Given the celebrity times that we live in, it's telling that Mia Wasikowska isn't particularly bothered by the Alice In Wonderland circus going on around her today.
We're at the Renaissance Hotel on Highland and Hollywood Blvd, and outside, Disney are pulling out all the stops to make sure the world and his sister knows all about their $250m adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel.
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Look out the window, and you can see the outdoor concert featuring a slew of the Goth Lite no-hopers that feature on the film's accompanying soundtrack, 'Almost Alice'. Look over the stage's shoulder, and you can see the Disney-owned El Capitan cinema is lit up like a Christmas tree for the world premiere of Alice In Wonderland later that evening.
Across the hall, director Tim Burton and his Tyler Durden, Johnny Depp (who plays, of course, The Mad Hatter), are holding forth. Next door, it's Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway, who play rival sisters, Iracebeth and Mirana - aka The Red Queen and The White Queen respectively. Two doors up, it's Little Britain's Matt Lucas (playing the Tweedle twins) and Michael Sheen (providing the voice for The White Rabbit).
None of which seems to impress the 20-year old New Zealander sitting in front of me. Maybe it's because she's a New Zealander, a people not known for their whooping and hollering. Or perhaps it has something to do with having only just started out in this business. Either way, Mia Wasikowska is incredibly calm for a young woman whose face is on just about every billboard in LA this weekend. And, no doubt, in just about every other major cities around the world too.
PAUL BYRNE: With this movie, you're not so much stepping into Wonderland as Burtonland, and the fact that it's about 90% green screen, and certainly 90% nuts, must have made it tough for you to find your feet?
MIA WASIKOWSKA: Yeah, it was like filming in a void. It's unusual to be in this green screen environment, and you certainly have to draw a lot more energy from kinda nowhere. But, yeah, it's fun.
Tim finally settled on your fine self for the role of Alice because, he said, "She's got that old soul quality". Fair comment?
I guess so. I think what Alice has is, she's this observer, and she's got a lot going on, inside of her head. And also, she feels a bit, eh... She doesn't feel like she belongs in the times that she's in.
Do you feel that way about yourself?
Sometimes. I feel that quite a lot of people would feel that way. There's a time in my life, definitely as a teenager, where I felt very, em... Yeah, there's a kind of isolation, but I'm sure a lot of people feel that.
It's funny you mention isolation. You said in one interview that the experience of making Alice was "isolating". Just technically, or emotionally too?
Yeah, kind of both. Alice is an outsider in her own world, and she is kinda, yeah, she is outside of things. But the filming itself, it was dislocated. A lot of the scenes where I'm with another actor were shot in two parts, because, obviously, when I crawling around on Johnny's hat, I can't be doing the scene with him. So, there's a lot of acting to eye lines, and sticky tape, and tennis balls. Whenever we could actually do scenes looking into somebody's eyes, it was really exciting.
Some of the smarter people reading this will recognise you from HBO's In Treatment, in which you played the suicidal gymnast Sophie. Has something like Alice changed the game for you considerably?
Somewhat. Playing Sophie was one of the best experiences I've ever had, and as an actor, that's such a rare role to be given, in a very different way to this one. And I guess this is something that's going to be seen by a lot of people, and for as big as this audience is, as small the audience was for In Treatment, in a way. But yeah, we'll see how it goes...
You've got some very good responses for your work so far, and you've got an untitled Gus Van Sant movie lined up, as well as the lead in yet another adaptation of Bronte's Jane Eyre. Do you feel like Alice right now - you're a long way from Canberra, New Zealand now...?
It's kind of been gradual for me, so, it's not like I've been thrust into it, but when I look at it, it's a completely different world to where I grew up. I didn't have any awareness of filmmaking, or the celebrity culture, as a teenager, and I feel like there's a lot more awareness of that in America - or, at least, in LA. It was something that I really aspired to until I was a teenager.
Finally, you're very talented, attractive and sweet - are you sure you're not Irish?
I don't know [laughs]. I'll look into it.
We do get around, and we like to impregnate wherever we go, so, there's a very strong chance you've got Irish blood. It would explain so much...
[Laughs] I'm going to check that out...
Words - Paul Byrne
ALICE IN WONDERLAND is now showing at Irish cinemas Nationwide