by Paul Fischer
Helena Bonham Carter is
not exactly visible in a current pair of film releases,
yet she's
at the Toronto Film
Festival
to promote both:
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and the new Wallace and
Grommit film.
Always fun to talk to, in Toronto she cheerfully discussed
the benefits of sleeping with a director -- Burton is her better half
-- not that that will necessarily guarantee a role in said better
half's
film . . .
CrankyCritic: Do you use different
acting muscles for animated films like Tim Burton's Corpse
Bride and Wallace and Grommit? What
is
your
attraction
to doing
them?
Helena Bonham Carter: Animation films. Well, I will just sort
of preface this with the fact that I started - and this just tells
you how long, an indication as to how long they take these things - when
I was pregnant with (son) Billy so I was sort of
inappropriate for any kind of other part where they'd see my body.
That's why suddenly I sort of started getting stop-motion animations.
There were only two stop-motion features going on and I got parts in
both of
them. Having said that, I had to audition. But, you said different
acting muscles; The way I approached them
was exactly the same approach that I would use to real life - or
whatever normal movies are called. I
analyzed the characters, did choices and everything and just went. I
even learned the lines. It wasn't because I was so starved of
any acting opportunities because I was pregnant that I just really went
full
overboard with it - but I find it easier to learn my lines rather
than read them. You have to be as committed and act as much as you
would even though you're not actually being filmed. You still
have to act basically. You can't phone it in.
CrankyCritic: You've been in Tim's
last four films, I believe. How does that work in terms of your relationship?
Is it just an agreement now that you will participate in his films - or
do you think that you're able
to bring something to a project that happens to be a Tim Burton movie?
Bonham Carter: Well,
I hope so. Yeah. I hope that just because I sleep with a guy he gives
me a part. But you know what - actually it's
quite the opposite - because I sleep with him he asked me to audition,
you know, so it obviously doesn't work for me.
CrankyCritic: So when did Corpse Bride come around to you?
Bonham Carter: Well, first of all he
gave it to me to read I think just because I'm a friend obviously
(laughter) and
I made a child with him - so he just wanted me
to read it, just to see what I thought. I did think
it was really moving and, actually, a brilliant
script because - and that's the thing with animated films - I
often feel that puppets get the better parts, compared to us normal
actresses. He wanted me to play Victoria and I was kind of like, hmm,
because it was sort of another period
drama ingénue - the kind
I did to death. . . (laughter). I
felt like I was going to be
type cast as a puppet as well, so, he said 'Well, who do
you want to play?' and I said 'Well, the corpse bride. He went away and
thought about it. He came back and said, "You know what, I've been
thinking about it and finally I said - 'You want me to audition,
don't you?' and he said 'Yeah.' (laughter) So I did my little audition.
Two weeks later he finally came up to me very solemnly into my house. . . we
have the same house, it's just a weird house with my bed and then
his bed. . . (laughter) And, he came in - it was kind of like
a sweet marriage proposal, you know - "we would be very honoured
if you would consider playing the role of the Corpse Bride".
CrankyCritic: Do you like the idea of
working with a director more than once and the opportunity to get to
revisit some things or yell at them on areas you didn't get to?
And what do you see as the difference between the comedy and the drama -
Bonham Carter: Oh. . . I definitely like working with the
same person twice - and three times and four times - particularly
if they're Tim, because he's pretty good. And, ah. . . and
also. . . like on a film, it takes a few months, or a couple of months
or even weeks, so by the end of the. . . and it goes with not only
the director but everybody involved, it takes such a long time just
to get to know somebody and trust someone and work out how they communicate
and what they want and feel safe with them. So then you have to start
all - it's you have to start right back at the beginning
with a new job, you know what I mean. So why does Johnny and Tim work
and Danny and the whole lot of us seem to be just a bit too bordering
the incestuous - it's like, oh, god, it's the same
shebang again. But, for all of them I mean it feels like you're
never going to able to repeat yourself because everybody wants something
different and you all grow together and evolve together and they all
feel safe together - plus it's fun. and you get to see
each other; that shouldn't be taken, lightly. . . I'm
glad I was in Charlie and in Corpse Bride - apart from personal
reasons - the parts themselves, I don't think I'd
ever do anything, and Tim would never ask me to do anything - he'd
never ask me if it was inappropriate, you know.
CrankyCritic: Helena, you've got
a real ability to make things sexy that aren't necessarily at first
glance sexy - like the monkey in Planet of the Apes and
now a corpse. How do you approach a role like that?
Bonham Carter: it's just the same with any part, you
try and find the human aspect in it. . . but it's just a part
of you, you know. I mean, the ape. . . I went to ape school, that's
what I loved about it. With Corpse, you know - what I loved about
playing the corpse is that obviously, somebody else got to do the physical
part. It appeals to the part of me that likes playing character parts,
and getting the chance to get around from own physicality. but you
still have to make it real and human and, just find that. . .
CrankyCritic: Now as far as humour is
concerned versus doing the dramatic roles, like what the differences - and
how you prepare mentally?
Bonham Carter: I don't think you do... you certainly
don't want to be conscious of, the comedy. You can't. . . you
just have to play everything as truthful as possible and then it might
come out funny. But a lot of it has to come from the text - if
it ain't funny on the page, it ain't gonna be funny.
CrankyCritic: Do you have any insight
into what makes Tim think of these kind of dark stories?
Bonham Carter: You know I argue that, and may be that I've
lived with him too long, but I wouldn't say it's that dark,
you know. I mean, it's about death but actually it's an
immensely hopeful, outlook. Because, all the. . . the people in the
land of the dead have the great. . . they're colourful, they're
having fun. And the end is very poetic and hopeful and beautiful. He's
got a black sense of humour and a non-politically correct sense of
humour. But put it this way - I'm just so glad he gets
it out of his system, because sometimes I look at his little notepad
and he just jots around - and sketches incessantly.
CrankyCritic: What do you think
of the film's theme of love surviving death?
Bonham Carter: Oh, I'm sure that's true. I mean
I hope that's true. I don't think it's that dark - it's
a terribly romantic notion that we're going to meet the people
that we miss and the people that have gone before us, after. That
I dearly hope would be true, you know.