Helena Bonham Carter: California Dreaming

"Somebody told me they saw you years ago on Miami Vice playing Don Johnson's drug-addicted girlfriend."

"They called and asked if I would do it," Bonham Carter says with a shrug, "and I said 'Sure.' It was the hippest show in America, so I thought, why not?"

"And then you played Ophelia to Mel Gibson's Hamlet--"

"I have a big problem with Ophelia. I think she's the most unoriginal part, and then she suddenly goes mad. But it's easier, I think, to do Ophelia in the movies than on the stage, because you can have those moments where the camera stays on her and the audience can see what's going on. This version of Hamlet was sort of the Reader's Digest version. But Mel is fantastic. When I worked with him, he was considered the sexiest man alive. But he's such a joker and so relaxed that he makes you forget all about that."

"I can't really talk to you about Frankenstein," I say. "There's so much goo in it--it actually made me sick." I won't even go into the business of a naked Robert De Niro flopping around in that goo.

"Yes, there was a lot of goo," agrees Bonham Carter. "I'm not really sure I have much to say about it, either."

"I think people were really surprised to see you in Mighty Aphrodite. You don't seem like a Woody Allen leading lady."

"I always dreamed of working with Woody. I know it's a very unoriginal dream--everyone wants to work with him. I was amazed that I was thought about for the part, because it wasn't exactly one I thought was right for me. It was very blatantly written for an American accent. I arrived for my five-minute interview, and I read my part with an English accent. I did a truly terrible audition, probably my worst, and I walked out thinking I had blown it. A week later they called to say that Woody wanted me. And I said, 'Can I read the whole script before I accept it?' There was silence, because, as I found out later, that never happens--he never lets anyone read the whole thing. They said OK, but that I had to come to New York to read it, which I did, and I decided to play her with an American accent. Social interaction isn't Woody's biggest hobby, but we did quite well, I think."

"And now you've been busy working on The Fight Club in LA.," I say. "How are you doing here?"

"I'll tell you," she says, "I never felt that Hollywood was very welcoming to me. And I wasn't even sure that I wanted it to be. But I'm starting to feel more comfortable here."

"Well, it doesn't hurt that you're working with two of the hottest guys in film for The Fight Club."

"Can you believe it?" Bonham Carter says, as if I'd just exposed a scam. "Brad and Ed are very different. One of them is the Adonis, the other is really interesting looking--you figure out who's who. Ed's very cerebral and Brad's very intuitive. They're both really easy and delightful to work with. Meeting Brad was a surprise, because he is the least affected megastar I've ever seen. He's incredibly straightforward, a remarkably whole human being for the amount of attention he's gotten. He's amazingly well adjusted. And totally unaffected, very un-self-involved. He doesn't seem at all neurotic."

"Which one of them is your character involved with?"

"Both of them..."

"Hmmmm, my kind of girl."

"Exactly. She's a great character. I think of this film as a cross between Harold and Maude and Raging Bull. I'm in the Harold and Maude part. People are either going to love it, or they're going to be really offended by it. I don't think there's going to be much middle ground."

"Is the shoot going smoothly?"

Bonham Carter leans forward into the sun and whispers conspiratorially, "Listen, this movie is going to take almost six months to film. And they put me up at this great hotel, but I'm not in all the scenes so I have an unbelievable amount of time off. They're all working endless hours, but I'm not. Because, to tell you the truth, in this one I play 'the girl.' And you know what? I couldn't be happier."

As we stand up to leave, Bonham Carter starts nudging me with her hip so I'll move toward Howard Stern. "I dare you to go up to him," she says.

I almost run past Stern. Bonham Carter catches up with me outside the restaurant. "Who is that, anyway?" she asks.

My jaw drops. But I'm not about to explain Howard Stern to this Brit. "I still can't believe you didn't say hello to him," she says.

"You don't even know who 'him' is," I point out. "Besides, if you and Ken were having a quiet lunch, would you want me coming over and reminding you that we met today?"

"Yes," she yells. "Of course I would. Please make sure if you ever see me in public that you come over and say 'Hi.'"

Which reminds me that Bonham Carter really hasn't been in Hollywood for very long.

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Martha Frankel interviewed Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the September 98 issue of Movieline.

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