Q 6

PLAYBOY: Johnny Depp is Burton's best friend and your co-star in Sweeney Todd. Depp compared his own singing to the "mating call of a rutting stag." How bad was it?

Helena Bonham Carter: That's not bad. If you've heard a rutting stag, it's a big self-compliment. [laughs] No, he's got a beautiful voice. He sounds like himself, too. He's very cool. Whatever Johnny does, there's something cool about it. He's very hip. It's emotional and vulnerable, too, which makes it touching.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: Depp is notorious for pulling pranks on set. Has he ever gotten you?

Helena Bonham Carter: No. He was pretty good to me because he knew I'd be in real trouble if I laughed. And I tend to laugh anyway. He was very well behaved, very focused, very professional. We had the usual poo-poo jokes and everything. I was also pregnant halfway through, so my brain went with the pregnancy. I couldn't remember a thing. I could remember my lines fine, but I was so uncoordinated physically. And anything Tim told me to do I'd kind of forget instantly, which I'm sure was deeply psychological. So Johnny was always helpful off camera, pointing in the direction I had to look or reminding me of anything I'd forgotten to do. Johnny knew he had to save me.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: You met Burton on the Planet of the Apes set. What attracted you to him?

Helena Bonham Carter: Hmm. Let me see if I can remember. [laughs] No, I do love him. To be honest, it took quite some time for our attraction to become apparent. We did a whole film together before we noticed each other, probably because I was in an ape costume and he's very private. We didn't have a proper conversation during Planet of the Apes.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Were you a quirky kid?

Helena Bonham Carter: My friend reminded me of something when I was auditioning for the part in Sweeney Todd. She said, "Of course you're going to get the part," and I said, "Yeah, everyone thinks that because I'm sleeping with the director." She said, "No, because you wanted to be Mrs. Lovett when you were 11--you even made us call you Mrs. Lovett." It's true! I'd completely forgotten about it. I didn't forget that I so loved Sweeney Todd I learned it by heart, but I didn't remember having the nickname Mrs. Lovett. I do remember going around with Mrs. Lovett hairdos. So I guess that is kind of similar to Tim. Most 11-year-old girls don't want to be Mrs. Lovett. They would rather be on Charlie's Angels or in Beauty and the Beast.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: You won a poetry contest when you were 11 and used the money to place your photo in a casting catalog. What was the poem?

Helena Bonham Carter: It was weirdly about rumors, which is funny, given that I ended up becoming the subject of them. It was called "The Grapevine." It was a really crap poem. God knows how I won something. Someone stubbed her toe and by the end she was dead. I guess it was pretty grim. I probably had a pretty grim imagination. Maybe Tim and I are quite alike after all.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: You play drug addict Marla Singer in Fight Club. When you were making it, did you realize what an impact the film would have?

Helena Bonham Carter: I thought it was a provocative script, but I wasn't entirely sure. My mother put the script out the door and said it was a pollutant. [laughs] Then when she saw it she said it was a genius film that was going to last for ages. She was right. The film was very much misunderstood because it's essentially a black comedy. There's so much satire in it. They thought it was just about senselessly beating people up, but it was deeply intelligent and observant and socially responsible. So we got a bad reception, but my mom was right when she said not to worry, that the film would last a long time.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: How many takes did you do of the orgasm scene in that film?

Helena Bonham Carter: Millions. It came pretty easily. Most of the time I was off camera, so I would literally be on set going, "Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh." It was like, just press the button. The scene is actually digitized, so Brad Pitt and I spent a whole day with no clothes on and strange white dots on our bodies. It was weird. We laughed through the whole day. The director would say, "Annnnd orgasm!" It's quite amazing to orgasm on command.