Helena and her natural approach to acting

In an interview from 2007 with Helena, she mentioned how playing Bellatrix Lestrang in Harry Potter came quite naturally to her as she just had to 'go back to being a kid'. I think this can make it a lot easier for Helena when performing because she can relate quite a lot to her modern characters as she is a tad irrational herself and therefore makes the performance in her films a lot more realistic and believable. 

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20044270_20044274_20046035,00.html

What i am doing so far...

Today I started to look at the practical part of my presentation which was including video clips.
I have an idea of what I want to do, I have downloaded a few Youtube videos with Helena Bonham Carter playing different roles to make into an introduction video along with some pictures so the audience can get a brief view of how Helena's character has managed to change from an 'English Rose' to a 'Gothic Icon'.

I may include some videos throughout the presentation possibly as well depending on what more ideas I can come up with...maybe including a short sample from each film I will talk about.

Helena's dream to be Mrs Lovett

It may seem that Helena Bonham Carter was a more recognisable figure in her early films being the 'english rose' or 'corset queen' but she has gradually changed and twisted that image into a gothic, dark, nutty and mysterious character that she seems to play so frequently and well in the last decade. 

Helena seems to adapt a lot more to the 'gothic icon' femme fatale with her crazy hair and pale skin being one of the many factors of her latest image in films. The reason for this is that she feels comfortable in this skin and from a young age, she has always dreamed of being the evil Mrs Lovett that she has recently played in the musical film 'Sweeney Todd' alongside Johnny Depp.

Here are some handy quotes i have taken out of an interview with Helena a few months back

From The Independent (UK), January 18, 2008

The Sweeney Todd star talks to Nicola Christie

"I had to fight for it," she recalls. "More than for anything else i've done. I've been wanting to play the part since I was 13 - when I first saw the show. Tim said, 'well, you can try, but there's no guarantee you're going to get the part'."

As a young girl growing up in Golders Green, Helena would do her hair like Mrs Lovett and spend time locked in her bedroom going through the score and the lyrics. "I was a strange child," she concedes.

These days, her aristocratic heritage is frequently overlooked in favour of a focus on her eccentric, gothic, dress sense, fierce frankness and wild curls. She's often labelled a witch.

"i love that whole magical world, all the wizards and the witches"

First post!!!

Right so after much thought about who to feature in my film studies project, I narrowed it down to Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Two of these being performers and one being a director who were all known to work together and carried the same expectations, it was hard to choose between the three.

After Miss Ward mentioning how interesting it would be to do Helena Bonham Carter, I decided it would be best as she has many factors to her name to consider and Johnny Depp and Tim Burton would probably be popular choices amongst other students throughout the nation.

I started off trying to look for websites or fansites dedicated to the English actress and immediately found something that was very helpful called www.helena-world.com. With fans I can ask for help and much information on the actress, it was an excellent starting point on my quest to research into the life of the actress and how exactly she became a recognisable auteur.

I will be doing much more research into her, including watching extras on DVDs and reading reviews based mainly on the actress herself.

My hypothesis will be;

From Corset Queen to Gothic Icon - To what extent does Helena Bonham Carter's dark performance shape her films?