Quotes By Helena Bonham Carter

I'm always attracted to lower budget, not because it's lower budget, but because they tend to be better scripts.

I was reading William Shawcross's biography of the Queen Mother, dressed in my witch outfit! And you know what? It was a really good mix; it was a therapeutic mix.

You can't ever put your self-definition in the hands of somebody who meets you for 15 minutes.

I love changing what I look like because I always feel super strange whenever I do watch something that I'm in.

A film actor is just a victim of directors and editors.

I'm not dead and I don't have blue hair but some people say there are similarities. It is usually intolerable to watch myself onscreen but this time it's fine. I think it's beautiful and a real work of art.

I hate this image of me as a prim Edwardian. I want to shock everyone.

I remember I did think, 'Wouldn't it be nice if Mr. Right moved in next door?'

Multitasking? I can't even do two things at once. I can't even do one thing at once.

I have to struggle to change people's perceptions of me. I grew very frustrated with the perception that I'm this shy, retiring, inhibited aristocratic creature when I'm absolutely not like that at all. I think I'm much more outgoing and exuberant than my image.

Tim also has enough confidence so that it always looks like a Tim Burton film, but it really is collaborative. You're allowed to do it your way but of course he's always going to choose his way.

I think I've still got a bit of a sado-masochistic streak in me, because if I'm not going to be restricted by corsets and covered in lace, then I still wind up wearing an ape-mask over my face. I do wonder how I get myself in these situations!

The animators are absolutely extraordinary. It's mind-boggling.

My father fell really chronically ill when I was 13 and that's when I phoned up an agent and started to act.

Because I sleep with him he asked me to audition, you know?

It's different when you're an actor and playing a part, but when it's just you, you feel immensely vulnerable have strangers prodding and prying.

I'm the kind of actor who has ventured into escaping from me.

She looks like a warrior. I mean, Bellatrix does mean warrior. And she's also a bit of a fatale. She's the right hand of Voldemort, and the only woman death eater.

When you write for very young children what they want is something familiar and safe and stereotyped.

You can actually have a pitch button, you know, to get people on pitch.

J.K. Rowling said Bellatrix's role was going to be significant in the last one, when I showed some reluctance in playing a tiny bit part. Up front, they said, 'You're very significant in the last one.' But significant could mean a lot of things. That could just mean a significant plot point. Doesn't necessarily equal big part.

People say, 'You're still breast-feeding, that's so generous.' Generous, no! It gives me boobs and it takes my thighs away! It's sort of like natural liposuction. I'd carry on breast-feeding for the rest of my life if I could.

It was weird because I was pregnant, throughout that so it was weird being a pregnant witch. I was in a really bad mood but luckily, because I sleep with the director, he just sort of scheduled me so I only had to do it two nights.

What I loved about playing the corpse is that obviously somebody else got to do the physical part. It appeals to the part of me that likes playing character parts and getting the chance to get away from my own physicality.

I just went and got an agent because I thought I can create my own world - you can't right your own life, but you can escape to a world where you can have control.

If you're a queen, you're powerless, so I'd probably demote myself and go shopping.

I drink booze, I smoke, and I'm hooked on caffeine. I actually have been known to swear at times and belch and even raise my voice when provoked. And I'm not physically repressed!

It's easy for me to go back to being a kid. You know how kids can be like savages before they get civilized? There's that sadist quality. Y'know, like boys who like to pick apart an insect for the sake of it.

I loved doing all those costume dramas. I didn't think, 'Ooh I've got to avoid being typecast' - you can't ever be dictated to by what other people think. I just do things because I fancy the parts and the directors.

No matter how many modern parts I do, people still refer to me as Mrs. Costume Drama. Fight Club is a studio pic, and I've done very few of those. I've got a feeling it's going to change things for me.