"Semi-Trailer" of "Alice" at Comic-Con

Tim Burton has said that the very first public footage of Alice in Wonderland will be shown at Comic-Con this week -- in the form of a "semi-trailer."

"[It's] a kind of a semi-trailer," Burton said. "It’s where we’re at at the moment. There’s not a lot of footage to show."

Burton gave more information to MTV News. The director commented on the challenge of incorporating live-action, 3D, motion capture, and various forms of animation in several sequences. "It's a strange process we’re dealing with," he explained. "We're using a mix of techniques. If you picked them apart, each technique has been done before. We’re mixing them up, in a way."

"I wish we had more footage to show," Burton added. "It's a real mysterious puzzle that's frightening and exciting at the same time."

The director also explained why he took on the project, based on his interest in the source material and his disappointment with past cinematic adaptations. "The thing about it is it’s a series of stories," he said. "For me that's always been a problem with the movie versions of it. It's always been a girl going from one weird adventure to another, and for me it didn’t have much of an impact in the versions I’d seen before. Everyone’s crazy. We tried to take the 'Alice' mythology and characters and make a story out of it and be true to the spirit of what 'Alice' is about."



Burton also faulted past imaginings of the Hatter. "When you look at most interpretations, everything is pretty one-note," he said. "Everybody is crazy. With him, we are always trying to find a subtext and layer to it so it's rooted in humanity to some degree—something deeper than just being nuts." We shall see how Johnny Depp presents the Mad Hatter on March 5th, 2010.

Despite his crazy experience at a Superman panel at Comic-Con during the 1970s, the director is looking forward to showing dedicated fans a sample of Wonderland. "The great thing about it is the people are passionate and that’s what you want," he said. "That's why you do what you do."

In the spirit of the origins of the pop culture convention, Burton also talked comic books and comic book movies -- namely Batman. He gave his opinions on the recent Christopher Nolan blockbusters based on the Dark Knight.

"These [movies] are great. When I got involved with [the Batman franchise] many years ago things were ripe for a different interpretation," Burton told MTV News. "When you look at character novels and [regenerated characters], they're such strong things that they can take reinvention."

"At the time for the '89 'Batman' it felt different at the time to make it darker," he added. "That still is the trend to this day. At some point maybe it'll go back to Adam West!"