Alan Rickman talks about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

There is a great interview with Alan Rickman over on The University Observer. He talks about many of his film roles, but in particular he mentions a little bit more about his role as the Caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

“When selecting roles, you just try and do what you didn’t just do.”

It seems to be with this mantra in tow that Rickman chose his next role – a caterpillar. Rickman explains that he has joined the macabre circus that is Tim Burton’s distorted adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s fantastical tale, Alice in Wonderland, having worked with the eccentric director in the grisly musical, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Rickman explains that, as seems to be the norm with Burton, production for this work is nothing short of surreal. “Well, I believe what is going to happen is it will be my head on an animated caterpillar. I mean, Tim Burton just has a mind like a fairground. I aim to do everything he ever does. I am a crawling sycophant to him!”

Alice in Wonderland is set to be released in 2010, but Rickman relays the difficulties of working on a child’s film by saying, “Well, we’re fighting with Disney at the moment… They are worried about having a character [the caterpillar] that smokes,” he adds, dramatically rolling his eyes to heaven.

Typical of the big studios to try and change one of the main features of the character. Didn't the caterpillar spoke in their animated version?

Thanks to Pam for sending me the link.

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