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Moviegoers who make the visit to Tim Burton’s big-screen, 3-D version of Alice in Wonderland (2010) will get a double dose of Matt Lucas. Why? Well, because Lucas -- the wildly popular English comedian best known for Little Britain (TV) and Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (TV) -- plays both Tweedledum and Tweedledee in the eagerly anticipated March 5 release. Lucas is part of a typically cool Burton cast that also includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Crispin Glover, Christopher Lee, and Timothy Spall, as well as newcomer Mia Wasikowska, who stars as Alice. Burton, as one might expect, doesn't spin the traditional Alice in Wonderland tale, but rather sends a now-19-year-old Alice back down the rabbit hole to Wonderland -- or rather Underland -- where she takes on the nefarious Red Queen (Bonham Carter). In our exclusive ScreenStar interview with Lucas, he discusses the challenge of playing two characters, the joys of working with Wasikowska, and more.
How familiar were you with the Lewis Carroll books on which the film is based?
I studied it at college, but like all intelligent people I've forgotten everything I studied at college. So I had to read it all again. But then this story is a new story inspired by events in the previous stories. It was good to have the knowledge, but also there's a new story here.
What would you say the Tweedles add to the Alice in Wonderland tale?
I think that they add to the randomness of this world that Alice finds herself in. They're friendly, but also frightening to be around.
You're playing two roles in this film and had to deal with a green room and green screens and green jumpsuits. How bizarre was that part of the experience for you?
I think the process of filmmaking, particularly for cinema, is much slower, or feels much slower to the actor, and it's quite notional or abstract anyway. Even when you're doing an intimate scene there are always 40 people on the other side of the camera, guys chewing gum, standing in the corner, holding bits of set together, and blah, blah, blah. Even scenes that are shot in a real house are far more technical than the viewer might imagine. So you do have a bit of experience at that, but of course here everything was notional because you are just in green space. But that's fine. And the truth is that everything is broken down a great deal into short shots. You're rarely shooting for more than 20 or 30 seconds at a time, to be honest. So it's not hard. It's not hard. You just have to keep concentrating. When I was playing one Tweedle I had to remember what I was doing with the other Tweedle was doing. So I had to have a strong sense, before we started shooting any scene, what it was I wanted the Tweedles to do in terms of how they relate with each and also the other characters. That's fine, that's part of the job, and I loved doing it. It was a good job and it's a good thing I like the color green.
What impressed you most about Mia Wasikowska?
The thing about working with Mia is that there's simply no downside to it. She is so positive and so open to any challenge that’s presented to her. I'd say that alongside Tim and Helena, who had very long makeup every day, Mia had arguably the toughest job on the movie, in terms of just keeping up the stamina. She always did. She never wavered. She was completed dedicated. There is no ego there. She is the personification of sunlight, may I say. She's just lovely. She's lovely and friendly and still really innocent, and it's great to be around that. I had tea with her yesterday before a screening, and we were like two little children, so excited, and we couldn't believe this was happening. She still has that about her, and I think she'll always have that about her. I think she's not just a special actress, but she's kind of a special person and that comes across on screen, really.
You just mentioned that you saw the finished film. If you can be at all objective, how pleased are you with it in general and specifically with the way the Tweedles are realized on screen?
I was sort of scrutinizing myself, but the person to pay tribute to is Ken Ralston and his team, who've obviously taken what I’ve done on two different occasions as a performer and woven them together in sync so that it's like they were done at the same time. You're very, very aware, watching a film like this, that it's a process that's involved hundreds and hundreds of people. So it's really a tribute to everybody on the film that it comes together the way it does. I think it's a really impressive piece of cinema and I am very proud to have this small role in it.
How ready are you for all the ancillary stuff that comes with being a part of a major Walt Disney film like this, everything from posters to tee-shirts to plush toys?
Listen, bring it on. I did a show called Little Britain, and we had all the plush dolls and things. You shouldn't take yourself so seriously. It's fun to be a doll. It's great. Bring it on.
Any last thoughts on Alice in Wonderland?
I never imagined I'd be in the position where I'd get to work with someone like Tim Burton. I hope to do more films, but if I never do another American film I'm pretty proud of the one I'm in. If this is it, then I've struck gold.
