It’s been half a year since Tim Burton signed a dotted line with Disney to recreate his classic Frankenweenie and a new, live-action version of Alice in Wonderland. I’ve been a little surprised at the lack of movement on the projects, although to be fair Burton had Sweeny Todd to promote for the late part of last year.

Rumor has it that Burton’s Alice has been cast, although this is about as rumored as you get on the Internet. Frankly, I feel a little dirty even reporting this, since it’s one of those anonymous “my brother’s cousin’s sister says” kind of tidbits. Still, it’s been a slow news weekend thanks to the holiday, so here goes.

A guest on the forums of Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland site, a site devoted to the appreciation of Lewis Carroll’s works, reports that Alice has been cast. According to the poster, “Lexie,” her brother is a music supervisor for the movie and says we can expect a press release on July 9th announcing that 23 year old Ryan Nikole Parker will be leading the film. This news seems to be confirmed by several other forum members, all of which appear to have some Hollywood connection.

So who is Ryan Nikole Parker? Well, a quick glimpse at her IMDb slate shows her biggest credit to date is American Idol. That’s right, this potential Alice was a 2005 contestant who made it to the Hollywood rounds. She also was in a few episodes of soap-opera One Life To Live. Oddly (or typically, this is Hollywood after all), her resume lists several roles not announced on her filmography, including Degrassi: The Next Generation and D.J. Caruso’s Secrets.

Again, the source on this is a little sketchy, but if they’re right we’ll have verification in just a few days - something you typically don’t get from random sources. I guess we’ll wait and see.