe (“Ergo Proxy”) and JM Animation (“Avatar: The Last Airbender”).

"There are six different stages in the film and there's something I like about all six of them," producer Joe Goyette said of the film, which has plenty of blood, monster and mayhem. "It keeps it fresh throughout and each section has something new and different in the approach to the camera use or the graphics or the hard-hitting action. We don't think anyone's done anything quite like this before."

Electronic Arts teamed with the Film Roman Inc., and the game and movie moved along parallel tracks, so instead of a pure adaptation there's something closer to a multimedia bundling here that reveals plenty about the evolving approach to the marketplace. It doesn't stop there. There was also a comic-book version by Wildstorm, the DC Comics imprint and, no surprise, the flurry of pop-culture activity has drawn the attention of a major studio, with Universal Pictures optioning the property. 

The centuries-old poem is the focus of so much attention for several reasons. First of all, it's public domain, which makes it fair game for any adaptations. But beyond that, there's core appeal of ancient adventures and dramas that are still the template for plenty of modern storytelling. There's a reason that "Clash of the Titans" and "Percy Jackson" are bringing Greek gods to the movie screen and "Spartacus" and "Rome" are among the best-reviewed television dramas in recent years. "The Divine Comedy" also has the added fascinating element of a map of hell. 

"Hell is the star of our game and it's the star of this movie," Jonathan Knight, the EA/Visceral Games executive producer. "I think there's something ingrained in our mortal imagination, a fascination with hell, especially hell in the medieval sense of it. If you go back to the days when people believed in it as a very real place and thought about it often, that's interesting to us. Hell was a place that was mapped out for them, quite literally, like a Dungeons & Dragons player might map out their game."

Looking to the future, Knight said video games need a major breakthrough film that will earn critical credibility for the sector in the way "The Dark Knight," for instance, did for comic-book movies. "It will stand on its own as a movie and be part of the maturation of the genre," Knight said. He said commercial viability, meanwhile, was already proved by the "Tomb Raider" movies and there's strong early word that "Prince of Persia" will be a quality film. "They look like they've made good decisions. There's a lot of things to be excited about for fans of games, animation and movies right now."

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

Worthington on 'Clash': We're not done yet

'Percy' and 'Clash' use same myths but with epic differences

'Clash' director Leterrier has a vision for Marvel's 'Avengers'

Hollywood looks to 'Percy Jackson' and others to fill 'Harry Potter' gap

Daniel Radcliffe in 'The Hobbit'? Star says thanks, but no thanks

Is Percy's myth too close to Harry's magic?

Can 'The Hobbit' escape the 'Rings' shadow?

'The Hobbit' is just the beginning of Del Toro decade

 

 "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 14 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen and greeted as a returning visitor. We're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage.

The rabbit hole is closer than you think.

The Hollywood & Highland complex will be transformed into a Wonderland within the hour. Tim Burton and members of the "Alice in Wonderland" cast will host an event in the central courtyard at 5 p.m.

The event, sure to attract throngs of fans, will include musical performances, prizes, meet-and-greets with the actors and sneak peeks of the film. Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway and Crispin Glover are among the actors confirmed to be present.

In case you can't make it to Hollywood for the trip, we've embedded a live video feed below so you can follow the action.

Rachel Abramowitz had a front-page story in the Los Angeles Times this week on the angst among Hollywood actors as they watch more major filmmakers embrace performance-capture techniques and animation approaches.  Here's a great follow-up as she talks to Steven Spielberg about the making of "Tintin."

   
Steven Spielberg says there was only one reason to make his new “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” with the cutting-edge performance-capture technology that James Cameron used on “Avatar.”

“It was based on my respect for the art of Hergé and wanting to get as close to that art as I could," says the director, referring to Tintin’s author-illustrator, who created the international blockbuster graphic novel series (200 million copies in print) starring intrepid cub reporter Tintin, and his irrepressible canine companion, Snowy, as they venture through the pre-WWII world.

 “Hergé wrote about fictional people in a real world, not in a fantasy universe," Spielberg said. "It was the real universe he was working with, and he used National Geographic to research his adventure stories. It just seemed that live action would be too stylized for an audience to relate to. You’d have to have costumes that are a little outrageous when you see actors wearing them. The costumes seem to fit better when the medium chosen is a digital one.”

“Tintin” stars Jamie Bell (“King Kong”) as the title character, Andy Serkis (Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) as his buddy Captain Haddock, and Daniel Craig (Bond, James Bond)  as the evil Red Rackham. Produced by Peter Jackson, with the animation done by Jackson’s Weta wizards, the film is due in theaters in 2011. 

Like Cameron, Spielberg shot the actors on a special performance-capture stage. The performers donned lycra suits, covered in reflective markers, and their every movement was tracked by more than 100 cameras. They also wore a head-rigging with a camera near their jawline that recorded intensely detailed data of their faces -- enough detail to avoid the "dead eye" faces that had an unsettling lack of movement or emotion in many previous motion-capture films. Ultimately, all the camera data was fed into a computer to create a 3-D replica of the actor. The digital document of the actor and the performance is so all-enveloping that the director, in this case Spielberg, can go back and change the "camera" movement and orientation long after the actor has left the set.   

For the director of such films as “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park” and “Schindler’s List,” the new experience was transporting. 

“I just adored it,“ he says. “It made me more like a painter than ever before. I got a chance to do so many jobs that I don’t often do as a director. You get to paint with this device that puts you into a virtual world, and allows you to make your shots and block all the actors with a small hand-held device only three times as large as an Xbox game controller.” 

With that small monitor, Spielberg could look down and watch what the actors were doing -- in real time -- on a screen that showed them in the film universe. Working on the motion-capture stage -- which is called the volume -- Spielberg was routinely dazzled by the liberating artistic value of the new science. 

 “When Captain Haddock runs across the volume, the cameras capture all the information of his physical and emotional moves," the director said. "So as Andy Serkis runs across the stage, there’s Captain Haddock on the monitor, in full anime, running along the streets of Belgium. Not only are the actors represented in real time, they enter into a three-dimensional world.”

So though Jamie Bell will be digitally made to look exactly like Hergé's classic renderings of Tintin, “it will be Jamie Bell’s complete physical and emotional performance,” Spielberg said. He added: “If Tintin makes you feel something, it’s Jamie Bell’s soul you’re sensing."

-- Rachel Abramowitz

RECENT AND RELATED

John Dykstra talks about his fav scene in "Star Wars"

Cameron as cinema prophet: 'Moving a mountain is nothing'

"Wonderland" left cinematographer feeling green

Ken Ralston's favorite effects enterprise? It wasn't "Trek"

Stan Winston and the tricky business of Legacy

 

Photos: Steven Spielberg in 2008. Credit: Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press. John Dykstra on the set of "Star Wars," photo courtesy of Dykstra. Tintin image: Casterman/Le Lombard

 "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" COUNTDOWN: 15 DAYS

Are you ready for a trip down the rabbit hole? Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Disney are adding a strange new chapter to the Lewis Carroll classic with their "Alice in Wonderland," a film that presents a young woman who finds herself in the world of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen and greeted as a returning visitor. We're counting down to the film's March 5 release with daily coverage. Today, a look at the film's IMAX release as Yvonne Villarreal chats with Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment, about the royal-sized treatment of Burton's fantasy film.

YV: This modern 3D trend, to some people, seems like just a gimmick that is oversaturating the industry. In the case of "Alice in Wonderland," how does the technology enhance the experience?  

GF: It takes you inside the movie. We’ve been fortunate enough to have Tim Burton in our office quite a bit over the last few weeks and it’s so exciting to be around another filmmaker. . . one of IMAX’s secret weapons. Filmmakers like IMAX, they love IMAX. It’s the way I think a lot of them imagine their movie when they close their eyes and think about the movie they’re making.  I think a lot of them see it in their minds as if it were an IMAX presentation. When you have someone with the creative firepower of Tim Burton or James Cameron, etc, it’s a very cool thing to be a part of. In terms of 3D,  just like IMAX isn’t for every movie, neither is 3D. "The Polar Express" was the catalyst for a lot of this 3D momentum. That’s the only way you could have seen it in 3D, was in IMAX.  It’s pretty cool that a lot of this got started because of something that flowed through IMAX theaters, but we’ve learned the hard way that not everything’s right for 3D. If you put a movie like — I’m not knocking the movie — but if you put “My Dinner with Andre” in 3D, I don’t know how that’s a special, unique experience. There’s certain movies that lend themselves to 3D, and there’s certain movies that don’t. And we have a very specific list of criteria and we stick to that criteria.

Can you share some of those criteria?

Absolutely. First and foremost, it’s a studio that supports IMAX and supports the marketing of the film and the distribution of a film as an event and is proud of letting everyone know that this is not just another movie they’re filling the pipeline on. It’s a unique special film. Two, a filmmaker who has a vision; who has scope; who recognizes that this is not just another movie. And that’s why we have spent an enormous amount of time coveting relationships with filmmakers, whether it’s a 2D release or a 3D release. Filmmakers that are sort of the who’s who in filmmaking. Could be Chris Nolan; could be James Cameron. Could be Michael Bay or Stephen Spielberg. Could be J.J. Abrams. Could be Tim Burton.  Could be Bob Zemeckis… and when you look at our films, you’ll see going forward, most of the movies we’re involved with are by filmmakers who’ve already been a part of the IMAX process. We’ve done “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, now we have “Alice and Wonderland.” And Johnny Depp had such a cool time that he narrated our movie “Deep Sea 3D,” which is an underwater, 40-minute documentary movie.  We did “Batman Begins,” we did “The Dark Knight.” We’ve done Harry Potter 3, 4, 5, 6 and we’re doing the next "Harry Potter" films, the final two. That to me says filmmakers understand what IMAX brings to their presentation. Lastly — which is probably the most important of all — does the movie take you somewhere you dream about going to but probably will never get to. That can be Hogwarts, the Hubble telescope, Wonderland, Pandora … Someone asked me over the weekend, ‘What really does IMAX do?’ And I said we deliver a premium presentation and we transport people from the world of Pandora to the world of Wonderland and beyond.

I haven't seen it yet, but “Alice” looks as if it will not have as much intense action like “Avatar” or “Transformers.” Does that hurt it in IMAX?

The movie in IMAX will take you into Wonderland. Through the characters, through the sound, through the clarity of the image, through the impressiveness of the IMAX presentation.  You are there. If you’re looking for a first-person passport to the world of Wonderland, this is a great way to see it. I think that’s part of why Tim has spent so much time fine-tuning the IMAX presentation on this film. He’s been an incredible partner of ours, as has Disney. We’re really, really, really lucky. If you look at our lineup over the course of the last few months, and then going forward, we’ve gone from “A Christmas Carol” with Bob Zemeckis to Pandora with “Avatar” and James Cameron to “Alice in Wonderland” … we have “How to Train Your Dragon” through a  Jeffrey Katzenberg/Dreamworks animation title at the end of March. We have a Hubble film which is a documentary movie specifically for our museums, science centers and aquariums in March also — which Leonardo DiCaprio narrated. We have "Iron Man 2." We have “Shrek 4." We have “Toy Story 3.” We have “Twilight.” And we have “Inception.” That’s between now and July. That was a good decade for us a while ago. In terms of volume of movies, in 2010, we’re going to be somewhere around 14 and 16 titles. There may be a little bit of room for one or two more at a certain point. Ultimately, we’ve made a very specific decision to be the format of choice for big event, tent-pole blockbuster movies. We want to be really selective and make sure moviegoers recognize that when a movie is in IMAX, it’s not an alternative content. It’s a special, unique big event, tent-pole blockbuster made by a terrific director with a very specific vision. It’s kind of like, it’s not broken so we’re not going to try to fix it.

 

But as more movie studios want to roll out IMAX premieres of their films have you thought of a time when there may be a need to have more screens to show three or four simultaneous films?

I do. And we’re working on it. . . . the marketplace is throwing so many 3D movies to moviegoers and people are picking IMAX as the place to see them.  If you went to the bridge the weekend Alice and Wonderland opens, my guess is you’d see IMAX will sell out and our spill out will go over to non-IMAX 3D and then non-IMAX 3D will sell out and then it will spill over to 2D. That’s just a supply and demand issue. There’s so much demand for 3D product and there’s not enough supply of 3D screens, particularly 3D screens that are the premium way of experiencing a movie, which is an IMAX. I think eventually there will be more movies — there kind of already is — than we know what to do with. The solution to that is having more screens. I think it’s very obvious that that’s where the world is headed.

There were reports that Fox was trying to keep "Avatar" in as many IMAX and 3-D locations as possible even as “Alice” is set to replace it on March 5. What’s the status on that?   

We’re looking forward to taking moviegoers from Pandora to Wonderland. I’m pretty confident Wonderland will be in most of our theaters, if not all of our theaters. . . .We have a whole new group of people who’ve never experienced IMAX before, especially IMAX 3D, and they have such a good time at “Avatar.” We played the trailer for “Alice in Wonderland” during  “Avatar,” as well as “How to Train a Dragon” and “Toy Story 3” . . . I have a feeling that they’re going to come back and have a great experience with “Alice.” I know they will after they see the movie.

— Yvonne Villarreal

RECENT AND RELATED

Tea-party revolt? UK theaters theaten "Alice" boycott

Burton says "Alice" has a "national treasure" in actress Windsor

Burton and stars will be at "Alice" fan event in L.A. on Feb. 19

Meet Bloodhound, a newcomer to Wonderland

"Alice" screenwriter is ready for the haters

Red Queen = Leona Helmsley? Maybe so, says Burton

Burton took a "Shining" to Tweedledee and Tweedledum

"Alice in Wonderland" as silent film, musical and ... porn?

Mia Wasikowska on Depp: "He's so brave and smart"

"Alice" star says "Wonderland" is a sequel, not remake

Johnny Depp picks his poison for "Alice"

PHOTOS: Images from "Alice in Wonderland" (Walt Disney Co.) Portrait of Greg Foster of IMAX (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times).

"MERCHANT OF NIGHTMARES: A TRIBUTE TO WES CRAVEN" AT THE AERO THEATRE

For close to four decades, Wes Craven has been a true master of screen terror with films such as “The Last House on the Left,” “The Hills Have Eyes,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Scream” trilogy.

It's startling, then, to learn that Craven was never a moviegoer as a child. He didn't sit down in the dark with Hollywood until he was already teaching at Clarkson College in Potsdam, N.Y. His parents were strict Baptist who forbade him to see movies and his student years didn't offer a reprieve.

“I went to a Christian college,” says the 70-year-old Craven. “You would be expelled if you were caught in a movie theater. It was ridiculous.”

Thankfully, there was an art house theater in Potsdam. “It was right during that time in the 1960s when all the European directors were cranking out those incredible pictures.”

One of the films he saw in Potsdam was Ingmar Bergman’s Oscar-winning 1960 revenge tale, “The Virgin Spring.”

“It was the simplicity of the story line that stuck in my head,” he says. It inspired his first film, 1972’s “The Last House on the Left,” which screens Saturday night along with the 1977 film “The Hills Have Eyes” at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatere in Santa Monica.

Craven will be on hand Sunday evening at the Aero to discuss his career. The presentation will be staged between the screenings of 1991’s “The People Under the Stairs” and 1988’s “The Serpent and the Rainbow.”

“Last House on the Left” was made for a humble $90,000. The producers were a group of theater owners in Boston who ran drive-ins.

“The original budget was $50,000, but when the producers read the script they liked it so much they said, 'We'll give you another 40,'” Craven recalls. “They used to commission low-budget films for their second bill, so they didn’t have to pay the studio for the second feature. As soon as our film started running, it took over a whole chain. It created a kind of sensation. There were stories of fistfights and faintings and heart attacks. There were people assaulting the projection booth trying to destroy the print.”

Maverick producer Sam Arkoff picked up the film and released it nationally through American International Pictures. The success was a shock for Craven. 

“I didn’t know a thing about directing,” he says. “I staged it like a documentary because the year or two I learned the basics of film, I worked in a building that had mostly documentary filmmakers. I used a guy who was a documentarian to be the cameraman. We had a crew of about seven people.”

His cast and crew were far larger by 1988 and “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” which was released by Universal Pictures. The movie starred Bill Pullman as a Harvard ethnobotanist-anthropologist who is approached by a pharmaceutical company to go to Haiti to learn about drugs used in the voodoo religion.

“It was a pretty ambitious film,” Craven said. “We shot there [in Haiti] for 11 days. We were there six months after Baby Doc [aka Jean-Claude Duvalier was overthrown]. People were ready to love you or kill you. We went across the border into the Dominican Republic. It was a lot safer.”

Craven recently finished “My Soul to Take,” which is scheduled for release sometime this year. And in May, he starts on “Scream 4.” And after that?

“My goal is to die in my 90s on the set, say, ‘That’s a wrap,’ after the last shot, fall over dead and have the grips go out and raise a beer to me.”

-- Susan King

RECENT AND RELATED

"Phantasm," the 30-year reunion interview 

Anthony Hopkins: "I like to act like a submarine" 

VIDEO: 13 Wes Craven films reconsidered

"House of the Devil" and feathered-hair horror 

"Troll 2": The best worst movie ever? 

"The Wolf Man," the history of a howling success

VIDEO: The legacy of Lon Chaney Jr., looking back in horror

A decade later: What is the legacy of "Blair Witch"?

"Splatter" is vintage Roger Corman, fresh on the Web

Guillermo del Toro talks "The Strain" and "Frankenstein"

Photo: Wes Craven in 2009. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha /Los Angeles Times

Over at 24 Frames, our sister blog, Amy Kaufman writes that "Kick-Ass" doesn't need to worry about "Defendor" stealing its thunder...

At the Oscar nominee luncheon earlier this week, Woody Harrelson was asked about the status of a dark superhero comedy he has coming out titled "Defendor."

"Yeah, I did this movie called 'Defendor' and I was really excited because Sony picked it up in Toronto, and it's a wonderful movie," he said. "I love the movie. I get the feeling it's not gonna get much play, though."

We just saw the trailer and sadly, we're going to have to agree with Harrelson: It just doesn't look like a winner...

THERE'S MORE, READ THE REST

-- Amy Kaufman

RECENT AND RELATED

Queasy Woody Harrelson's takes a rare trip into horror

GALLERY: David Strick's set photos from "Zombieland" 

"Zombieland," keeping the undead genre alive

LAT REVIEW: "Zombieland" kills

Aykroyd: "Ghostbusters 3" may start filming soon

"Ghostbusters" game sparked film sequel talks 

SCENE STEALER

Patrick Kevin Day talked to production designer Rick Heinrichs about the creepy-cool look of the Victorian-era werewolf movie, "The Wolfman," and the bizarre "mental health" devices of the time. You can read his previous Scene Stealer interviews and Liesl Bradner's Wizards of Hollywood series right here.

Lawrence Talbot's (Benicio Del Toro) stay in a mental asylum in "The Wolfman" is short, but quite memorable, thanks to the ghoulish therapy devices created by production designer Rick Heinrichs. One of the most notable is the dunking chair that functions like a Victorian-era waterboarding torture. The hand-cranked chair (actually controlled by a motor) is tipped backward into a pool of freezing water using gears Heinrichs and crew salvaged from the controls of a sluice gate.

"They were experimenting at the time with mental illness and trying almost medieval treatment methods using people as guinea pigs," Heinrichs says.

Heinrichs wasn't nearly as masochistic toward the actors. The water was quite warm and the "ice" floating in it was a silicon-like material cut so as not to appear as soft as it really was. And though the leather straps look impressive on-screen, it was just Velcro -- hidden from view -- that held Del Toro in the chair. The whole thing reminded Heinrichs of a circus dunk tank. "The first time I drew it for [director Joe Johnston], I put a clown in the chair."

--Patrick Kevin Day

RECENT AND RELATED

Cursed? "The Wolfman" had to claw its way to the screen

Anthony Hopkins on his success: "I like to act like a submarine"

"The Wolf Man," the history of a howling success

VIDEO: The legacy of Lon Chaney Jr., looking back in horror

Full-moon fever: The clawing appeal of werewolves

Johnston: Captain America will be a USO performer

Benicio Del Toro does his research for "The Wolf Man"

PHOTO GALLERY: Sexy beast! A history of werewolves in film

"The Wolfman" delays -- a hairy situation?

Photos: Universal Pictures