Tiscali Celebrity

Burton: 'no more costume dramas for bonham carter'

Director TIM BURTON was determined to help his wife HELENA BONHAM CARTER shake off her image as a period actress - by casting her in bizarre movie roles.

Bonham Carter was once famed for her portrayal of characters in period dramas, but Burton, who has two children with the star, insists the 41-year-old's acting remit has now changed drastically.

He says, "Yes, I do put Helena in some strange roles considering she's my partner and the mother of my children. I started off putting her in a monkey suit (in Planet Of The Apes). In Sweeney Todd, her character ends up thrown into an oven. And in The Corpse Bride, I had her as a decomposing corpse with maggots in her head.

"That's a problem you're going to have if you're around me. 'Forget those period costumes in Florence or those Elizabethan wardrobes,' I told her, 'It's not going to be like that anymore." (JC/WNTEX/LR)