ANNE HATHAWAY turned down the title role in TIM BURTON's new ALICE IN WONDERLAND movie - because she was fed up with playing a "pretty girl in a fairy dress."
The actress was asked to star as Alice in the upcoming fantasy film but opted instead to play the White Queen - because she had previously played a pretty protagonist in The Princess Diaries movies which launched her career.
The role of Alice eventually went to Australian newcomer Mia Wasikowska, but Hathaway has no regrets about her decision.
She tells Britain's GQ magazine, "The studio had the Alice script a long time ago and I was approached back then for the part of Alice. I considered it, but felt, what with The Princess Diaries, that I had been there, done that sort of pretty-girl-in-a-fairy-dress role. I told the studio, however, that if they found a director eventually, that I would be interested at a later date in playing the White Queen.
"When Tim came on board he had the cast he wanted and, of course, that didn't include me. But the other actress who was marked had scheduling conflicts, so the studio piped up and put me forward. I talked on the phone with Tim and he really liked my take. I wanted the Queen to be a cross between Debbie Harry, Greta Garbo, David Bowie, with (a) little bit of the work of Dan Flavin thrown in for good measure."
And the 27 year old is confident cinema-goers will love Burton's interpretation of the Lewis Carroll classic, adding, "I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to tell you but no one's given me my marching orders as yet. It's not exactly Alice in Wonderland, nor Through The Looking Glass. Tim has Alice come back to Wonderland - but ten years later."
