Alice's Long, Strange Trip to Become Syfy Series
Alice Ventures Through the Looking Glass for Bold new Movie Event
Oct 26, 2009
Using the classic Lewis Carroll books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass as basic building blocks, writer/director Nick Willing (also responsible for Syfy's Tin Man) has created the post-modern tale of Alice Hamilton (Caterina Scorsone of Crash), a fiercely independent martial arts instructor who suddenly finds herself trapped in a weird Wonderland of a parallel world.
Alice, a four-hour miniseries “event,” premieres on the Syfy channel on Dec. 6, 2009, with the second half following on Dec. 7. Also starring Academy Award winner Kathy Bates as the Queen of Hearts, the all-new series features Tim Curry, Andrew Lee Potts, Matt Frewer, Colm Meaney, Philip Winchester and Harry Dean Stanton.
If You Wonder, then Go Ask Alice
Here’s a brief synopsis of the story provided by the production team:
Abandoned by her father as a child, independent 21-year-old Alice is accustomed to men being unpredictable - "as mad as hatters," even. But just moments after Jack Chase surprises her with a rare family engagement ring, he’s suddenly kidnapped by two thugs and driven into darkness.
Next, Alice is confronted by a sharp-dressed stranger who calls himself “White Rabbit,” and who hints that he knows more about Jack than she does. Alice follows him through the liquid glass of an ornate mirror and lands in Wonderland, an underground city of twisted towers, casinos made of playing cards, and staircases conceived by M.C. Escher.
Here, above-grounders are harvested for their emotions like ecstasy, lust, and satisfaction. The only essence that’s out-of-fashion is hope.
Everything Old is 'Re-imagined' New Again
This contemporary “re-imagining” of Carroll's classics is produced by the same partnership that created the hit mini-series Tin Man, 2007’s sci-fi spin on The Wizard of Oz. Writer/director Willing is once more teamed with producers from Reunion Pictures, Studio Eight, and RHI Entertainment’s Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr.
In Tin Man, a young waitress named D.G. (Zooey Deschanel) is dropped into the “Outer Zone” (or O.Z.), where she and a band of misfits and mutants must battle a wicked techno-sorceress for control of the kingdom. Likewise, Alice takes a post-cyberpunk leap from Carroll’s original tales, creating what was described in promotional materials as “a daringly different, boldly colorful and delightfully skewed dreamscape.”
Surprise and danger await Alice in this mad, mod world of flying scarabs, the thundering Jabberwock, the Pool of Tears and the clinically insane Doctors Dee and Dum — including the fate of her missing father, who has been brain-drained and employed by the enemy. The only way Alice can survive Wonderland’s wicked ways is to harness that which is of no use to a world seduced by instant gratification — hope.
About the Producers
RHI Entertainment develops, produces and distributes made-for-television movies, miniseries and other television programming worldwide, and is the leading provider of new long-form television content in the United States, according to a release from Syfy. The company has produced and distributed thousands of hours of TV programming, receiving more than 100 Emmy Awards.
Reunion Pictures is a Canadian-based company that develops and finances high quality television and multi-platform properties, according to Syfy. Launched in 2004, Reunion Pictures has received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and has won Genies and Gemini's as well as the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Television. It produced two No. 1 cable mini-series (Tin Man and Earthsea), both produced with RHI Entertainment for Syfy.
Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 95 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal.
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