Helena Bonham-Carter Once Joked That She Would’ve Divorced Tim Burton if He Didn’t Cast Her in ‘Sweeney Todd’

Actor Helena Bonham-Carter has starred in a few of her ex-boyfriend Tim Burton’s projects. But there was one film Carter quipped she gave her husband an ultimatum about casting her in.

Tim Burton cast Helena Bonham Carter in ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’

Sweeney Todd was a musical slasher film directed by Burton. The feature starred Johnny Depp as the titular character and serial killer who murders his customers. Bonham-Carter played Depp’s accomplice in the horror feature.

Bonham-Carter gave Burton early notice that she wanted to be cast as the lead in the movie. Her ex-husband obliged her to a point, as he felt Bonham-Carter was more than a good fit for the role. Still, Burton asserted that his ex-wife would have to audition for the part just like any other actor.

“He said, ‘You know, it’s up to you.’ And I said, “Of course – of course I’ll go for it, because if I don’t get the part, at least I’ll have learned to sung or had the voice lessons that I’ve always wanted to do, so I went to a singing teacher,” she once said according to Female.

She conceded that she eventually tried out for the part. But the fact that she officially got the role was a good thing for the sake of her and Burton’s relationship.

“I auditioned for my role – although I’d have divorced divorced Tim if I hadn’t got it. In fact, we’re not even married, but I’d have still divorced him,” she once said according to Irish Examiner.

Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter eventually split

The two never married, but they stayed together as long as some married couples. They were linked to each other as far back in 2001, and broke up in 2014. And even though they didn’t wed, Bonham-Carter still referred to their split as a divorce.

“It was a long-lasting thing. That’s the other thing, it’s not that finite. It never ends. Even if you divorce somebody, it’s a kind of marriage if you have children with them. The relationship has to change. It’s a very complicated thing how to share the children,” she once told People.

In an interview with The Guardian not too long ago, the Fight Club star shared that she and her children were eventually able to adjust to the change.

“And the kids are fine, they get to have a dual life. At first it’s a horrible thing to get used to, not having your children around [when you share custody]. The cruelty of divorce is extraordinary. But then you get to a point where you’re like, ‘Oh, I get this week off!’ Some parts are very much to be recommended,” Bonham-Carter said.

Helena Bonham-Carter had a difficult time working with Tim Burton on ‘Sweeney Todd’

Bonham-Carter asserted that working alongside Burton wasn’t easy. The two had quite a good time collaborating in the horror musical, but there were moments where they couldn’t help clash.

“I’d never sung before, he had never done a musical and it’s that classic thing that you take your stress out on the person who you know best and we really didn’t get on during that one,” Bonham-Carter said on the Grounded with Louis Theroux podcast. “Amazingly I got pregnant, but let’s not get into that.”

But Bonham-Carter found that her co-star Depp was able to help the couple through their issues on set.

“In the end I realized I shouldn’t really have any good ideas. If I had a good idea I should give it to Johnny. If I gave it to Johnny, Johnny would mention it to Tim and then it was a marvelous idea. If I mentioned it it would be an absolutely crap idea. We worked our way through it,” she remembered.