The Oscar-nominated 1996 role Helena Bonham Carter turned down because the director was “a weirdo”
Helena Bonham Carter has always been known for being a little eccentric, both on and off screen, and her frequent collaborations with Tim Burton, from Corpse Bride to Alice in Wonderland, have certainly cemented her place in Hollywood as a unique character, as has her recognisable street style. She essentially seems to dress like a kooky movie character, whether there’s a camera rolling or not.
Despite her penchant for things a little off-kilter, Bonham-Carter has turned down the chance to work with one of cinema’s most eccentric filmmakers, finding him to be a “weirdo”. You have to go with your gut, and when the actor met with Lars von Trier, she knew that she wasn’t going to make a film with him. They just weren’t going to connect.
The Danish director hadn’t really broken through into mainstream consciousness before he made Breaking the Waves, which landed Emily Watson an Oscar nomination, having only made a few movies, like Europa, and the first season of The Kingdom. Breaking the Waves would be his first time working with a British actor, and it was Bonham Carter he was initially interested in to star in the psychological drama.
Breaking the Waves follows a devoutly religious Scottish woman named Bess as she marries an oil rig worker, only for him to return home severely injured, unable to satisfy the pair’s sexual urges, and rather surprisingly, he encourages her to sleep with other men, even asking her to tell him about her encounters.
It’s a tragic tale of sex, religion, violence, and the intertwining of extreme devotion, and it earned acclaim from critics – Von Trier quickly became a heralded new filmmaker, recognised way beyond his native Denmark.
The role of Bess could’ve been played by Bonham Carter if she hadn’t found von Trier strange, but it seems like she was right to trust her instincts, because the filmmaker has found himself in various controversies since – most notably, he was accused of sexual harassment by Björk, whom he directed in Dancer in the Dark, although he has denied these claims.
Then there was the time that he jokingly claimed to “understand Hitler”, taking his joke a little too far, while the graphic sex and violence that defines much of his work has also left people shaking a fist at von Trier. He certainly is one of cinema’s most divisive figures.
“There has to be a chemistry between you and a director,” she told the Guardian. “And Lars von Trier struck me as a bit of a weirdo. I got a weird vibe off him, so it was never going to work. You have to be able to trust people, or what’s the point in spending time in their company?”
Bonham Carter doesn’t regret turning down the role, even if the movie did become a 1990s classic that earned Watson an Oscar nomination. The actor would instead go on to earn a ‘Best Actress’ Academy Award nomination just a few years later for The Wings of a Dove, while steering clear of von Trier ever since.
