Tim Burton explores "Alice in Wonderland"

By John Gaudiosi

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Tim Burton's 3D promotional trailer for Walt Disney Pictures' "Alice in Wonderland" has been the talk of Comic-Con, thanks in part to the surprise cameo appearance of Johnny Depp at a panel on Thursday.

Depp plays The Mad Hatter in the new film, which debuts in theaters in March 2010. Burton made his first appearance at the giant comic book and pop culture convention here since the 1970s, when Comic-Con involved slides of the "Superman" movie.

The director joked that he brought slides of his vacation because he didn't have much film footage of the new "Alice." He then sat down with Reuters to talk about the new film.

Q: Can you explain your vision for "Alice in Wonderland"?

A: No, because I still have a lot to do. (laughs) I mean, we're trying to make a movie. I just take versions and...because it's kind of like comic material, although I don't know if I've ever seen a movie that I've really liked based on it because it's always kind of been a series of weird events. Everybody's crazy and it's sort of a passive little girl wandering around from episode to episode. So even though the books and the stories are iconic, I've never felt that there was a film that really kind of made it a film, translated from the story to a film. So that's the attempt.

Q: What did you take from Lewis Carrol's source material?

A: It's based on all of Lewis Carrol's material, including the "Jabberwocky Poem." Past "Alice" films were always just a girl wandering around passively with a lot of weird characters. We tried to weave it into a story that has emotion to it and makes sense.

Q: Did you go back and watch past Alice movies?

A: I've seen many of the different versions of "Alice" over the years. I know there was a musical porno movie I remember seeing in the '70s. And lots of other different versions.

Q: Do you think about an audience before making a film?

A: Not really. (laughs) I mean, because I don't think you really can. When I did "Nightmare" ("The Nightmare Before Christmas"), people thought it was too weird for kids, but kids like it a lot. You know I've done Roald Dahl material and his is always weird, but kids like that. Parents often, kind of, forget that kids like weird things. So you try to make it for everybody really, I guess.

Q: What types of technology are you developing for Alice?

A: Well, it seems more just the combination of things. We're kind of using techniques that have been used before. It's just we're mixing them up a bit differently, so that's what's making it sort of different to me -- the combination of live action and animation. We're not really doing motion capture.

Q: What's this experience been like for you so far?

A: This is the first time I've done green screen. It's difficult when you don't have a lot of sets. You try to keep it as lively as possible so that actors can interact as much with each other as possible. Speed and energy are important. It really starts to freak you out after while, not only for the actors but for myself and crew. You start to think, "who are we again, where are we?" There's a lot of moving and grooving.