Q 1

PLAYBOY: Your companion, Tim Burton, directed you as Mrs. Lovett, a baker who makes pies out of human meat in Sweeney Todd. Did he make you audition for the part?

Helena Bonham Carter: I auditioned and then there was five weeks of dead silence. It was hideous. All he said was "well done" at the end, and that was it. For five weeks I heard nothing--and we were living together. You can imagine the strain. Of course I should audition like anybody else, but we hadn't anticipated the strain it would put on our relationship. Luckily, Stephen Sondheim, the composer, had final approval, which took the pressure off Tim. Tim said he couldn't have cast me otherwise.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: Had you ever sung in front of Burton before your audition?

Helena Bonham Carter: No. But literally from the day he said I could audition--with no preferential treatment--I went to a singing teacher. Then I was screeching every single day because I had to do these vocal exercises. Fortunately, we live in sort of separate houses. They're kind of joined now, but we have a good thick door that we kept closed while I did my exercises.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: You have joined houses but live on separate sides. If we were to walk in, would we be able to tell which side is yours?

Helena Bonham Carter: Absolutely. It wouldn't take you long at all. Mine is the tasteful side, and his is his side. Mine looks like Beatrix Potter. It couldn't be more country and tweed. It's very country cottage and very cozy and homey and welcoming. He has dead Oompa-Loompas around and multicolored fiberglass alien lamps. But then he has some nice red-button sofas from Sleepy Hollow. So it's a funny and good mix.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Which side has the better Christmas tree?

Helena Bonham Carter: We do just one. He decorates it with dead babies and slime balls and things. It's his alternative Christmas. It looks lovely and glittery from afar, and then as you get closer you realize it's rather gory. But he loves Christmas. We do Halloween and Christmas really well. Easter, not so much.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Does your son, Billy, share the same sense of humor as you two?

Helena Bonham Carter: Billy and Tim are completely on par with their sense of humor because it's all poo-poo jokes. Billy is four, so it's perfect. Tim is 49, Johnny Depp is 44, and all three have the same sense of humor. Billy may soon mature past them. Not may, will.