Revisionist Take On Alice In Wonderland's Creation Lands Ever-Busy Seth Gordon As Director

Am I the only one who still likes to enjoy stories for the sake of the story? Though it’s not a new fad, Hollywood continues to create films that go into the background of how a great work was created, with the Mary Poppins-centered Saving Mr. Banks as the most recent example. Now audiences can look forward to seeing the events that inspired Lewis Carroll to create Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as OddLot Entertainment has acquired Stephanie Shannon’s Queen of Hearts script, which will one day see Identity Thief’s Seth Gordon as its director. Those hoping for a two-hour movie of Carroll dropping acid while putting a pen to paper will almost certainly be disappointed with the reality of this project.

Queen of Hearts will delve into Carroll’s life, according to Deadline, focusing on a failed relationship that leaves him brokenhearted and apparently in the proper frame of mind to craft an imaginary tale about a size-shifting young girl who chases after a rabbit. Story of my life right there, minus the heartache and eventual worldwide success.

But seriously, this is a concept that worked in Shakespeare in Love, since Shakespeare wrote romances, but doesn’t seem like it’ll have anything to do with the oddities and wordplay that made Alice’s stories so great. In any case, I thought the novel was spawned from stories he told to the children of a friend.

In the plus column, Shannon’s screenplay gained attention by making it to the 2013 Black List of unproduced screenplays, and she won the 2013 Nicholl Fellowship, a high honor for beginning screenwriters. She was as assistant for David McIlvain, who is Gordon’s manager, so that’s probably how Gordon became attached to the project.

Don’t expect this one anytime soon, though, as the director only yesterday signed on for the long-gestating feature adaptation of the extremely successful Uncharted video game series. And that kind of a big budget affair definitely takes precedence over a quirky revisionist biopic. Depending on when Uncharted begins production, there’s a good chance Queen of Hearts will be hitting theaters around the time of James Bobin’s Alice in Wonderland 2, allowing Carroll fans to double up on the legendary author.

Gordon is everywhere these days, as he’s directed a handful of episodes for ABC’s comedy The Goldbergs, and he’ll also be directing the pilot episodes for Jim Gaffigan’s untitled CBS comedy, as well as the Ken Marino/Casey Wilson NBC sitcom Marry Me. Last year, he also attached himself to the strange "maple syrup theft comedy" from Jason Segel, but I’m guessing someone else will get stuck to that one.

How do you guys feel about watching Lewis Carroll get dumped? Tell us in the comments as the croquet game below reaches full swing.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.