Avril Lavigne's 'Alice In Wonderland' Video Is 'Haunting,' Director Says

Avril Lavigne in "Alice"
Photo: Disney

Avril Lavigne seems to have left her pink rock roots behind for her "Alice" video, instead exploring a more haunting and gothic world through the rabbit hole. And the video's director, Dave Meyers, says that video beautifully complements Lavigne's contribution to the "Alice in Wonderland" soundtrack.

The video shot for two days at the end of January in Los Angeles' Arboretum. And the singer and director didn't allow local rainstorms stop them from weaving together the dreamy concept. "[Avril and I] kind of discussed a version of what we ended up shooting," he said about the video's concept. "She saw herself running during the choruses. She saw herself at a piano. She was proud of her musical contribution to the song. And I sort of played with the texture. I built the hole and told her it would be cool to have her at the bottom of the hole. It was two artists vibing."

And while "Alice in Wonderland" director Tim Burton wasn't involved with the video concept-wise, Meyers took the song's ethereal feel and embraced it for the video's vibe. "I thought it was like, honestly, Tim Burton in music form. I didn't expect it from Avril. I just really enjoyed the haunting quality of the song and just wanted to capture that in video form. In a lot of ways, what I wanted to do was a perfume ad in a goth way with enough of a story so that it's not a bunch of randomness. And it made this surreal look that was fashiony but goth."

The duo weren't able to see the movie prior to shooting, so they had to use their imaginations for the video's concept. They decided to create an "Avril" in Wonderland that included "a couple nods to the film." Meyers added, "So there were certain touch points in general. We kind of wanted to make a haunting piece that represented goth and Alice. ... It's a fun world.

"Tim Burton keeps it pretty secretive. I just saw the film yesterday though. I got to see it after the [video was made]. That was my reward for a job well done. ... Everybody was just excited [about the project], starting with Tim Burton. He loved the song and ended up loving the video. [And] I did enjoy [the film]. I thought it was wonderfully visual. It was very fashionable. It was funny. I'm a huge Tim Burton fan, so I was satisfied. It's a more interesting take than the actual book. I think it's a little more fun and has a little more edginess to it, and Alice is a little bit more of a heroine."

Check out everything we've got on "Alice in Wonderland."

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