Queen OF ALL ROLES
Helena Bonham Carter’s red-headed villain rises again in Alice Through the Looking Glass
Helena Bonham Carter can be cheeky when the moment suits her. For example, ask her about her acting range and she’s downright self-deprecating.
“Yes, I’ve been a Red Queen and then the Queen Mother and the Red Queen again,” the 50-year-old says from Los Angeles during an exclusive Canadian interview with Postmedia News.
Bonham Carter has managed a few other things in between her 2010 Red Queen role in Alice in Wonderland and Queen Elizabeth II’s determined Queen Mother in the Oscar-honoured The King’s Speech, and then the Red Queen again in the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Certainly, Harry Potter film fans remember she plays witch Bellatrix Lestrange in the popular franchise. She portrays Elizabeth Taylor in the TV biopic Burton and Taylor and the British actress had fun as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, among other performances.
Returning to play the Red Queen was an easy decision for many reasons — but what especially attracted her was revamping the story based on Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. “I could show a progression and explain how the Red Queen survives an exile,” Bonham Carter says. “And so much of the film is the explanation of why she has such a big head.”
Back for another trip are Mia Wasikowska’s Alice, Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway’s White Queen and Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
New is Sacha Baron Cohen’s Time, a half-clock/half-human entity that allows for some nifty time travel, and a few explanations defining the fantasy world situations and circumstances.
“You also get to find out why the Red Queen is such a bully,” Bonham Carter says.
Another plus was the reunion with the distinctive cast. “It’s always great to work with people at the top of their game,” she says, “because you are only as good as the people that surround you.”
Leading the way as director is James Bobin, who replaces Bonham Carter’s former significant other Tim Burton, listed as a producer on Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Bobin worked as a writer and director with Cohen on Da Ali G Show, and co-created Flight of the Conchords with Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. He also directed The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted films.
“He’s such a gentleman,” Bonham Carter says of Bobin. “And he’s very enthusiastic about what he does, and there’s a perfectionist quality about him.
“I felt very safe with him on set. He had a real grace and was marshalling up the forces well. And that’s comforting, especially because he has lots of experience in comedy.”
The director also encouraged his cast to improvise some of their dialogue.
“Yeah, sometimes we would do it off the cuff,” Bonham Carter says. “It makes things feel fresh. And then you do it 10,000 times and try to keep it that way.”
And while the makeup and the costumes helped the actress get back in character, she was reminded of “the energy it takes” to play the Red Queen.
Add the studio lights and the steamy heat, “and sometimes, you feel like you’re doing hot yoga,” she says.
Then there’s the collateral damage of immersing yourself in a role that’s so overwhelmingly unique.
“I have to be very real and it’s very extensive, but it’s important for me to stay in the moment because everything is so artificial,” Bonham Carter says.
“Red Queen is always deliberating and she has no edit button. And, inevitably, you do take the character home with you. I think people did notice that I was being quite abrupt.”