The Express (London)
August 1, 2000
WE CAN ALWAYS
RELY ON HELENA TO BE THE REBEL
By Kathryn
Knight
AT first glance, it seems
the most unlikely cinematic pairing. Helena Bonham Carter, the much-corseted
English aristocrat actress and Hollywood funnyman, Steve Martin, starring in
a romantic comedy. Yet if recent reports are true, they are not only proving
their chemistry on celluloid, but are also continuing their relationship
long after the cameras stop rolling for the day.
They are said to have
fallen in love in Los Angeles during filming of the comedy-drama Novocaine,
in which Martin plays a dentist-cum-murder suspect who falls for Helena, the
movie's femme fatale. The couple hit it off immediately, but after several
months on set, their friendship is said to have blossomed into romance and,
while it is still in its early stages, the
Hollywood rumour mill is abuzz with talk of the unexpected liaison.
"It was the last thing
anyone was expecting," said one LA-based journalist. "They are taking things
slowly, but they certainly seem to be very happy with each other."
Despite the 21-year age
gap, they may have more in common than appearances suggest; not least a
beleaguered love life and a strong eccentric streak. Behind his comic image,
Martin still bears the scars from his break-up with actress Anne Heche, who
left him only to end up in a highly public lesbian relationship with US
sit-com star Ellen De Generes. He had already divorced English actress
Victoria Tennant, after seven years of marriage.
It may help to make him a
more attractive proposition for Helena, who has been through her own
turbulent times, particularly over the past year following her emotionally
devastating split with actor-director Kenneth Branagh. Their relationship
began while filming Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. At the time, Branagh was
going through the painful break-up of his marriage to actress-screenwriter
Emma Thompson.
Soon, gossip columns were
linking Helena and Branagh and their romance was confirmed when they were
spotted kissing in London's Hyde Park. Notoriously camera shy, they
nonetheless went on to become the darlings of the theatrical and movie
establishment. Last September, Helena felt confident enough to tell the
world: "I'm definitely happy and in love." Yet only weeks later, she was
dealing with the unexpected fall-out from their relationship's demise.
Clearly distraught, she was
photographed on a number of occasions looking downcast and lost.
Further evidence to suggest
that she was struggling to cope with the situation came when she was seen
emerging from a north London alternative therapy clinic which specialises in
healing and relationship counselling.
Helena
had lived at her parents' London home until two years ago, when she moved to
a converted artist's studio 10 minutes' down the road from them in
Hampstead. Poignantly, she and Branagh had planned to renovate it together,
although now she has undertaken the project alone.
Aside from her close-knit
family, the one place she has been able to find solace is in her
professional life, as her career continues to go from strength to strength.
Helena, it seems, has inherited a steely will to succeed from her
antecedents. Her great-grandfather is Herbert Asquith, the great Liberal
prime minister, and his daughter -
Helena's grandmother - was
Lady Violet Bonham Carter, socialite baroness and one of the great post- war
stalwarts of the Liberal Party.
At 13, Helena invested GBP
25 that she won as a poetry prize to hire an agent and place her photo in a
casting directory - and she has never looked back. After years of being
typecast as a Merchant-Ivory heroine, she has proved of late to be a
versatile and impressive actress.
Ironically, it was her
relationship with Branagh that helped mark a departure from the cinematic
cliches that had dogged her for so long.
She won critical acclaim
for her portrayal of a motor neurone disease sufferer in The Theory of
Flight (starring alongside Branagh); married Woody Allen in Mighty
Aphrodite, a typical tale of Manhattan madness; and, more recently, startled
US and British audiences with her punkish street girl role alongside Brad
Pitt in the controversial but acclaimed movie Fight Club.
Her non-conformity also
means that she adopts a refreshingly down to earth approach to celebrity.
She tends to eschew large
showbiz events, only attending the occasional launch, and is regularly seen
wandering around Hampstead swathed in unflattering clothes and almost
unrecognisable as a screen star. She has spoken of the fact that she hates
her English rose image - "Demure, I'm not demure. I drink Diet Coke, I
smoke, I swear and I arm wrestle" - and she lost a GBP 500,000 contract with
cosmetic giant Yardley after proclaiming that she didn't like make-up.
Under the circumstances,
then, the unconventional Steve Martin may be just the tonic that
Helena needs. As with all show business romances, however, things
are never simple and the
Hollywood star may still have Branagh to contend with. Helena and her
former beau have been seen together on a number of occasions recently,
leading friends to speculate that the pair regret not having made a go of
their partnership. Certainly, she still openly shows her support, turning up
with her mother at the premiere of Branagh's latest film Love's Labour's
Lost. Rumours that their relationship had been rekindled were fuelled
earlier this year when they were seen kissing near her home.
When questioned, however,
the star merely smiled and said: "We might have been seen kissing, but I'm
not going to say anything."
She has adopted the same
taciturn approach to rumours about her relationship with Steve Martin. At
her London
agent's offices, inquiries regarding the matter were met with a frosty
silence and while shopping in Hampstead at the weekend, the actress was
giving nothing away.
Whatever path she follows,
however, she may want to recall her own words of a few years ago, when she
had just embarked on her relationship with Branagh. "It's a ridiculous
profession for having relationships. There are impossible pressures to deal
with," she said. "It's amazing that any of them succeed."
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