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Alice Through the Looking Glass Director James Bobin

Lolli — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 16:32:56 +0000

This exclusive interview with Director James Bobin on the new movie, Alice Through the Looking Glass, was part of the #ThroughTheLookingGlassEvent press trip with Disney. All travel, accommodations, and activities were provided by Disney, but all thoughts are my own. All interview photos are courtesy of Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com. Amazon affiliate links used in this post.

Exploring a Childhood Classic

Director James Bobin grew up in England, where he says that Alice is part of every child’s life. He read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a kid. His parents read it to him. His grandparents read it to him. And now he has done the same with his own children.

He said, “When I found out we were doing Alice Through the Looking Glass, I was really excited because, when you know something (as well as I know Alice) it’s a quite good way for starting it. You think you have a clear idea of who she’s going to be in the film, and who I felt Alice was to me growing up.”

James mentioned that he has always appreciated Lewis Carroll’s witty language and style of writing. One of the first things he wanted to do when he began work on the movie was to bring some of the British comedy back a bit, compared to the first Alice in Wonderland that Tim Burton worked on.

This new film has a slightly different feel compared to Alice in Wonderland. The color palettes are a bit brighter. The world is more Victorian (a decision based on James’ childhood memories of his Alice in Wonderland books which were illustrated by John Tenniel). The story line is very much about human and family relations.

Photo ©Disney

James said, “I think sequels need to be different. It’s nice to pay tribute and make sure you respect the origins of the story and the characters. But people want to see something which is a progression or something new or a different sight, feel or tone.”

He also said that, “…even as a kid I realized that Lewis Carroll wasn’t that concerned with narrative. He liked imagery, ideas. And the book kind of falls in on itself deliberately. Things happen. And then other things happen. And they seem very consequential. It’s only cause and effect. And so I knew that for a film would make an interesting avante guarde movie.”

He continued, “The book’s incredibly important. And Lewis Carroll is very important to me. So I wanted to take elements of the book like the backwards room and the looking glass and the characters and the spirit of Lewis Carroll, the idea of something which is fairly complex but not so complex that (a child would not understand it). It’s important you understand the story. But also I remember as a kid, I liked working stuff out in a movie. I didn’t want to be given it all straight away. And so this is kind of a puzzle plot in a way.”

James Bobin began working on Alice Through the Looking Glass in 2013 – from the initial planning stages to shooting in Shepperton Studios in London in 2014 to finalizing the last shots about a month ago (just in time!). He mentioned that, “it’s so nice for me to show the film to people because I lived with it for a very long time by myself in a small room in Burbank. It’s a funny thing where you live with it for so long, it (becomes) a part of you. And it’s just a nice part of it is to kind of let it go and show people the thing you’ve been doing all this time.”

The Character of Time

I loved Sacha Baron Cohen’s character, Time. James said that he was excited to work with Sacha again, and thought he was a perfect match for the new character.

Photo ©Disney

James said, “When you work with someone as brilliant as Sacha, you always try to think of ways of getting him back involved in things you’re doing. He and I worked years ago on Borat and Ali G and Bruno.” He knew that Sacha would be able to play a very good “confident idiot,” as he put it.

James found the idea of Time as a person directly from Lewis Carroll.

He said, “Lewis Carroll talks about time as a person in the book Alice in Wonderland. Hatter says, when he first meets Alice at the tea party, he’s kinda stuck and he says to her ‘I’ve been stuck here since last month where Time and I quarreled.’ And I thought that was a brilliant idea for a character. In Wonderland Lewis Carroll thinks Time is not just an idea but a man, a person. It felt very right for the movie to have a new character and that it would be Lewis Carroll’s idea.”

I love the fact that they did not create another “bad guy” since, as James put it, “we have a really lovely bad guy in the Red Queen. We don’t want to do that again. It gets confusing.”

Photo ©Disney

So instead of being an evil character, Time is simply an obstacle. He stands in the way of Alice’s goals.

Interestingly, they choose Time’s accept very deliberately. Because the Swiss are known as clock and watch makers, and since both French and German are spoken in Switzerland, they chose a spin off of a German accent.

Photo ©Disney

Learning from Alice

One of James’ major objectives in making this movie was that he would create a world where movie-goers would be happy to spend an hour and a half of their time. It makes him sad that there are so few things in the world these days that you do for an hour and a half. “I really wanted to make sure everyone was very happy and you sure must be sad to leave at the end.”

The concept of Time, whether it be James’ goal to help viewers get “lost” in time while in the theater, or the more complex themes can be found throughout the movie. I loved all of the powerful quotes (as well as the silly jokes) about time. James said, “It’s very important that (Alice) learns that time gives as much as he takes. For me the book, Through the Looking Glass, is really a book about Alice growing up and about the passage of time. But it’s really a metaphor for Alice Liddell who, by that time, had grown into a woman. So for Lewis Carroll it was the idea of the passage of time. And it made him kind of sad. The book is sad. The book ends with a really beautiful poem, which is a poem about the time he wrote the book for her when she was a little girl. It’s him remembering the golden afternoon in the water. It was like really beautiful. And if you look at it, it’s what’s called an acrostic poem, which means that the first letter of each line adds up to the name Alice Pleasance Liddell down the side. So it’s a very clear dedication to the girl, which is lovely.”

James continued, “It’s got a very sort of melancholy feel. In my personal life I feel too the passage of time can sometimes be a sad thing. And the way I overcome that is to appreciate the time that you’re in and the people you’re with. You can’t have regrets because you did your best to appreciate it at the time. And that for me is the brilliant message for your life. Alice kind of learns that in this film — she does learn to appreciate time and the fact that her father has passed. That was the past. And she’ll deal with that. But her mother is still here. If you can appreciate the time you have then that’s the thing to go away with.”

James ended our interview with a funny piece of insider news that he just recently learned. Did you know that Helena Bonham Carter, as the Red Queen, wears bloomer with hearts sewn into them. Despite the fact that no one will ever see them, James still thinks it’s brilliant. “She knows they’re there. And that is so brilliant for a character — as an actor, you are completely the character once your underwear is also for that character.”

If you haven’t already seen Alice Through the Looking Glass, head out to theaters to see it now!

See my other Alice Through the Looking Glass Posts:

Interview with Producer Suzanne Todd (and the story of her blue Alice shoes!)
10 things to love about Alice Through the Looking Glass

Interview with Mia Wasikovska (Alice Kingsleigh)

Alice Through the Looking Glass Red Carpet Experience
Alice Through the Looking Glass Activity Pages and Coloring Sheets
My announcement post!

More coming soon!

Producer Suzanne Todd – Alice Through the Looking Glass

Lolli — Mon, 30 May 2016 14:57:40 +0000

This exclusive interview with Producer Suzanne Todd about her new movie, Alice Through the Looking Glass, was part of the #ThroughTheLookingGlassEvent press trip with Disney. All travel, accommodations, and activities were provided by Disney, but all thoughts are my own. All interview photos are courtesy of Jana Seitzer / https://whiskynsunshine.com. Amazon affiliate links used in this post.

I had heard all about Suzanne Todd’s famous Alice in Wonderland shoes from my friends who had attended Disney Social Media Moms in Florida just a few weeks before our interview. So it wasn’t too surprising that The Shoes were the first thing that we asked Suzanne about when she walked in to the room. Even before she had a chance to sit down, she held up a fancy box and started talking about her blue sparkly Alice shoes. (You can buy them here!)

Since she didn’t come to the interview wearing the shoes, we all thought that she’d surely wear them at the red carpet premiere that night. When asked about them, she said, “I am not wearing them tonight, and I’ll tell you why…” She then proceeded to tell us a story that left most of the room with their jaws on the floor.

Suzanne began, “I posted last week something about a really good friend, Maria Shriver, who turns 60 this year, and instead of asking for a birthday present, she said please just help me with my charity thing that’s coming up. So I said I would help her with her fundraiser, Move for Minds, raising money for Alzheimers. She lost a parent to Alzheimers. I’ve never done this before, ’cause I’m not like you guys way out there in the (blogging, tweeting, social media) thing, but I posted for people to support the fundraiser. I just though oh, maybe someone will donate. And all of my friends did, which was so nice. And there was one person that actually donated who I’ve never met, which I thought was so amazing, and she wrote that it was in honor of her grandma, which was so touching. I think she’s here”

And then my sweet friend, Keri Lyn from SheSaved.com piped up, “It’s me.”

Suzanne continued, “It’s you. So I am giving you this. These are for you.”

Keri Lyn and Suzanne

Amazingly, Suzanne and Keri Lyn both wear a size 9. And later that evening, Keri Lyn wore those beautiful Alice shoes to the premiere. She was my red carpet buddy, and I can’t tell you how many people stopped her to admire or snap pictures of her shoes.

Suzanne Todd on the Themes in Alice Through the Looking Glass

When asked about her favorite themes in Alice Through the Looking Glass, Suzanne referred back to Lewis Carroll’s original stories. It has been 10 years since she started working on the first Alice in Wonderland film, so the story of Alice has been a part of her life for quite a while.

In fact, trying to stay true to Lewis Carroll’s stories and the character of Alice were at the core of making these movies, but in this movie in particular she really appreciated the focus on time, especially because of her most important role as a mother.

“The older I get, the more precious I find my time is to me. (I love that this) is a kind of ‘we girls can do anything’ movie, (especially) for my little girl who is 11 now, and also just recognizing (that) time is so precious to all of us.

“There’s a thing about technology – it was supposed to be created to give all of us more leisure time. Like remember the fax machine or a blackberry, and now you’re gonna leave work early and have extra time to spend with your kids, but really what is does in some ways is it’s turned all of us into 24 hour workers, ’cause there’s no time of the day when you can’t be doing something productive that has to do with your technology.

“It’s a balance that we all have to try and find for when we’re gonna turn it off or put it away and really sit down on the blanket and have a picnic with our kids, ’cause it doesn’t happen enough. But then when it does, I think everybody has that moment where they think oh, this is what I should be doing on a Sunday afternoon. I’m hoping people will watch the movie and have those conversation or just be in that space a little bit more because the movie inspired them to (spend more time together), so that would make me really happy.”

Suzanne’s Advice to Single Working Moms

As single mom of three kids who are with her 100% of the time whose schedule is always crazy (and probably won’t be changing any time soon), Suzanne said that she has found that “it’s important to have time for the three of them together with me, you know family time, but also to have individual time with them. I didn’t realize that in the beginning, how important it was to carve out time for each of them, because they’re all different and unique in their one way.”

Suzanne makes a busy career work by keeping everyone organized through color-coordinated Google calendars. She jokes with her kids that “it’s like a war operation of moving people around.” I know the feeling. I may not be a single mom, but the struggle to keep practices, pick ups, homework, parties, and everything else that goes on with multiple teens and tweens in one house is real.

“I’m learning every day just like the rest of you. I think however many years it is down the road for me now, I definitely – I know it sounds like an Instagram saying – but I definitely sweat the small stuff less. And maybe that’s just because I don’t have time for it, or the energy for it, but situations, people, things that bring drama and conflict and aren’t productive moving forward things, I really stay away from or avoid.”

Suzanne continued, “I’m very, very focused on what I think will be a positive outcome. I always think the best advice I can ever give myself is the advice I tell my kids, because I’m much better at telling my kids what to do usually than I am at telling myself. So if I pause and think about what I would tell them, then I usually do a better job, but that idea of trying to avoid the stuff that actually isn’t helping you get where you need to go, including sometimes your own thought process about it…”

I have a feeling that most moms would agree that it’s much easier to tell our kids what they should be doing versus doing those things ourselves!

Suzanne Todd Discusses the Challenge of Making an Alice Sequel

According to Suzanne, the success of and the response to Alice in Wonderland (2010) was somewhat unexpected, so as they began work on Alice Through the Looking Glass, she felt a greater pressure.

“There’s all this pressure that you want to do something with movies that will be commercially viable, because that’s why you get to make more movies, but you also want to do something that says something that’s important to you. For me with the three kids, the older I get, the less I want to ever do a movie that doesn’t feed my soul.”

There were aspects of the second movie that were both easier and more challenging than making the first movie. The sets in Alice Through the Looking Glass were much more complex and bigger than in the first movie. And because most of the actors in Alice Through the Looking Glass were the same that were in the first movie, the casting process was much less complicated, BUT getting so many talented and busy actors together at the same time was a scheduling nightmare.

Suzanne mentioned that when they cast Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton literally picked the actors he wanted in the film, called them personally on the phone, and every single person said yes.

“Everybody wanted to do it because they wanted to work with Tim and they loved the script.”

On Adding Sacha Baron Cohen to the Cast

Sacha baron Cohen was so perfect as the new character, Time. “When we’d started with (Sacha), I thought one of the funniest things was Sacha talked about how when he’s developing his character, that the costume is really, really important for him.” He talked to costume designer Colleen Atwood and said that the one thing he really, really wanted to do was wear tights.

Suzanne didn’t understand the tights until she went to the first costume fitting and saw him in the tights. “And it was like, of course, because his legs are ridiculous. He has like two spider legs where his thigh is the same size as his angle, which if you look closely in the movie, you’ll see. I love that Sacha understood the ridiculousness, the skinniness of his legs, and that’s why he wanted those little pantaloons with the tights. And then you know under that big hat, he has…we call it a man bun.”

Suzanne’s Special Connection with the Queens

Photo ©Disney

Suzanne ended our interview with an interesting story about her personal connection with the Red Queen and the White Queen and their relationship. “There’s a running joke from the two movies, because I work with my younger sister who happens to have red hair, so in the first movie, there was always this sort of Red Queen, White Queen joke…not that the White Queen is the good one and Red Queen is the bad one. Although you may have thought that in the first movie, certainly in the second movie, you get to see it (change). There is something about that sister story line, because I have two sisters, that’s very special for me.

“And also, you know, when you look at the young White Queen, the idea that she’s not a bad person. I think all of us, my kids for sure, have behaved that way. I behaved that way when I was a kid. When you just make a mistake. She just did the wrong thing and in the moment, you feel like you’re on the spot and she said the wrong thing. And then when you see in the movie the trajectory of everything that happened because of that. I love that scene at the end where they have a little tiny bit of reconciliation, although we’ll see how long that lasts, if we make another movie.”

I really hope they do make another movie and continue to explore the relationship between the Red Queen and the White Queen, Alice and the Hatter.

Go see Alice Through the Looking Glass in theaters everywhere now!

See my other Alice Through the Looking Glass Posts:

10 things to love about Alice Through the Looking Glass

Interview with Mia Wasikovska (Alice Kingsleigh)

Alice Through the Looking Glass Red Carpet Experience
Alice Through the Looking Glass Activity Pages and Coloring Sheets
My announcement post!

More coming soon!

10 Things to Love About Alice Through the Looking Glass

Lolli — Fri, 27 May 2016 10:00:10 +0000

Alice Through the Looking Glass is now in theaters everywhere! I was fortunate enough to see the movie twice in the past week, and I’m excited to share with you my spoiler-free Alice Through the Looking Glass review now.

I was invited on a press trip to attend the red carpet premiere of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Travel, accommodations, and activities were provided by Disney but all thoughts are my own. Affiliate links are used within the post. All photos are courtesy of Disney.

Here are 10 reasons that you’re going to love Alice Through the looking Glass.

1. If you love Alice in Wonderland, you’ll love Alice Through the Looking Glass. Fans will not be disappointed.

2. If you didn’t love Alice in Wonderland, you will like Alice Through the Looking Glass. Maybe you didn’t quite “get” Alice in Wonderland. I understand. The nice thing about Alice Through the Looking Glass is that (in my opinion) the story line is much easier to follow. There is less nonsense and more logic, all while staying true to the Alice in Wonderland whimsical, silly style.

3. My favorite message from Alice Through the Looking Glass is that you can’t change the past, but you can learn from it. What a great message for all of us to remember! How often do we look back and wish we could change something that happened. You don’t need TIME to tell you that changing the past is futile.

“You cannot change the past but I daresay you can learn something from it.” – Time

4. The messages in Alice Through the Looking Glass can be appreciated by all ages – children through adults. There are levels of understanding in the Alice Through the Looking Glass story that make it perfect for all ages. I wouldn’t label it a kids movie OR an adult movie. It’s a family movie. Great for everyone!

5. Alice Through the Looking Glass deals with several different family relationships – Mother-Daughter, Father-Son, and Sister-Sister. The relationships are each unique, but they are each able to come to a sort of resolution. I love that family is important and working out problems together is valued!

“I never said sorry when I had the chance.” – The Mad Hatter

6. Alice Through the Looking Glass is all about female empowerment. I love that Alice is a strong heroine in this movie. She has learned who she is and she loves who she is…and she doesn’t care what other people think.

7. Time is a gift. Alice Through the Looking Glass reminds us to appreciate the time have with our family and friends. Time is a main theme throughout the movie and leaves you with a lot to ponder!

8. The movie is full of hilarious one-liners! Don’t even get me started. I brought a notebook into the theater when I saw it the 2nd time just so I could write down a few of my favorite quotes. One of my favorites:

“The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible” – Alice Kingsleigh

9. There is not really a bad guy in the movie. Time is an obstacle but he’s not evil. Even the Red Queen is seen as a character with real emotions. I love learning a little about her back story and understanding why she is the way she is. “Time is many things but he isn’t money. Nor is he our enemy.” – Alice Kingsleigh

10. It is a fun, light-hearted movie that is safe for the whole family (no language, no sex, no violence).

About Alice Through the Looking Glass

In Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” an all-new spectacular adventure featuring the unforgettable characters from Lewis Carroll’s beloved stories, Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter. Directed by James Bobin, who brings his own unique vision to the spectacular world Tim Burton created on screen in 2010 with “Alice in Wonderland,” the film is written by Linda Woolverton based on characters created by Lewis Carroll and produced by Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd and Tim Burton with John G. Scotti serving as executive producer. “Alice Through the Looking Glass” reunites the all-star cast from the worldwide blockbuster phenomenon, including: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter along with the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. We are also introduced to several new characters: Zanik Hightopp (Rhys Ifans), the Mad Hatter’s father and Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen), a peculiar creature who is part human, part clock.

Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends – and enemies – at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out.

Presented in Digital 3D, Real D 3D and IMAX® 3D, Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” in in theaters NOW!

Be sure to head to the theaters this weekend to see Mia Wasikowska in Alice Through the Looking Glass, opening everywhere on May 27, 2016!

To read more about my Alice Through the Looking Glass experience, see my other posts:

Interview with Mia Wasikovska (Alice Kingsleigh)

Alice Through the Looking Glass Red Carpet Experience

Alice Through the Looking Glass Activity Pages and Coloring Sheets

My announcement post!

More coming soon!

Exclusive Mia Wasikowska Interview

Lolli — Thu, 26 May 2016 17:08:56 +0000

I had the amazing opportunity to participate in an exclusive Mia Wasikowska interview before attending the red carpet premiere of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Travel, accommodations, and activities were provided by Disney, but all thoughts are my own. Amazon affiliate links included in this post.

Photo ©Disney

When Mia Wasikowska (“Alice Kingsleigh”) walked into the room, I was not only struck by how beautiful she was in person, but how soft spoken and sweet she was. I would love to spend an afternoon with her on the beach, reading books and sipping lemonade.

Photo by Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

We jumped right into questions with Mia, and she was eager to chat with us all about making her new movie, Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Mia’s Favorite Scene from Alice Through the Looking Glass

Mia’s favorite scene from this movie was when Alice met the Hatter in the marketplace when she has traveled back in time. Alice tries to explain to Hatter that they have met before, except when she is younger and he is older. It makes no sense, but the Hatter accepts it with a smile and a nod. Mia said, “I think that’s so sweet, and it’s got such an essence of the original book to it, that whole abstract, quite bizarre nature of it.”

Photo by Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

When asked about her favorite quote or message from the movie (there are so many amazing quotes!), Mia responded, “I like the message (that) you can’t change the past but you can learn from it. Even though we kind of know that, I think really deeply understanding that is really important to being able live your life and be in the moment, to accept what’s happened in the past and move on into the future openly and not be fixated on trying to change something that’s already happened, which I feel like we can get a bit caught up in.”

Photo ©Disney

The Evolution of Alice

We discussed with Mia how Alice’s character evolved from the first movie to the second one. In the first movie, Alice was still a trying to bridge the gap between knowing who she is on the inside and being able to be that on the outside. In this new film, she has a much more solid sense of who she is.

“(Alice) comes back into this story with a really strong sense of (who she is), and despite the fact that expectations of her are really low in her society, she manages to hold on to that sense of being worth more than what people want of her, which I think is really great and important for young girls and boys everywhere.”

Photo ©Disney

Mia said that Alice is an even stronger role model for young people today, not only because of her strong sense of self in Through the Looking Glass, but because she is able to let other’s judgements about her roll off her back. I loved that Alice’s femininity was not seen as a restriction. Mia said, “Even when she goes to the ball with the oriental costume and she doesn’t seem to notice the judgment coming off of everybody else, that just seems to roll off her back. That sense of not caring so much about what other people think is really important.”

Speaking of Alice’s costumes in Through the Looking Glass, the clothes that she wore reflected that Alice is more independent and confident and free to do what she wants (as seen in the pants that she wears in several scenes, which was very uncommon for women to wear during the late 1800s.

Photo ©Disney

Alice’s Relationship With Time and the Hatter

Mia said that Alice’s relationship with Time really stood out to her in Alice Through the Looking Glass, although she will always have a soft spot for the Hatter. Mia said, “I do like the relationship with Alice and Time. I think Sasha plays like a confident idiot very well. He’s this old powerful loser in a way and Alice is the only one that isn’t scared enough to pull him out on how he doesn’t make any sense at all. like that she has no fear in approaching anyone, but especially him, because he’s gotten such a strong ego.”

Photo by Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

She said that working on set with Sasha Baron Cohen kept her on her toes every day. I can only imagine was it was like for her to work with two people as creative and funny as Sasha and Johnny. She told us, “I think there’s a six hour version of the film where (Sasha) improvises a lot, and he’s quite ambitious about it. I’m not sure how he thought half of that was going to get in a Disney movie if you’re at all familiar with his (work). It was very entertaining. Every day was something completely different. He’s very ambitious and very, very smart and really funny.”

Photo by Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

When asked how her working relationship was with Johnny Depp for this movie, Mia responded, “With all the cast (from the first movie) I had that level of familiarity with them and that was really nice. That always helps when stepping into a project like this, which is quite abstract. (Johnny) is such a wonderful person, such a lovely, sensitive like person and I love that he’s so creative.”

What Resonated Most with Mia About Through the Looking Glass

I was able to see Alice Through the Looking Glass twice this week, and I was struck both times by the deep and far-reaching messages from the movie, including the message to appreciate the time that we have with our loved ones.

When asked about the message that resonated most with her, Mia said, “I really liked that the movie looks at the relationships between all the characters a lot, like Alice and her mother, and the Hatter and his father, and then the root of the rivalry between the sisters (The Red Queen and the White Queen). I mean, your own relationship with your mom like changes again and again as you grow older and you go through different stages in your life, and reestablishing that relationship and how that happens constantly. (I love) that Alice and her mom learn from each other and are able to really appreciate each other again. It’s really sweet in this.”

Photo ©Disney

What Mia Likes to Do to Relax

Filming Alice Through the Looking Glass not only took a lot of time, but it was physically tiring (Mia mentioned several times that she had to do lots of running on set). We were curious about what she does to relax, and she was quick to respond: “I still live in Sydney and so I spend a lot of time like in my home, and I have a very a small garden, but I love gardening and reading and being with friends. I live not too far from the ocean, so I like go for walks a lot, but pretty boring, pretty simple existence.”

Mia said that she is currently reading “If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler” by Italo Calvino. She also loves the Elena Ferrante series, the Neopolitan Novels (so basically, we all put these books on our reading list!).

Photo ©Disney

Speaking of reading, which is one of my favorite past times, Mia spoke about the universal reach that the Alice in Wonderland books have had and will continue to have, on people, “I think like the great thing about the books is that you can read them at any stage in your life and they mean like a completely different thing. Kids see stuff in it that adults don’t and vice versa. I like that (the Alice in Wonderland books) lend themselves to many different interpretations.”

Be sure to head to the theaters this weekend to see Mia Wasikowska in Alice Through the Looking Glass, opening everywhere on May 27, 2016!

To read more about my Alice Through the Looking Glass experience, see my other posts:

Alice Through the Looking Glass Red Carpet Experience

Alice Through the Looking Glass Activity Pages and Coloring Sheets

My announcement post!

More coming soon!

Disney’s Alice Through The Looking Glass Red Carpet Premiere

Lolli — Wed, 25 May 2016 22:00:42 +0000

The last few days have been a whirlwind! I just returned this morning from a 2 1/2 day press trip in Los Angeles for the Alice Through the Looking Glass red carpet premiere. My travel, accommodations, and activities were covered by Disney, but all thoughts are my own. Note: Amazon affiliate links included in this post. Photos that do not say ©Disney were taken by me or members of our group.

It’s difficult to sum up such an amazing night in words OR in pictures, but I’ll try my best to invite you in to my red carpet experience so that you can feel like you were walking along with me.

P!nk Performs Just Like Fire On Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Before the red carpet festivities officially kicked off, P!nk performed her hit song from Alice Through the Looking Glass – Just Like Fire – plus White Rabbit.

Get Just Like Fire HERE (digital download)

Imagine our surprise when we arrived on Hollywood Blvd for the P!nk concert and were escorted right to the front row. Here’s proof of just how close we were (taken by the pre-concert MC, Chuck Dukas):

Group shot of US taken before the P!nk concert began. Photo by Chuck Dukas on Instagram

I loved sharing the concert with such wonderful friends! Thanks to Keri Lyn from SheSaved.com for this shot (her’s turned out better than mine!

What an incredible experience to be SO close to the stage! I made eye contact with P!nk several times – we totally had a connection. Her energy and her joy were contagious. Not to mention that she is crazy talented and beautiful!

And here’s the second song she performed – White Rabbit. We were lucky enough to see her perform each song twice. Bonus: see if you can spot me right at 0:25 peeking under her arm in the front row.

Walking the Red Carpet for Alice Through the Looking Glass

The red carpet was crawling with stars – including Johnny Depp (The Hatter) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Time), both of which I saw just across the carpet from me.

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the red carpet:

Photo ©Disney

And, yes, I was dressed up and walking the red carpet, too!

Once I got to the end of the red carpet, I found a display of HSN’s new Alice Through the Looking Glass collection. I kind of wanted it ALL. How gorgeous is all of this??

We were ushered in to the El Capitan theater to see the movie…I liked it even MORE the 2nd time watching it! My review will be coming out early on Friday just in time for the theatrical opening (You can see Alice Through the Looking Glass in theaters everywhere May 27!).

When the movie was over, we had the chance to attend the amazingly whimsical after party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel just down the street. We were surrounded by stars, good food, the Alice themed makeup from Urban Decay and nail polish from OPI, and activities. I chose to take it all in and enjoy the night with friends.

Me with Keri Lyn from SheSaved.com

Thanks to Rebecca from RWeThereYet.com for this group shot of Matt Lucas (Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum)

It was a magical night!

Make time to go see Alice Through the Looking Glass this weekend! It opens this Friday, May 27, in theaters everywhere!