14 h, dec 19, 2020 y - THE TELEGRAPH Helena Bonham Carter Interview I was flummoxed by the Johnny Depp verdict

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Helena Bonham Carter interview: I was 'flummoxed' by the Johnny Depp verdict

The actress on going from The Crown to voicing a clown, and enjoying the 'suspended time' of lockdown

By Susannah Goldsbrough

Free from the medical or financial worries that have made this year so nightmarish for many, Bonham Carter has found herself “very content” during the country’s periods of lockdown. “I think there’s a lot to be said for this sort of suspended time. As an actor, you’re used to not working, so you have to learn how to be very disciplined and give yourself a structure.”

She cannot, however, have felt particularly sanguine during the year’s most sensational court case – the messily public libel action against The Sun by actor Johnny Depp, who is godfather to Bonham Carter’s children. A few days before we speak, a judge has ruled that the newspaper’s allegations that Depp physically abused his ex-wife were “substantially true”. How does Bonham Carter feel about the verdict? “I’m totally flummoxed,” she says.

One thing she didn’t realise until the pandemic arrived was “quite how reliant I was on seeing people, on the impact of seeing another soul in 3D”. Having said that, she’s relishing the prospect of a quieter-than-usual Christmas. “I certainly won’t be cooking for 500 people; that’s marvellous. You’ve got the greatest excuse of all to not see anybody that you don’t want to see!”

And, of course, there’s Clown to look forward to. To Bonham Carter, it’s the perfect festive story. “It’s about being isolated and left alone and discarded, then found again, and embedded in a home of love,” she says. “It couldn’t be more bang on for Christmas.”

[Edited to relevant paragraphs only - full article available via the links below]

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