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The following onstage speech was given at the 83rd Academy Awards by Colleen Atwood, who won the Oscar for Achievement in Costume Design, for the outstanding film, “Alice in Wonderland.”
Colleen Atwood thanked the Academy and the other nominees, who she said were very supportive of each other. This was not the first time she has worked with Tim Burton, who she said she was very lucky to work with again.
She said, “Thank you to the Academy and especially to my fellow nominees who are just so much fun to sit with tonight and who have been so supportive, it’s great to be part of such a great group of people. The story, ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ was described by its publisher in 1865 as a story valued for its rare imagination, priceless humor, and power to transport the reader into a world of pure fantasy, a gift to us all. The heart of any movie lies with the director and I’ve been incredibly lucky on this and many films to work with the singular Tim Burton.”
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland book
And she continues, speaking about Tim Burton, the cast and crew. “Tim’s imagination along with the amazing cast Johnny’s incandescent Hatter, Mia’s Alice for all girls, all times, Helena’s the fearless big headed Queen, and our crystalline snowflake princess, Anne Hathaway, made my job a delight. We had the support of a production team headed by Richard Zanuck and Katterli Frauenfelder. Supported by Joe Roth, Suzanne and Jen Todd, and Disney, but I couldn’t have done it without my team Christine Cantella and my entire group. Thank you all very much.”
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (often shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is the novel by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, written in 1865, under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. In 1998, Lewis Carroll’s own copy of Alice, one of only six surviving copies of the 1865 first edition, sold at auction for 1.54 million dollars to an unknown American buyer.
The following is an excerpt from the original book by Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, that inspired Tim Burton for his brilliant version of the film.
… Presently she began again. ‘I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think -‘ (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) – but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?’ (and she tried to curtsy as she spoke – fancy curtsying as you’re falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) ‘And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.’
Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. ‘Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think!’ (Dinah was the cat.) ‘I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?’ And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, ‘Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?’ and sometimes, ‘Do bats eat cats?’ for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, ‘Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?’ when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
(c) 2011, The Hollywood Sentinel. Academy Awards transcript courtesy of and with kind thanks to The Academy. (c) 2011, AMPAS. Image and text, all rights reserved.
