She’s played such iconic roles as the wicked Bellatrix Lestrange in the last four Harry Potter films and the delightful but demented Red Queen in Disney’s live-action version of Alice in Wonderland; yet Helena Bonham Carter proved this spring that she has the wherewithal to wield her wand and cast spells for the greater good, too, as the Fairy Godmother in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Cinderella.
Bonham Carter, who wowed critics and delighted fans in her small, but pivotal role as Cinderella’s (Lily James) mystical guide in the worldwide blockbuster hit, gave only one U.S. interview for the film, which just debuted on Disney Blu-ray and DVD, and journalist Tim Lammers conducted it on behalf of D23.
Tim Lammers: Given your past playing evil characters, were you surprised to be asked to play a character with such goodness as the Fairy Godmother?
Helena Bonham Carter: I was surprised not to be asked to be Cinderella, because I’m in some time-warp denial [laughs].
TL: Apart from the iconic title character, the Fairy Godmother is probably the most-talked about character from the classic animated version of Cinderella. Did you feel a bit of pressure to deliver something special?
HBC: It was really flattering and nice to be asked to play the role, but having said that, it was a quite a responsibility, and I was apprehensive about it. My first reaction was, ‘What great fun! This can’t be a losing situation,’ but on close inspection, I got somewhat freaked out. The Fairy Godmother is iconic as an idea—there’s no real image of her apart from the character in the animated version—there isn’t really an obvious image, and I didn’t want to replicate what’s in the film.
TL: And you’re actually playing two versions of the Fairy Godmother—first as the Beggar Lady and then the white-gowned fairy. I still can’t believe it was you masked under that Beggar Lady makeup.
HBC: That was hilarious. I loved doing that, as usual. I just love prosthetics. Sadly, it took me less long to become the character described in the script as ‘1,000 years old’ than it took to become the Fairy Godmother. It took me only four hours to age 1,000 years [laughs]. When the designers approached me and asked me, ‘What do you think you’re going to look like when you’re 80?’ I said, ‘Well, my mom’s around, so they took a face mask of her face. Having said that, mom doesn’t look 80, so they had to add wrinkles on top of the mask. It did look a bit bizarre, and God knows what some psychotherapist would say about me wearing my own mother’s face.
Read more of Helena Bonham Carter’s interview as well as quotes from Director Kenneth Branagh in the gallery below:
