Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

S45

THE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019

“RANKS RIGHT UP THERE WITH

ALMODÓVAR’S GREATEST! HAUNTING

IMAGES THAT TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY.

ANTONIO BANDERAS IN THE PERFORMANCE

OF HIS CAREER. THIS IS ACTING OF THE

HIGHEST ORDER, SUBLIME IN EVERY DETAIL,

A TRIUMPH OF SUBTLETY AND FEELING.”

-Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

WINNER

BEST ACTOR

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER

HOLLYWOOD ACTOR AWARD

HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS

ALL CATEGORIES INCLUDINGBEST PICTUREBEST ACTORAntonio Banderaspain and glory

EUROPEANFILM AWARDNOMINATIONS

INCLUDING

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Antonio Banderas

4

into Los Angeles from London for the
show’s third-season premiere, Bonham
Carter combines casual self-deprecation
with a scholar’s wealth of knowledge about
Margaret. She loves nothing more than re-
searching a role in depth.
“My ex, Tim [Burton], used to wander in
and say, ‘You’re not writing an autobiogra-
phy; you’re just playing someone.’ ” She
calls herself a swot, which translates
roughly to an overenthusiastic student. But
with the princess, there was so much mate-
rial she was overwhelmed. “You’re given the
part, and the first thing, you’re, like, ‘right,
this is a great part.’ And then you’re, like,
‘Jesus, where do I start?’ You can just crawl
into a small dark place and cry because
there’s so much research to be done.”
She turned first to Kirby, who was gener-
ous in giving her pointers as well as a read-
ing list. “She was so sad to let her go, which I
can understand now that I’m in the position,
I’m going to have to give her up to somebody
else.” The role will be recast after Season 4,
which they are in the midst of shooting.
The queen’s younger sister has been
written about endlessly, and often nega-
tively, over decades of media coverage. So
after consuming all the written accounts,
Bonham Carter turned to those who knew
Margaret best: her friends.
“If she were as ghastly as the press por-
trayed her, she wouldn’t have as many
friends as she did, and they were really
happy to talk about her because they genu-
inely loved her.” She learned of Margaret’s
economy — with words, with movement. “If
she didn’t have to answer, she was very qui-
et. She wasn’t an introvert, but she was re-
moved.” And sharply observant — according
to one of her friends, “she was like a bird of
prey.”
Bonham Carter’s own friends and family
assisted as well. Her aunt, a graphologist,
analyzed Margaret’s handwriting. A close
friend who’s an astrologer worked up Mar-
garet’s sign. “I don’t know how it works, but,
boy, is she perceptive. She immediately said,
‘It doesn’t matter about where Margaret

came from, this woman isn’t capable of not

saying what’s in her head.’ That’s something

that gave her a lot of trouble.”

Stories of how a medium relayed mes-

sages to Bonham Carter from Margaret’s

spirit have already made the rounds, but

Bonham Carter insists that she wasn’t asking

for the spirit to show up. It just happened

while she was doing other work with a

friend who’s also a psychic.

“I’m open to everything,” she says. “I

don’t swear by any of this, but I do feel that

there’s a lot that we don’t know. And I’d like

to think, for all sorts of reasons, that people

carry on in some different form, and if I’m

carrying their name, I do feel that I want to

have their kind of blessing.”

Margaret gave her more than that. She

gave notes: Get the smoking right, and

“You’re going to have to scrub up,” Bonham

Carter relates, laughing, fully cognizant of

her reputation as an eccentric dresser.

Those external elements were crucial.

The right pair of shoes could change her be-

havior. “The wig is everything too. You get

the silhouette right.” In addition to “The

Crown’s” hair, makeup and costume depart-

ments, she praises the on-set researchers.

“When I was doing Episode 2 with Ben

[Daniels], who’s amazing as Snowdon, their

sex life was very colorful — with other peo-

ple. I was saying, ‘Hang on, who was having

an affair with whom at this point?’ And

within a day you get a whole dossier.”

Her other costar, Colman, was amazing

as well. “We feel very supportive of each

other, very at home,” Bonham Carter says.

“We probably were [together] in some for-

mer life.” She notes that their styles could

not be more different. “She will not do any

chat, or analyze. She wants to go all in-

stinct.”

That goes into Bonham Carter’s mix too,

along with all the research. Then comes the

distillation. “It’s like making a perfume or

doing a sauce, getting down to something

that you feel defines them. Like a collage.”

She pauses a moment. “I should do a collage

of her!” 8

MARION BAILEYas the Queen Mother, and Bonham Carter as her daughter.

Netflix