Sabrina Carpenter has already conquered the charts with her shimmering pop anthems and undeniable charisma. With her songs ‘Espresso’ and ‘Please Please Please’ topping charts, she has proved herself as one of the most dynamic pop icons of Gen Z.
However, on her next leap, Carpenter does not merely sing about her heartbreaks; she is throwing herself down the rabbit hole, literally.
Why Sabrina Carpenter’s Next Role Could Be Her Most Daring Yet
Sabrina Carpenter is set to star in and produce a new movie musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for Universal Pictures. The project will be written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, the creative mind behind Hustlers, and produced by Marc Platt, whose name is synonymous with modern musical magic thanks to ‘La La Land’ and ‘Wicked’.
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It is a bold step that seems to fit the whimsical, witty, and emotional diversity of the artist perfectly. To an artist who already reinvented the image of pop stardom in the era of TikTok, this project isn’t just another acting gig; it’s a declaration that Carpenter is ready to reinvent herself yet again. Moreover, Sabrina Carpenter is no new name in acting. She first gained recognition with Disney’s ‘Channel Girl Meets World’ as Maya Hart.
Even then, Carpenter’s abilities hinted at a performer with more range than your average teen star. Her initial acting appearances include ‘Law and Order: SVU’, ‘The Goodwin Games’, and ‘Orange is the New Black’, where she displayed her acting prowess. But Carpenter was not satisfied with being a Disney graduate. She has slowly appeared in several films with different roles. These performances demonstrated her as an artist with the ability to manage emotional complexity, humor, and musicality.
The qualities will come in handy when she enters the fairy tale of surrealism, known as ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The most attractive thing about this project is that it is said to be very personal to her. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carpenter herself pitched the idea to Universal a year ago. She even had a “lookbook” and creative vision for how she wanted to reimagine Wonderland. Just as Alice, Carpenter appears to be following her own inquisitiveness and building new worlds as she visits them.
Why Sabrina’s Version Could Be Unlike Anything That Came Before
‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll was first published in 1865. The book is one of the most timeless stories in literature. It has been retold a thousand times, whether by Disney in 1951 as an animated fairy tale, or Tim Burton in 2001 in a gothic extravagance. However, few have captured both the whimsy and the emotional strangeness that make Carroll’s work so enduring.
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Directed by Lorene Scafaria, who is adept with a sense of humor, heart, and moral ambiguity, this version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ will hopefully be more driven by character and musicality. Carpenter’s involvement as both lead actress and producer suggests the film will reflect her personal artistic sensibilities. She has developed her pop brand by being a storyteller. Her lyrics are witty and emotionally candid, often walking the line between dreamy fantasy and sharp self-awareness. It is easy to translate that to the world of Wonderland.
The casting decision is also keeping up with a bigger Hollywood trend: young multi-hyphenated women redefining the musical genre. Similar to Ariana Grande crossing the boundary between the world of Broadway and pop star with ‘Wicked’, the jump of Carpenter to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is the indication of a new generation of stars who can do it all, sing, act, produce, and make creative decisions.
