Zanuck

"There is something real, honest and sincere about her," Zanuck says.

First look: What a weird 'Wonderland' Burton's made 2009

"It has been Burton-ized" is how producer Richard Zanuck describes the director's vision of the Lewis Carroll classic.

First look: What a weird 'Wonderland' Burton's made 2009

A depression-era picture, Zanuck told the Hollywood Reporter in 1932, needed "the punch and smash" of "a headline on the front page of any successful metropolitan daily" to lure impoverished jazz-age audiences into seats.

The Storm Before the Calm Bruce Bennett 2011

"We finished shooting in December after only 40 days," Zanuck says.

First look: What a weird 'Wonderland' Burton's made 2009

And yet, despite Zanuck's ballyhoo, behind the scenes Hollywood's compliance with the wishes of New York censors was swift and nearly universal.

The Storm Before the Calm Bruce Bennett 2011

Zanuck characterized the early-'30s move toward prurience as a crusade of its own.

The Storm Before the Calm Bruce Bennett 2011

When it comes to watching, "I like when something goes wrong," says Lili Fini Zanuck, who produced the Oscars in 2000.

Oscars 2011 preview: What will viewers be talking about? 2011

Zanuck's labor of love it was an endless and overproduced spectacle with an idealistic political agenda which ignored the President's uglier racism.

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"The biggest part of that show is who you have to host," says Lili Zanuck.

Oscars 2011 preview: What will viewers be talking about? 2011

There is the usual Burton-esque ghoulishness (Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen, whose favorite retort is "Off with their heads," has a moat filled with bobbing noggins), but Zanuck assures most kids can handle it.

First look: What a weird 'Wonderland' Burton's made 2009