Harry Potter Star Was Not Allowed to Work With Brad Pitt in His Awful Movie By Her Mother
English actress Helena Bonham Carter starred with Brad Pitt in the 1999 cult classic Fight Club. Carter is particularly widely known for starring in numerous period dramas such as Lady Jane, The King’s Speech, A Room with a View, and many others. She embraced the nicknames ‘corset queen’ and ‘English rose’ that she was given for playing early or 20th-century characters.
Although Helena Bonham Carter’s first lead role was as Lady Jane Grey in 1986’s Lady Jane, her breakthrough movie was 1985’s A Room with a View. The latter was filmed after Lady Jane but was released two months prior. While she has won a British Academy Film Award and an International Emmy Award, she has been nominated for several other accolades over the course of her career.
Helena Bonham Carter’s Greatest Achievement Remains Her Role in Harry Potter
Helena Bonham Carter‘s worldwide recognition saw new heights with her role as Bellatrix Lestrange, an evil witch and major antagonist who was the greatest supporter of Dark Lord aka Voldemort. Carter appears in the last four movies of the Harry Potter franchise from Order of the Phoenix (2007) to Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).
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Carter wasn’t the original choice for the role, it was only after Helen McCrory dropped out of the movie due to her pregnancy that the Alice in Wonderland actress was cast as Bellatrix Lestrange. Hilariously, Helena Bonham Carter also found out that she was pregnant during the filming of the sixth film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Helena Bonham Carter Has Brad Pitt to Thank for Her Role in Fight Club
Much like Harry Potter, Bonham Carter wasn’t the first choice for 1999’s Fight Club either. In fact, she was the third choice as director David Fincher had initially considered Courtney Love and Reese Witherspoon for the role of Marla Singer. However, due to different reasons both of these actresses weren’t given the role.
This is when Brad Pitt came to the rescue and recommended Helena Bonham Carter to Fincher. Pitt insisted that the director watch the love scenes at the end of the movie The Wings of the Dove which showcased the phenomenal acting skills of Helena Bonham Carter. It was on the basis of this scene that she was offered the role.
Carter’s Mother Disapproved of Her Doing the Role
Like any other mother in the world, Helena Bonham Carter’s mother was also concerned about what her daughter was getting herself into. Both Fincher and Carter confirmed that the actress’ mother wasn’t a fan of Fight Club‘s script. The Enola Holmes actress said: “Mum put the script outside her bedroom, because it was a pollutant.”
Helena Bonham Carter has admitted that she was influenced by her mother’s distaste of the script. However, once Fincher explained the movie’s message to her, she was onboard and sent the director a huge fax by the end of which she had convinced herself to cast in the movie. Part of the reason she agreed was that she was glad that Brad Pitt and Fincher appreciated her talent instead of focusing on her corset.
Source: Showbiz CheatSheet
