February 7, 2003

From zap2it.com:

TILL HELENA BONHAM CARTER WAKES US - She Discusses Her New Roles

by Vanessa Sibbald

Helena Bonham Carter couldn't sell out, even if her life depended on it -- at least according to her agent.

"My agent said the other day, 'You just don't have a commercial chromosome in your body' and I said, 'No I don't, I really don't,'" she tells Zap2it not sounding the least bit bothered by the fact.

In fact, she says she prefers working on small indie pictures: "Because I find that life tends to be more interesting there than in big ones," she says.

It's not that the British actress hasn't appeared in bigger films, like "Fight Club" and "Planet of the Apes."

"'Fight Club' wasn't really mainstream, I wouldn't say. And 'Apes' I did it because I thought I'd never be able to play an ape again, so there was a perverted reason for it, it really wasn't any kind of strategy. And certainly career-strategy it's useless because what, it was it was setting me up to play apes again, I guess -- 'Ooh get the girl any other ape part,' but apart from that...No, I couldn't say I have much mainstream or commercial instinct or desire, really."

Perhaps part of the reason that 36-year-old Bonham Carter isn't focused on blockbusters has to do with the way she chooses projects, which has little to do with name stars or big paychecks. She was nominated for a best actress Oscar for "Wings of the Dove" in 1997.

"I'm pretty picky when it comes to material," she says. "I'd rather just have a nice life than do something that I don't believe in. I can afford to, at least financially. And there are so few good scripts. And also I believe I'd rather have a good time doing something I really love the writing and it might never come out and never be seen because it's such a small film than do something that I half believe in that's going to end up as huge and mega, you know."

For the moment, she's taking time to talk about another project, "Till Human Voices Wake Us," an Australian films helmed by "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" screenwriter Michael Petroni making his directorial debut. In the film, Bonham Carter plays a stranger rescued by a psychologist (Guy Pearce) who has returned to his hometown to bury his father. While the woman has no long-term memory, it turns out that she may be linked to the doctor's past.

"I remember reading it in bed and was so desperate to do it. It's just so rare and great when you read something and fall in love with it and there's no inherent decision, you just have to do it," she says, describing the story as a "weird hybrid between a love story come ghost story and mystery. It's very emotionally beautiful about grief."

Petroni, who wrote the screenplay, based the story indirectly on his experiences.

"Michael had an uncle who had lost a child, Michael's cousin, and he drowned and he later spent seven years building a boat. The uncle, who was a psychologist, would never admit to the two events being connected. I just found it very, very moving," she says.

Shot during six weeks in 2001, the small budget project was the first time that the actress worked with Pearce, who is best known for his roles in "L.A. Confidential" and "Memento."

"He's really down to earth and ironic and kind of cynical and fun ... and a very good singer," she recalls. "We shared this weird converted chapel in the middle of nowhere in Australia and there was this air vent that we shared in both rooms. So overnight, when we he'd pick up the guitar and play Jeff Buckley songs, they filtered into my room and I'd get this free lullaby."

As we speak, Bonham Carter is in Alabama shooting Tim Burton's "Big Fish," along with Albert Finney, Billy Crudup and Ewan McGregor.

"What I like about it is it's very fantastical and beautifully written at the same time -- but I've only got a little part in it, it's all the boys with the big parts in this film," she says of "Big Fish."

Midway through the project, she'll fly off to England to play Anne Boleyn in a television project opposite Ray Winstone as Henry VIII. The project, which is set in the 16th century, puts Bonham Carter back in the corseted roles she is famous for, including "A Room with a View," "Where Angels Fear to Tread," "Howards End," "The Wings of a Dove" and her very first film, "Lady Jane," which she shot when she was 18.

"I don't mind getting back into whatever costume as long as the writing is good," she says.

"It's getting me back to where I started," she says of the Henry VIII project. "So I thought I'll retire then -- it's a full circle -- and say 'OK that's it.' I started with my hair chopped off and I'll end with my hair chopped off."

"I feel like I've been around for centuries and it's time to retire," she laughs.

But don't worry, Bonham Carter doesn't have plans to retire -- in fact, aside from "Till Human Voices Wake Us," which opens across the country in a limited release on Feb. 21 by Paramount Classics, she has another small film opening in May titled "The Heart of Me" co-starring Olivia Williams and Paul Bettany, in which she plays a woman who has an affair with her older sister's husband.

In the meantime, she is practicing her Alabama accent for "Big Fish" before jetting off to England for the Henry VIII film.

"The only [common] thing is I'm playing a witch in this and Anne Boleyn was accused of being a witch, so it's a common theme," she laughs.