October 25, 2001

From Hello Magazine:

HELENA BONHAM CARTER FINDS LOVE WITH 'PLANET OF THE APES' DIRECTOR TIM BURTON

“You’re the first person I thought of to play the chimp” is not one of the world’s best chat-up lines, but it seems to have worked its magic on Helena Bonham Carter. The British actress, best known for playing parts in period dramas, has confirmed that she is stepping out with Tim Burton, the eccentric filmmaker who directed her in Planet Of The Apes.

But the relationship has come at a cost – for Tim’s ex-girlfriend Lisa Marie, that is. The former muse of the director is said to be distraught and furious over the affair, although her spokeswoman confirmed that her client’s ten-year relationship with the Mars Attacks! director was at an end.

Apparently 43-year-old Tim’s affections cooled soon after the film’s first night in Britain, which took place in July. “Tim told Lisa that she didn’t need to go to the London premiere and, since she had some photo shoots, she said okay,” a source has been quoted as saying. A month later, having started to distance himself from his former love, Tim is thought to have called her up to say, “It’s over.”

There are signs that the fur is beginning to fly between the two actresses, both of whom played female apes in Tim’s summer smash. Some have accused Helena of deliberately setting out to snare the director. “Tim was Lisa’s world,” said a friend of Lisa Marie. “They were together for ten years and doesn’t Helena Bonham Carter break everyone up?”

There are, it must be said, similarities between Helena’s relationship with Tim and that with Kenneth Branagh, her previous boyfriend. In 1995, the British actor-director left his wife of six years, Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson, before setting up home with Helena. The two had met in 1993, when Kenneth was directing her in Mary Shelley’s Frankensteain, but their love had been a slow-burner, and it was not until they were promoting the film that they got it together.

But the Fight Club star’s representative nixed the suggestion from Lisa Marie’s camp immediately. “How could Helena have had an affair (during the filming)?,” said Melody Korenbrot. “She was in latex from head to toe.”