Helena Bonham Carter Quotes

When I go from a role with heavy prosthetic makeup, which I've done quite a bit of as well, and then do a role where I'm not wearing any, I have to be conscious of toning everything down. Because when you're wearing prosthetic makeup, of course, you have to really move your face a lot more to convey things through the makeup.

When you're with another actor who's also been through five hours of prosthetic makeup, and you're eating another person's neck, and fake blood is being spurted out at you for two minutes, it's incredibly fun, and you're in character for that time. You can't really believe that that's your job.

The prosthetics were interesting because the artist was so good that they could just put a Hitchcock mask on me, but you don't want to do that. You're an actor playing Hitchcock, so it's about how much of that you're going to do.

There is this miraculous thing I heard Hugh Grant talking about - the thing about screen acting is that you can read people's thoughts. You are trying to register something inside and usually the eyes in cinema are where you will register that.

Accents are very easy for me. With me, it's clothing and makeup and hair and all that stuff that inform how the character moves and feels.

I love playing 'Madame Vastra.' Although I do suffer, spending three-and-a-half hours in make-up every morning to have her lizard skin put on. I was so excited the first day when we did the make-up test, but after six hours, I was like, 'Can we finish now?'

When a role involves physical transformation, it helps build the character better.

When I was younger, my goal in life was to work in special FX makeup. Liquid latex and fake blood! That was the dream!

It's not brain surgery. I focus on getting the costumes right, getting the body language. I do what I can with the makeup.

Transformational acting was the reason why I became an actor in the first place. Your hair and make-up and the costume are the tools that you have, and it makes you feel like that person. When you look in the mirror, you don't feel like yourself, and it changes the way you move. I love that stuff.

Costume, hair and makeup can tell you instantly, or at least give you a larger perception of who a character is. It's the first impression that you have of the character before they open their mouth, so it really does establish who they are.

The mask of the character was already written into the show, but I actually lobbied for a denser and more complete mask than they initially considered.

Prosthetic makeup is always frustrating.

Good actors, you always know what they're thinking. That's why they're good actors.

I love saying dialogue and creating a full character more than just being physical. But I always end up doing physical stuff in my roles.

When I go from a role with heavy prosthetic makeup, which I've done quite a bit of as well, and then do a role where I'm not wearing any, I have to be conscious of toning everything down.

I play guys who never smile, and I never stop smiling.

An actor's body should be full of emotions, whether it is happiness or sorrow, pain or joy, enraged or elated.

When I did 'Jump Street', I created that character; it was all me. I walked in and was just me. I could get out of bed and walk on set and be dressed.

All that prosthetic makeup drains you. By the time it's lunch, you're done.

I like to use my hands. When I was in theatre in college, that was one of my biggest notes: 'You use your hands too much.'

I watched season four of 'The Wire.' They have subtle performances that they do through their eyes. You could watch season four with the audio off and still understand what's happening through their eyes.

The best way to show an emotion is not through a character's words, but their smallest expressions - to take what an actor would visually do and try putting that down on the page for the reader to 'see.'

I was at Pepperdine University in Malibu, and during my sophomore year, I played a dying burn victim on 'ER.' The makeup artist put burn makeup all over my body and I couldn't move or eat for 12 hours. I lost 8 pounds that week.

Breathing is always key in any character. When you have a character with no voice, that makes it even more important.