Helena Carter on playing Bellatrix in Harry Potter as therapy
Helena Carter talks about playing Bellatrix Lestrange.
Yeah, I didn't really leave myself anywhere to go but somehow I had to top what I did on I think the first one. She's sort of without limits. But it's part of the reason why she's so fun to play.
She's been a really good therapy. You know, to do. Because I scream a lot. She's both physical. She's very expressed, you know. It's a big character to play that's totally unsubtle. I'll never get that kind of full body workout screaming therapy thing on any other part on film at least. Maybe on stage. But just like her. She takes energy though, you know. She's quite exhausting. Because she's always full on. You can't really do it half masted. You can't phone her in.
I'll only be taking my teeth. Don't tell the powers that. But I will take them. They weren't for anybody else's mouth. And the hair blob, my costume. And I loved all my props. I loved working with Jenny. The costume person. It was a real collaboration. And I loved everyone actually on this film. And it's very rare, like, you know. Our profession is so ephemeral. The whole thing is ephemeral and most productions don't really last. The longest would be around 14 weeks, or 12 weeks. So to get the stability and the predictability, which I love, of this production. This will just never come again. It's very unstressed. It's brilliantly run. Like on a communication level. You always know what's gonna happen.
