Helena Bonham Carter Would Divorce Tim Burton If She Wasn't Cast in $153M Johnny Depp Movie
The actress was so thrilled with the script that she was ready to get the role at any cost.
Helena Bonham Carter was not only Tim Burton's partner, but also his muse. Carter starred in almost all of his movies, and was a perfect fit for his gothic dreamlike style.
One of the most notable collaborations between Carter and Burton was the film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, in which the actress played Mrs. Lovett.
Miss Lovett is a childless widow who has gone slightly mad, not only from grief, but also from her love for Sweeney Todd. She helped the killer dispose of the corpses of the victims and put them in her pies.
In Sweeney Todd, Helena had to sing all by herself, although she had never sung in a movie before.
Many may think that Carter only got cast because she was dating Tim Burton, but she actually auditioned for Sweeney Todd.
It wasn't until Helena saw the script that she realized she wanted the part, at which point Burton told her that she would have to audition like everyone else in order to get it. Needless to say, the actress won over the casting director and got the part she wanted.
But as the actress herself commented, she wanted to play Mrs. Lovett so much that she would have divorced Burton if she had not succeeded:
“I auditioned for my role – although I'd have divorced Tim if I hadn't got it. In fact, we're not even married, but I'd have still divorced him.”
Having appeared in seven of Burton's movies, Helena Bonham Carter is the director's second favorite actress (after Johnny Depp, of course). Carter appeared in nearly all of Burton's films during their partnership between 2001 and 2014.
Helena Bonham Carter starred in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes as Ari, Big Fish as Jenny/The Witch, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as Mrs. Bucket, Corpse Bride as the voice of Emily, Alice in Wonderland as Red Queen and Dark Shadows as Dr. Julia Hoffman.
Source: Irish Examiner