Gellar Still Game For ALICE
Sarah Michelle Gellar has passed on an update concerning the film adaptation of American McGee's Alice.
Earlier this week, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) wanted to reassure fans that she's still signed on to the movie version of the critically-acclaimed video game American McGee's Alice.
"It's a story that I'd love to see," she told Radio Free's MICHAEL J. LEE, speaking of the "passion project" to which she's been attached for a long time. "I'm fearful at this rate that I'm going to be the Queen of Hearts because I'm going to be too old to be Alice."
The development journey of the film has been as long, strange and frustrating as that of its heroine. But Gellar refuses to give up on it.
"Because," she said, "I believe there is such a beautiful, crazy, cool, twisted story to be told there."
The third-person shooter American Mcgee’s Alice may have, according to JOBLO at Joblo.com, "one of the best premises for a game in a really long time." A semi-sequel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the story finds our heroine institutionalized--her surreal adventures beyond the mirror, followed by the tragic deaths of her parents in a fire, have left her unhinged. After several years, the White Rabbit recalls the young adult Alice to save a dark and sinister Wonderland from the despotic Queen of Hearts.
The game's horrific storyline and non-stop action won over critics, as well as Dimension Films, which committed to the project in 2000 and signed director Wes Craven (Scream) to develop a film adaptation with screenwriter John August (Shazam).
August turned in a script treatment, but then Dimension hired Jon & Erich Hoeber (Whiteout) to pen the actual screenplay. The brothers had completed their adaptation by July '03. Then the real fun began.
In March '04, the Alice project moved from Dimension to 20th Century Fox, then changed hands again in June '05, ending up at Universal Pictures, who currently is prepping the film with Collision Entertainment. Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) has long been set to direct, and Jean Marsh (Return to Oz) would play the Queen of Hearts.
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This past December, some sources reported as fact the story that Maggie Grace (Lost) had taken over the lead role. But, this week, Gellar dispelled that rumor.
"It's still my project," she said confidently.
"I can’t say that I’m thrilled about [the] casting choice, and the directing choice for that matter," Joblo posted in November. "I feel like it’s going into a direction that may make it seem like a bad Renny Harlin film, rather than a good intellectual mind-f**k."
Several months ago, Nispel was tapped to helm the revamp of Friday the 13th, which is slated for an '09 release. It is unknown how this will affect his connection to Alice, which continues its holding pattern.
Still, Gellar remains committed to her "committed" girl. "It's something I'd really like to see done. And I'm not getting out."
[Thanks to ShockTilYouDrop for the link. Also to JESSICA BARNES at Cinematical, Indiatimes.com and Wikipedia for additional info.]