Animatronic head of the March Hare from 'Alice in Wonderland'

Model animatronic head of the March Hare from 'Alice in Wonderland', 1999. Created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

This March Hare head, made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, is fully animatronic and worn by an actor. It contains a complicated arrangement of rods and cables which are manipulated to create emotional responses and speech movements in the on-screen ’hare’.

Operators use a remote-control machine behind the camera. Sensors attached to the eyes, nose, lips and other parts of the mechanical creature respond to electronic signals from the control panel. The animatronic creature responds to these signals in real time, the moment the signal is transmitted, allowing the animatronic movements to link in with the movements of the actor.

Alice in Wonderland is a made for TV movie from 1999 directed by Nick Willing and featuring Tina Majorino as Alice. The supporting cast includes Whoopi Goldberg, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Kingsley, Martin Short and Miranda Richardson.