A largely unknown Australian actress has snagged what might wind up being the role of a lifetime. The Hollywood Reporter writes today that Mia Wasikowska has been cast as the title character in Tim Burton's spin on Alice in Wonderland. The movie will be filmed in a combination of live-action and motion-capture animation, and given Burton's inventive style, there's no telling exactly what it will look like. Oh, and it will be presented in 3D, which means Burton will be crawling inside your eyeballs for a few hours. Sounds like fun!

The 18-year-old actress can be seen on the HBO series In Treatment, in which she plays a young gymnast struggling with an injury. She'll also be seen with Daniel Craig in this fall's Defiance, and has a part in the Hilary Swank Amelia Earhart biopic Amelia. Though Wasikowska his aready building her movie resume, I'd say this Alice casting definitely counts as a big break.