Joy Adalia
Did you know that Alice in Wonderland, one of Lewis Carroll’s best works, was based on a real girl named Alice Liddell? The author became close to the then 1o-year-old Alice and her family. Alice reportedly asked him to spin a story while they were on a boat ride which soon led to the creation of Alice and her adventures.
Interestingly, the animated Disney adaptation of the well-loved children’s classic was also based on a real girl: Kathryn Beaumont.
Disney studios wanted to make sure that the movie adaptation of Alice in Wonderland would be as lifelike as possible. They hired actors to act out various scenes which the animators would transform into drawings.
Aged 13, Kathryn was the perfect model for Alice. She wore a full costume at all times and acted out most of the scenes in the movie. Various props were used to achieve the effect they wanted to recreate in the film. Although this was a fully animated movie, elaborate real-life props were created to achieve the best effects.
The Alice in Wonderland set was a simple one because the animators only needed to capture the likeness and movement of the people and some of the props.
Since there were also other characters in the movie, a number of people also joined Kathryn on the set.
After the shots were taken, animators would then draw over the actual pictures and “pencil tests” were created. Because the Alice in the story is widely assumed to be seven years old and Kathryn was 13, animators had to make some changes so the young actress would look younger, The rest of the motions and her appearance remained unaltered.
Check out a pencil test from the movie as shared by Movieclips Extras and explained by Kathryn herself. Kathryn is now a retired actress.
