Spotlight On: Helena Bonham Carter

This week's spotlight is on one of my favorite actresses, Miss Helena Bonham Carter. She is both extremely talented and beautiful, and I love the fact that she can play both an English Rose and an insane person. I haven't come close to seeing her entire filmography, but these are some of my favorite performances from what films of hers I have seen.

Room With A View

Helena's portrayal of Lucy Honeychurch in this film was one of her earliest film roles as well as her first starring role. She plays a young girl who is engaged to marry a rich man, even though she is in love with another. (Yet another Heathcliff/ Cathy/ Edgar love triangle.) I first saw this movie about a year ago and I almost didn't recognize Helena, she is so young in this film. This is the first of her many English Rose roles, and definitely one of her best.




Frankenstein

I love the story of Frankenstein, so I was really pleased to see that Helena portrayed Elizabeth in the 1994 film version. They do something really interesting in this adaption, and that is that instead of Victor making a bride for the monster, he reanimates Elizabeth after the monster kills her. Thats not at all how it happens in the novel, but I still thought that it was a neat choice. And I love how Helena still looks really pretty without hair and covered in stitches. You can find a clip from the film HERE

Fight Club

I love love love her in this movie! She just plays this totally crazy, disfuntional, messed up woman, and she is absolutely amazing! I honestly can't see anyone else playing Marla Singer. I mean when she walks on screen and says "this is cancer, right?" she just hooks you!



Planet of the Apes

I just love her in this movie because she is in full ape make-up, so for the longest time I had no idea that it was her. She plays the ape that sympathizes with the humans and tries to help them out. This is also the first movie she did with Tim Burton

Big Fish

No matter what accent she is speaking with, she always sounds so charming and refined. In this film she has a southern accent, which she pulls of beautifully. I love her so much in this movie because she plays both a young pretty girl and an old witch that shows you your future. It is just further proof of her versatility.



Conversations with Other Women

I randomly chose this movie to watch one day when I was scrolling through the different choices on Netflix movie viewer. At first I just thought that it was just a cute movie, but then I found myself watching it whenever I was bored. Now I own this movie. It is just filled with great dialogue spoken by both Helena and her costar Aaron Eckhart, who she has great chemistry with. I thought that the split screen thing would get annoying after a while, but I guess I got used to it.




Harry Potter

I've never been a big Harry Potter fan, but I love Helena as Bellatrix Lestrange. I have only read the first three books, so I have no idea if she is anything like the character in the book, but I just love it when Helena gets to be batshit crazy.




Sweeney Todd

Helena gets a chance to sing in this movie, where she plays Mrs. Lovett, the pie-maker who makes meat pies out of the people that Sweeney Todd kills. She doesn't have the best voice in the world, but she does do a decent job. She sings in my two favorite songs in the movie, and here is one of them. (The other one is Little Priest.)




Alice in Wonderland

Her performance of The Red Queen was a bit over-the-top, but I think that it suit the movie perfectly. It makes me smile everytime I watch the part where she yells, "IDIOT!"

The King's Speech

It came as no surprise to me when I read that Helena Bonham Carter recieved an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in this film. This is the kind of role that she is perfect at. I loved her in the scene when she goes to Geoffrey Rush's office for the first time.

Upcoming Projects: She is going to be in the last installment of the Harry Potter series which comes out sometime this year, and she is going to be in another Tim Burton film titled Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Eva Green.