The Jameson Empire Awards was graced by the maverick genius that is Tim Burton - along to see his missus Helena Bonham Carter win Best Actress glory for Sweeney Todd - so we took the opportunity to quiz the director on his progress with Alice In Wonderland.

"Way down the rabbit hole" was Burton's status report. "There's a long way to go." Alice In Wonderland is being painted from a typically flamboyant palette with a combination of mo-cap and live-action, but how much CGI will be involved? "I'm not quite sure yet - doing a big budget movie is an organic process and gives the opportunity to experiment. It’s something that was presented to me and I’d never seen really a movie version of [the story] that I like, so I thought I’d just give it a shot."

Burton is the latest filmmaker to join the ranks of 3D-inistas, so expect Alice To Wonderland to deliver plenty of proscenium-busting white rabbits and march hares. "I like the 3-D aspect of it, I think it fits the material very well, and it doesn’t give me a headache like it used to." He hinted that 3D may become something of a fixture in his movies. "I think it’s good for anything. There are other uses than having spears stuck into your face - I think there are more visceral, emotional uses, especially if you use lots of textures." 

Alice In Wonderland is currently filming and springs into our cinemas in April 2010.