Helena shows her 'mean bone'

MANILA, Philippines - Helena Bonham Carter stars as the Red Queen in Tim Burton’s epic 3D fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland. Iracebeth, the Red Queen is the tyrannical monarch of Underland. With her oversized head, fiery temper and propensity to scream for people’s heads to be chopped off, she rules her subjects through fear. “She’s got emotional problems,” says Bonham Carter. “It takes nothing, practically, for her to lose her temper. Her tantrums are that of a two-year-old.” Her younger sibling, the White Queen, has designs on the throne and crown that Iracebeth once stole from her.

Helena talks about the film and her role in the following Q&A:

Tell us about your character.

She has a really, really big head. She doesn’t really rule through any kind of justice or fairness, but through terror. I chop off people’s heads. That’s my solution to everything. It probably comes from an underlying insecurity for the fact that she has got such a big head, and everybody else has a normal head. Playing the Queen’s been fun. I love being royal. I love that it’s really all about her — basically, she’s like a spoiled child. 

What were your references for putting her together? How much input did Tim have?

I looked back at the book. Also, there was one of Lewis Carroll’s quotes that was really useful — that he saw her as somebody who was afflicted with an ungovernable passion, just full of this fury and rage. No matter what the offense, little or big, her solution to everything is to chop off a head. Tim said to watch Mommy Dearest, which is one of his favorite films. And Bette Davis was kind of an inspiration again, as her role as Baby Jane Hudson was an inspiration for Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and her portrayal of Elizabeth I — just a little on the outlandish, cartoony side — was a reference for the Red Queen. 

What are your thoughts on Anne Hathaway?

Anne Hathaway is the White Queen, and she gets a really pretty dress. And she’s lovely. We had a good laugh. We wish we had more together. In a way, we make each other’s characters, we define each other, because we are the antithesis.

Now showing in theaters, Alice in Wonderland is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.