<Li> Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp, The Mad Hatter . Wasikowska said that the characters, "both feel like outsiders and feel alone in their separate worlds, and have a special bond and friendship ." Burton explained that Depp "tried to find a grounding to the character...as opposed to just being mad ." Burton also said that, "In a lot of versions it's a very one - note kind of character and you know (Depp's) goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character ." The orange hair is an allusion to the mercury poisoning suffered by hatters who used mercury to cure felt; Depp believes that the character "was poisoned...and it was coming out through his hair, through his fingernails and eyes". Depp and Burton decided that the Hatter's clothes, skin, hair, personality and accent would change throughout the film to reflect his emotions . In an interview with Depp, the character was paralleled to "a mood ring, (as) his emotions are very close to the surface". The Hatter is "made up of different people and their extreme sides", with a gentle voice much like the character's creator Lewis Carroll reflecting the lighter personality and with a Scottish Glaswegian accent (which Depp modeled after Gregor Fisher's Rab C. Nesbitt character) reflecting a darker, more dangerous personality . Illusionary dancer David "Elsewhere" Bernal doubled for Depp during the "Futterwacken" sequence near the end of the film . </Li> <Li> Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh . When creating the character, screenwriter Linda Woolverton researched how young women were expected to behave in the Victorian era and then made her the opposite . Wasikowska read Carroll's books as a child and re-read them to prepare for her role . She also watched Jan Švankmajer's Alice . She said, "When we were kids, my mum would pop it in the VCR player . We would be disturbed, and wouldn't really understand it, but we couldn't look away because it was too intriguing . So I had kept that feeling about Alice, a kind of haunting feeling ." Although facing pressures to conform to society's expectations, Alice grows into a stronger - willed and empowered heroine who chooses her own path; Independent columnist Liz Hoggard praised Alice as a role model for girls, describing the character as "stubborn, brave, (and) non-girlie". <Ul> <Li> Mairi Ella Challen portrayed Alice as a six - year - old girl . </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Ul> <Li> Mairi Ella Challen portrayed Alice as a six - year - old girl . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Mairi Ella Challen portrayed Alice as a six - year - old girl . </Li>

Who plays young alice in alice in wonderland 2010