Australian actress Mia Wasikowska is in final negotiations to take a fantastical trip with director Tim Burton, as the star of his new version of “Alice in Wonderland,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Disney and Burton have conducted a long search to find the right actress to play the pivotal part in the big-budget take on Lewis Carroll’s beloved fantasy novel.

According to the trade mag, Burton’s film, which is sure to feature all manner of eye-popping visuals, will blend live-action and performance-capture footage and will be released in Disney Digital 3-D.

Of course, Disney already has created one version of Alice’s adventures: the 1951 animated classic, which is one of the most inventive and colorful of Disney’s golden age of animated features. It will be interesting to see what Burton’s vision will eventually become and how it will compare.

Principal photography on his version is set to begin in November, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Wasikowska, who is 17 or 18, got her start on the Aussie TV series “All Saints” and is a regular on HBO’s “In Treatment.” She next will appear opposite Daniel Craig in Ed Zwick’s war drama “Defiance” She plays a young Amelia Earhart fan in Mira Nair’s biopic “Amelia,” which has two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as the adult Earhart.

I think going with a relative unknown is probably the best bet for the leading role in this movie, as long as she as the acting chops to handle what’s largely a reactionary part. There’s so much that goes on around Alice, you don’t want a big name necessarily competing with the magic you’re trying to make.

But the rumors swirling on the Web indicate that Burton may go with a very familiar big name to play the Mad Hatter: Johnny Depp.

I tend to agree with Colin Boyd’s assessment at GettheBigPicture.net: Depp may be too good to be true. And he may just be the obvious pick since he and Burton have worked together so much.

But if anybody can play a in-the-flesh version of the Mad Hatter, it’s Depp, particularly with Burton at the helm.

This is definitely one of the films that will be interesting to follow as it makes its way to movie screens.

-BAM