Highlights
- Helena Bonham Carter’s role in Fight Club had a negative impact on her health, leading to bronchitis.
- The director, David Fincher, pushed for realistic portrayals in the film that hurt Bonham Carter’s health.
- Carter was not the first choice for the role of Marla Singer.
Helena Bonham Carter’s penchant for colorful, eccentric and quirky movie roles undoubtedly established her versatility in Hollywood. In a career that has spanned close to four decades, Carter has put in the work to a great extent, and she is not stopping any time soon. However, amid displaying tenacity, Carter’s health was once terribly affected in one of her early movie roles from the ’90s.
The Award-winning actress played Marla Singer in the 1999 American action flick, Fight Club, starring alongside Brad Pitt. However, after six months of being on set, Helena Bohnam Carter developed health complications. The star, whose life challenges made her channel an acting career, had quite a trying time filming Fight Club. Here’s a look at the arduous experience.
What Happened To Helena Bonham Carter On The Set Of Fight Club?
Helena Bonham Carter expertly delivered the complex role of the lead female character, Marla Singer in Fight Club, but this did not come without a price. Carter infused a high level of realism into playing Marla Singer by asking the makeup artist, Julie Pierce, to apply the makeup with her left hand. The Harry Potter actress believed that because of Marla’s chaotic personality, she would hardly be particular about wearing perfect makeup. Therefore, it was ideal that her looks were far from perfect.
In line with portraying realism, the movie director David Fincher made Helena Bonham Carter smoke a lot of cigarettes on set. According to Total Film, Fincher was obsessed with Marla Singer’s smoke sessions because he wanted nothing short of a perfect delivery from Carter. He would make her do several takes to this effect. The star actress recalled her smoking session on the set of Fight Club:
“He got obsessed with the smoke. It had to float in a particular way. So I was just sitting there in a cemetery of cigarette butts.”
Brad Pitt’s Big Premiere For Fight Club Did Not Go The Way He Expected
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton had an interesting experience at the Fight Club premiere, and it wasn’t what anyone expected.
After six months of filming Fight Club, Helena Bonham Carter’s respiratory health was terribly affected. The Alice in Wonderland star revealed that she contracted bronchitis and wound up at the hospital. She shared:
“At the end of the shoot, I gave Fincher an x-ray of my lungs. I had an x-ray because I got bronchitis – surprise, surprise – during the six months of filming. And Fincher does so many takes and a lot of smoke shots.”
David Fincher also spoke about the actress’ drastic transformation for Fight Club. He explained how she went from “being surrounded by chintz at the Four Seasons” to going to work for Fox in a disheveled appearance. The movie maker said, “we’d give her black eyes and put lipstick on her teeth and make her hair all f**ked up and make her chainsmoke and gargling old coffee and stuff.”
Fight Club box office figures per IMDb:
|
Opening weekend |
$11,000,000 |
|
Domestic Box Office |
$$37,030,102 |
|
Gross Worldwide |
$101,209,702 |
Helena Bonham Carter Was Not The First Choice To Play Marla Singer
Despite playing Marla Singer to a T, Helena Bonham Carter was not the original actress slated to portray the role. Star actress Courtney Love was first considered, but David Fincher declined due to her relationship with Edward Norton, who played the narrator in Fight Club. Fincher noted that Love was “romantically involved with Edward and that proves to be problematic.”
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The Gone Girl director later set his eyes on Janeane Garofalo while Fox studio wanted Winona Ryder to play Marla Singer. Garofalo declined the role because she was uncomfortable about the intimate scenes. David Fincer went on to pitch the role to Seinfeld star, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. However, their encounter was awkward. He shared that Louis-Dreyfuss did not know who he was, and it made him feel like a “loser.”
Another actress who could have played the female lead is Reese Witerspooon. David Fincher considered the Legally Blonde actress because she was Fox Studio’s preference. However, Witherspoon turned it down because she considered it too “dark.” This eventually lead Fincher to select Helena Bonham Carter.
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If a certain pregnancy didn’t happen, someone else would have played Bellatrix Lestrange.
Amid the dilemma of finding the perfect Marla Singer actress, David Fincher was at Brad Pitt’s home when Pitt showed him Carter’s acting catalog. Pitt precisely cited Carter’s performance in the 1997 romantic film, The Wings of the Dove while urging the filmmaker to cast her in Fight Club. Fincher recalled:
“I was at Brad’s house and he goes, ‘Look at this actress: don’t think about it. Just look at this actress’ and he put on the sex scene at the end of The Wings of the Dove, when Helena’s just so unbelievably sad. I thought she was emotionally exquisite in that movie.”
Helena Bonham Carter played Kate Croy, a woman who fought for love, in the romantic drama. Carter was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category for the movie. While her role typically had nothing in common with Marla Singer, it was enough for Fincher to choose her.
Helena Bonham Carter Was Reluctant About Making Fight Club
David Fincher made his decision about choosing the Corpse Bride actress and swiftly set up a meeting. However, things did not ease up because of Helena Bonham Carter’s initial reaction to the Fight Club script. Fincher shared that the actress’ mom read the script and just thought it was ‘awful.” he continued, “… I think that’s partly why she was ambivalent about it. Actually, ambivalent may be giving the material the benefit of the doubt. She may have been repulsed by it.” Carter later attested to this statement:
“Mum put the script outside her bedroom, because it was a pollutant. I didn’t get it when I first read it, either. I thought ‘This is weird. Is this message particularly life-enhancing?”
The actress, known for her iconic collaborations with Johnny Depp, eventually agreed to play Marla Singer after David Fincher explained the role. She relayed, “he said he was making a comedy and I thought, ‘I completely get your point of view now.” However, this was not before se wrote him “a huge fax about my misgivings.” Helena Bonham Carter felt Marla Singer was made to seem heartless, and she believed she needed to have a heart. Carter further revealed that by the time she concluded the letter to Fincher, she had convinced herself well enough to star in Fight Club.
Source: NewsFinale
