The new Alice In Wonderland isn’t some blond girl getting bounced from adventure to adventure. She’s a horse-riding, judo-trained twentysomething brunette who doesn’t take bull from no Queen or Cheshire Cat.
“Oh god. There was a lot of running, and flying, and fighting and falling into lakes,” says Caterina Scorsone, who stars in this adult reworking of the Lewis Carroll classic.
“It’s probably day-for-day, the most physical thing I’ve been involved with.”
The Toronto-born Scorsone — whose credits include TV series like Power Play, Crash, and the upcoming Mel Gibson film Edge of Darkness — isn’t sure how she beat out 500 actresses for the coveted role of Alice. Truth is, she didn’t even meet director Nick Willing (Tin Man) till the project was close to filming.
“I guess Nick had been turning over every rock looking for an Alice. I put something to tape and sent it into their offices. He saw it and I was flown in to meet him. Four days later I got the part. It was great that it was so quick. I didn’t have time to be intimidated.”
Feeling intimidated must have been hard to avoid on the B.C.-shot Alice. The miniseries features a supporting cast that includes Kathy Bates, Harry Dean Stanton, Colm Meaney and Tim Curry.
“I think what attracted all these talented people was the script. We knew going in it was fantasy scifi, so there would be a lot of special effects and green screen. But the actual story and characters were strong enough on the page that you wanted to do it.”
Now based out of Los Angeles, the 28-year-old Scorsone frequently makes it back to Canada, where she first got her start as a kid actor on — get this — Mr. Dressup.
“That was a healthy way to start out an acting career. I’d just show up and sing and dress-up. It wasn’t some dark, brooding drama,” she laughs.
“Sometimes it feels like I work more in Canada than the U.S. Which is fine. Toronto is one of my favourite cities in the world.”
• The two part Alice airs Sunday and Monday night on Showcase.
