Quirky Bobin re-imagines iconic Alice
A quirky James Bobin directs the curious sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, so the fit seems to make sense.
After all, the Brit filmmaker helped create the peculiar Sacha Baron Cohen characters Ali G, Borat and Bruno.
In the latest Alice adventure, Bobin reunites with Cohen who plays the new persona Time, who is half clock, half human. The bizarre personality drives the time travel plot and assists in explaining why things don’t always appear as they seem.
Returning for another journey is Mia Wasikowska as Alice. Johnny Depp is back as Mad Hatter. Helena Bonham Carter chews more scenery as the Red Queen while Anne Hathaway ’s White Queen proves to be as annoyingly delightful as ever.
Here are five more things Bobin shares before a Vancouver screening of the sequel as a thank-you to his special-effects production crews.
1. He’s not easily overawed: Not only did the director replace the acclaimed Tim Burton, but he is re-imagining an iconic story.
“I was very lucky to inherit the ensemble that Tim (Burton) put together because every single piece works so beautifully,” Bobin says. “And maybe it’s because I am from England, but I grew up with the Lewis Carroll stories, so I feel comfortable in that world.”
2. He’s creatively brave enough to present the latest incarnation of Alice as a feminist warrior.
“I think that’s how Alice would have been grown up,” the director says. “She is quite strong-willed and independent. To me that’s the point of her.”
3. He sort of relied on his past as writer-director of The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted movies.
“Yeah, I think it helped a bit,” Bobin says. “But The Muppets is a very in-camera performance while Alice is exactly the opposite because it embraces CGI.”
4. He relished reuniting with his pal Cohen.
“We would often have lines prepared, but the best stuff would happen when he went off improvising,” Bobin says. “I was very keen to have that in this movie.”
5. He’s excited about his future making the Men in Black spinoff spoof MIB 23 with the 21 Jump Street cast of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.
“It’s early, so it’s difficult to talk about,” he says. “But I can say it’s a brilliant idea because the two worlds do have overlap in terms of structure. I’ve read the (script) and it really does work.”