You may not recognize Linda Woolverton's name, but you definitely know her work. In addition to writing the screenplay for Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass, she's worked on The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. She's also the first woman to pen a Disney animated feature film (Beauty) and the only woman with a sole writing credit on a billion-dollar movie (Alice).
Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Woolverton about the new Alice sequel, as well as her time at Disney, and the studio's live-action adaptations...
IGN Movies: Let's dive right in with Alice Through the Looking Glass. Obviously this story was very different from the book. First of all, how did you go about breaking this story while also building on what you had done before with Alice in Wonderland?
I was really thinking about what would happen to this girl who came back from this incredible adventure... and how she would fit back into Victorian society.
Linda Woolverton: I was really thinking about what would happen to this girl who came back from this incredible adventure that really changed her and how she would fit back into Victorian society, which I would say would be pretty much impossible. So I sent her to another foreign land where she could be more comfortable, which was China, and she becomes a sea captain. Then it became even harder for her to go back to Victorian society, you know? So I was just trying to explore the "What if...?" And then, once she had become this really powerful woman -- she really stepped into herself -- how was she going to manage in the world she was born into? She really can't. [Laughs]
IGN: Right. That was actually something I wanted to talk to you about, because one of the things I've loved about the series is the frame story you've created for Alice. It's very different from the animated version and the Lewis Carroll stories. In this, she's the captain of her own ship, and she gets admitted to an insane asylum, but she escapes. Where did that idea come from?
Woolverton: [Laughs] I love that. You know, I did a lot of research on Victorian society, and really, if you were a creative woman in any way, if you really didn't just follow in the footsteps of what you were supposed to do, they claimed "female hysteria," which meant you were off your wack -- and they threw you into a looney bin, really! That's true! So I thought, "Well, I can't really explore that in this, but I can touch on it, and I can make comment on it." So that's where that came from.
IGN: Of course this time you were collaborating with James Bobin instead of Tim Burton. Did that change or affect how you tackled this new story?
Tim is sort of a nonverbal, visual genius, so to work with Tim you really just have to hook into that wavelength...
Woolverton: Well, I had written Alice, the first one, before Tim came on, and I worked with him closely on adjusting it to his vision and writing for Johnny [Depp]. You know, Tim is sort of a nonverbal, visual genius, so to work with Tim you really just have to hook into that wavelength -- which I was able to do by some miraculous way. And then James is completely different. He's British, and he's very verbal and funny. So it was just a different way of communicating. I could talk more with James. [Laughs]
IGN: Like you said, with a movie like this, so much of it is dependent on visuals. I'm curious, how closely does this film align with what you saw in your head when you were writing it? Again, both movies were directed by two different people, so they look very different, visually. Does one look more like how you imagined it than the other?
Woolverton: Well, they both certainly capture the colorful imagination of that world. You know, you write many drafts, and I had written some things that didn't end up in the movie. I think that's always as a writer the thing that you miss. In fact, I wrote a scene where Alice when she went back to the little kids, when [her Underland friends] were young, she walks into a classroom, and they're in kindergarten, and for some reason the teacher gets sick and [Alice] is suddenly their teacher. That was a really fun scene. [Laughs] So stuff like that, that doesn't end up in the movie but I always remember.
IGN: You've obviously written for tons of Disney movies at this point, both animated and live-action. How much does your approach change when you're writing for something like Alice Through the Looking Glass versus an animated movie like The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast?
Woolverton: No difference whatsoever.
IGN: Really? So, when you're writing an animated movie, do you envision animated characters -- or vice versa with live-action?
When I was doing Beauty and The Lion King... They were only possible because you could draw them.
Woolverton: Well, before, when I was doing Beauty and The Lion King, things we could do there were only possible in animation. They were only possible because you could draw them. But then technology evolved, and all those live-action adaptations started taking off. So now you can do it all in live-action, because of technology, because it's CG.
So I don't limit myself at all, actually, because I figure, if they can't figure it out -- it happened on The Lion King. I had written that Mufasa gets killed in a river of wildebeests, because I had done a lot of research on wildebeests, and they just trample everything in their path. And I thought, "Wow, that'd be so cool to kill him that way." [Laughs] You know, "We're not going to throw him off a cliff. That's been done." So I thought, "Wow" -- and it's authentic, you know? But they didn't think they could draw that many wildebeests. So I said, "Sure you can! Get out your computers. You did it with that ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast." So they did!
Image still from The Lion King
IGN: That's amazing! And to your point, the technology is advancing all the time. At this point, Disney can do pretty much whatever they want now, visually.
Woolverton: Right, exactly! And it looks better and better, and, you know, 3D didn't exist prior to this -- I mean, all that. But again, I don't write for the medium. I write... Here's the medium I write for -- I write for feature films. So, I think in terms of a feature film. [Laughs] However you want to depict it, however you want to create that, that's cool. But I'm going to write you this story, and I'm going to tell you the vision that I see in my head.
IGN: So, between the Alice movies and Maleficent and Cinderella and now Beauty and the Beast, it seems like Disney is kind of entering a new renaissance of live-action adaptations -- specifically with Disney Princesses. I wonder, what are your thoughts on that trend and what it means for a new generation of girls to get their own versions of these strong female heroes to look up to?
Woolverton: I think it's great. I think it's fantastic. Also, none of them are just copied. There are, I believe, adjustments. Like Cinderella, there was an adjustment, you know? It didn't feel like a throwback. So I think it's really important that, when they adapt these movies, they at least make a nod to the fact that we as women now look at the world differently than we did then.
IGN: Mhm. It seems too like they've started -- like in your movies, and The Jungle Book comes to mind -- they've started revving up the emotional impact of the character arcs, and started driving home what was maybe only hinted at in some of the animated versions.
Women and girls react differently and do things differently than male characters.
Woolverton: Yes, absolutely. And I really don't think that, you know, to take out a male protagonist and plug in a female in his place -- like, "Okay, now we're making a female protagonist movie." I just don't think that's the way to do it, because women and girls react differently and do things differently than male characters. So, Disney doesn't do that. They make it true to the character, not so much just like, "Well, we'll have an action hero now. We'll put a girl in his place."
IGN: You mentioned that you approach them in the exact same way, but is there a Disney animated movie that you think would make a good live-action film or one that you would like to see adapted?
Woolverton: I think they're doing them all! I think they are. Honestly, for me, I want to make new stuff up. Like, okay, do all that. That's great, fantastic, good for you. But there are still great ideas out there, and incredible minds that come up with things. You know, let's do that!
IGN: Is there maybe another fairytale that you would like to explore, or an idea or time period that you think would be a good fit for Disney?
Woolverton: Well, there's not a fairytale I haven't looked at. There are periods of the world -- certainly, the beginning of time, which I attempted with The Clan of the Cave Bear. That's still fascinating to me. Also, there are great stories in literature that haven't been touched yet.
IGN: Circling back Alice Through the Looking Glass, what do you think it is about that heroine that really stands out from other female characters like Belle or Maleficent or Mulan? What makes that character unique?
Woolverton: That's a really interesting question. She never questions herself. In this one, she doesn't question herself. She just goes out and does. She doesn't sit around and think about it too much. She actually steals the thing that drives Time. She doesn't ponder, "Hmm, what's going to happen if I do this." She just does it out of trying to save her friend. So that's what I like about her character in this one, is that she goes and affects the world without too much thinking about it.
IGN: Over the years, you've written for countless Disney characters. Do you have one that you're particularly attached to, be it Belle, Maleficent or Alice?
Woolverton: You know, Belle is my firstborn child, so absolutely -- she's like my arm, you know? But I really love Maleficent. I just love the danger of her.
Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter and MaxNicholson on IGN.
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