BBC will air Taylor & Burton, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West, next week. So this week is full of promotional stuff for the movie, which is exciting. I hope it airs in America sometime soon, maybe on PBS or something? I’m including some promotional images of HBC and West – Dominic doesn’t really look like Burton to me, but I think he’ll probably do Richard Burton justice as an actor, and with his voice. But maybe that’s just me being a Dom West fan-girl. As for Helena… look at her! She doesn’t really look like Elizabeth, but Helena looks STUNNING. So pretty! And Helena will be able to bring out Dame Elizabeth too. Here’s the trailer:
It looks good. The story focuses specifically on the time frame of Liz & Dick just before Richard’s death, and after their second divorce. They agreed to do a play together – Private Lives. According to the historical record, Elizabeth was a mess of booze and pills. Richard was trying to maintain his sobriety, and he was remarried. Here are some assorted quotes from HBC’s promotional interviews:
HBC loves jewelry now: “I had a birthday during filming and Tim did actually buy me a present which cost him a lot of money. It’s funny how things educate you, because I wasn’t really that into jewels, but I got a few during the Elizabeth Taylor phase.”
Young people don’t know about Taylor-Burton? “When the writers approached some UCLA film students to say they were doing a Burton Taylor biography, their response was: ‘We didn’t know that Elizabeth Taylor was married to Tim Burton!’ Elizabeth Taylor was so horrified that, these days, the Burton name meant Tim and not Richard, she said, ’Write it! You’ve got to write it!”’
HBC & Elizabeth were born in the same area of England: “I never met her, but I had lots of friends who did and there were a lot of bizarre coincidences. A really close friend of mine was her goddaughter, so she convinced me to do it and brought some photos of her. I didn’t realise she was such a clown, she was so funny. She was famous for being this extraordinarily beautiful woman and sexy, but she was also hugely powerful and fun and had great joie de vivre and strength of character to survive.”
Dominic West shades the Cracken: “The great revelation for me was that she wasn’t this spoilt pain in the ass. Well she was, but she was also ballsy and great to be around, and that’s why Helena was perfect to play her. There are very few actresses in the world who could do it.”
Elizabeth’s alcoholism was raging at the time of the play: “I don’t think he was aware before they started the play that she was having severe problems. This was the worst time in her life, she was out of it, by her own admission, and then she checks into the Betty Ford clinic.”
Does HBC think Liz & Dick would have gotten back together if he had lived? “I feel yes, there would have been a third time around. She often said that and I think it would have been interesting once both of them were sober, then maybe there’d have been a future.”
HBC almost didn’t take the role: “I nearly didn’t take the role. When I first found out about it, I thought, ‘Elizabeth Taylor? I should run a mile.’ Even my mum said, ‘Don’t touch that with a barge pole.’ But it was the script that won me over – it was such a touching, sweet story. The fact that it was about two of the world’s most famous stars was incidental.”
HBC is a huge fan of Elizabeth: “I don’t look like her at all. But I had to forget about what she looked like and think about the woman. She was phenomenal. What was inside was extraordinary – which is impressive considering how beautiful she was on the outside. She was fun, witty, practical, clever and wise. She had an amazing strength of character and was never a victim. To sustain that amount of fame and beauty from such a young age – look at stars like Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland and what happened to them. Liz Taylor lasted eight decades. She survived all those drugs, all that fame and drink. She loved life and had a great appetite for it. There will be no one like her ever again.”
HBC on her costar, Dominic West: “I think we have great chemistry. I try to lure him back into my bed but he won’t have me. Dominic’s very funny. I didn’t want it to end.”
HBC consulted an astrologer to find out more about Elizabeth: “She was really insightful. She told me Elizabeth was a water person. Water is sexual and sensual and that’s the place she operated from. She had a big appetite for life. She was a good eater. Unlike actresses these days, she liked her food.”
[From Vogue & Wales Online]
I feel like Helena really did the work and the research to understand Elizabeth. Unlike… you know who. Rhymes with Fraken. I love the bit about Helena being into jewelry now and Tim Burton buying her something nice for her birthday. We should all be so lucky! And check out the photo of HBC where you can see her imitation Krupp diamond… God, that thing was so spectacular.
Photos courtesy of BBC.
I think HBC is an amazing actress, but she looks SO different from LizT, that I can’t suspend my disbelief when I am looking at the pix or watching the trailer.
she really does.. I think I would have to see the whole movie.
I don’t know. She’s kind of got the voice, and that might carry me past the appearance.
I think she is MILES better then Crackhead. I think she looks more like her then I originally anticipated though. Love HBC. She is a phenomenal actress.
HBC looks different than HBC! I have looked at a bunch of pictures trying to figure out what work she has had done. Definitely there but she must have an awfully good plastic surgeon….but HBC hasn’t quite got Liz Taylor down. When she looks at the camera, she is dependent on it. When Liz Taylor looked at the camera, it was dependent on HER. Not many people have that kind of star wattage these days.
mmmmmmm….Dominic West
Yep! I’ll second that!!
I like it. The trailer looks awesome. And I love to see HBC so done up. She is such a beauty, nice to see it played up once in a while.
I’ll sign off on that. 😉
I like Helena.. but that trailer is terrible IMO.
Wow, HBC is gorgeous when she’s not a (Tim) Burton character. I’ve never noticed before because she always looks like the undead for TB’s movies.
L.O.V.E HBC and can’t wait for this!
When I see stories about this time period in their lives and remember Liz’s interviews about him after his death, I can never get over the fact that he was married to someone else. It just seems so disrespectful to his widow. Liz definitely seems to have some LeAnn Rimes characteristics.
I totally see your point. But people never call out old-Hollywood when they do stuff like that.
Even though I don’t believe in the term “homewrecker”, there were so many people from the early years of Hollywood who would have affairs with married people but never get called on it today.
But anyone today who’s been involved or rumored to be involved with a married man, they have that label(“homewrecker”) on them forever.
Oh Liz was the worst. She wanted a guy, she would go for it. Ofcourse the men were the bigger douches but Liz had a nasty track record.
How about a film about the lovely Debbie Reynolds who was one of Lizs best friends, for whom Liz was a maid of honour, had 2 young kids with Eddie Fisher only to have Liz her ” bestie” run off with him. That she not only forgave Liz but tried to rebuild the friendship as Liz spiralled is amazing. Also she wasnt a stunner like Liz in her youth but she aged so much better. Liz grew into a lonely bloated alcoholic and Debbie grew poised and elegant surrounded by a family that clearly adores her. Screw Liz.
I read Elizabeth Taylor’s biography, Furious Love. In it, they obviously talked about Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fischer. First off, Eddie Fischer was a total sleaze. Debbie was this young, naïve girl from a small town, still a virgin when she met him. They were introduced BY the studio. When they got engaged, everyone she talked to told her not to marry Eddie. She did anyway.
In Eddie Fischer’s biography/autobiography he said the only times that he even had sex with her was when they wanted to get pregnant. So I’d imagine that he was sleeping with other women, none just high profile.
Second, Debbie and Elizabeth weren’t really besties. They were the best girlfriends in Hollywood. They knew each other because their husbands worked together. They eventually became friends again, many years later. Elizabeth left Debbie (I think it was either the Krupp Diamond or that Pear shaped diamond necklace that she wore to the Oscars with that lilac gown) jewelry in her will, when she died.
So long story short, it was a studio marriage. Years later, Debbie said that they became friends after she realized that it was something that didn’t even matter AT ALL, and that they had both finished with him.
Gotta love the Stans and their revisionism. One of these women was maid of honor for the other. They were close and this was the ultimate betrayal. Not that it matters. Karma caught up with that bitch. Her 2 final decades were NOT pretty, not even with her insane plastic surgery.
Oh and pish on the biographies. They all come in with an angle to sell the most or provide the most unusual angle. For every Liz positive one (written for her blinded fans) theres one that takes the opposite view. Most of them pulp trash.
Elizabeth Taylor was a force of nature. She and Burton are so interconnected as one of THE great love stories not only because of their passion, but also because it was their own demons that caused the relationship to fail. She may not have been the one married to him at his death, but there’s a sense that the 2 belonged together. Also, he and his last wife (there was another between her amd Elizabeth) were only married for a year at his death. They weren’t even together nearly as long as any of his other marriages, she was just the last one.
Got a lot of love for HBC.
Even though she doesn’t look like Elizabeth Taylor she’s such a brilliant actress I think she’ll do it justice. The same goes for Dominic West, loved him in The Hour.
Her photo reminded me of Sherilyn Fenn actually. And he doesn’t look like Burton at all.
But she DOES give great interviews!Always a thing to read.
They were on breakfast TV this morning, here in the UK, and they really do have a great rapport. Lots of affectionate mockery.
HBC has her own presence, she’s such an icon herself, it’s very hard to see her playing someone else. All I see is Helena in great costumes. That’s probably not a good thing.
I am really looking forward to this, I thought the trailer looked great.
I really have nothing to say about the movie or the article, but I love her nails in the top picture. The nail color looks like fuchsia to me. The color is so gorgeous.
It’s funny. Some people are amazingly beautiful, but then you read interviews or talk to them, and you realize their beauty is the only interesting thing about them.
Then you see someone like HBC who is absolutely gorgeous, but after you read what she says and how she lives, her appearance becomes secondary to her personality and intelligence, and eventually it’s the last thing you think about.
Helena is absolutely beautiful and interesting. I agree?
You could tell The Cracken didn’t give two shits about her job or doing Taylor justice. She obviously did NO research and didn’t even TRY to emulate her voice, expressions, or mannerisms. It was pathetic. That’s why it always sticks in my craw when people try to tell me about how she’s some “great actress”. To be a great actress, you have to do great acting. Her biggest triumphs were The Parent Trap, where she played a pre-teen girl, Mean Girls, where she played a teenage girl, A Prairie Home Companion, where she played a teenage girl, Freaky Friday, where she played a teenage girl, and Georgia Rule where she played a teenage girl! She’s a stupid, lazy, entitled brat who felt she could play Dame Elizabeth because SHE’S JUST THAT AMAZING, OBVIOUSLY. When she was asked about her connections to Taylor, she was basically like, “Well, we both live in the public eye and like diamonds.”
Helena Bonham Carter, on the other hand, she is a real actress. She isn’t going after one of the more particularly glamorous times in Taylor’s life, quite the opposite. She’s done something other than try on jewelry and get photoshopped. She doesn’t try and invite cheap press comparisons. She’s studied and gotten something resembling the voice. She actually adapted her life around the character, and didn’t approach it from a selfish place. This isn’t aping off some other person’s legend, it’s about paying tribute to it in a way The Cracken will never understand because she knows it ISN’T ABOUT HER. This isn’t about her. It’s about the writing. It’s about Taylor.
+1
I feel like HBC’s Liz Taylor is the one we should see portrayed while the Crackhead’s version is the one that needs to be forgotten.
Helena and Dominic look fantastic in this movie. I want to see it!
Great Interview!
…” I wasn’t really that into jewels”… How could you not?!I love every new piece I get.
…” she wasn’t this spoilt pain in the ass. Well she was,”….
I’ve never heard of another actress who demanded that she doesn’t go to work during her period and it was put in her contract!Just think is anyone now would demand such thing…
I bought Furious Love last year and that was one hell of a story. I can’t see anyone comming even closer to Taylor’s way of life.
I love HBC! She is always pleasure to watch.
I can totally understand the period thing. I have periods from hell. There are days I cannot leave the house because there is simply NOTHING that will stop me from bleeding everywhere. Then there’s the agonizing pain and the nausea.
GET IT!!!!
Note to those film students : Find something else to study.
i’m so embarrassed for them….
Exactly. How can they be a film students and do not know Richard Burton’s name? I once met a librarian, who had a master’s degree in a world literature and didn’t know who John Steinbeck was – the same level of ignorance in the field they should know almost everything about. Burton was in so many classic movies. Haven’t they heard of Cleopatra, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand Days or all of his Shakespeare work? Makes me wonder if they’re familiar with Laurence Olivier or John Gielgud.
HBC has a lushness to her beauty, which IS evocative of Elizabeth Taylor, so it works for me. Hope this movie comes to Canadian TV, soon.
That’s a perfect way to put it.
With the right make up HBC really cleans up well. I’m so used to seeing her in a mess (which is just fine for her and suits her personality–I like it). So it’s a lovely and refreshing change to see her so glammed up.
So obviously UCLA is not doing the film school thing correctly.
SHE LOOKS FANTASTIC!!!!
I think BBC America is going to air Taylor & Burton sometime in the fall, but no date has been set.
There’s really no one who’s a match for them. Look wise. Sometimes I think a fatter Fassbender could do the trick for Burton. But all the actors portraying him seem just wrong. Too much make up/wig/I don’t know/ to play a man who was so..so raw.
I can’t WAIT!!!
I love her and even though he doesn’t look like him, his facial structure and voice is enough for me.
I love me some HBC, I may have to catch it on one of my bogus internet movie sites, I HAVE to see this.
I think Liz would be proud.
ps. as a child that movie “Whose afraid of Virginia Wolfe??” …ME!!
scared the mess out of me, (they had to be boozing in those days)all of the drunk arguing, screaming and clowning that Liz and Richard were doing..I went out and bought it as an adult, LOL!
my grandfather loved that movie, that and Butterfield 8
Whenever I read any of Deanna Raybourn’s *Julia Grey Mysteries* I always picture Dominic in the role of Brisbane.
She looks amazing!!! He looks like Christopher Plummer (which is a good thing).
Christopher Plummer was hot! He’s still a hot old man today. I remember reading something about The sound of music…the actress playing as his oldest daughter had a huge crush on him…I don’t think I would be able to hide something like that.
But I will forever remember when on that Oscar Roundtable when they were discussing their first sort of sensual experience in film. THIS GUY said that there was a film that came out when he was a young man called “Ecstasy”, and he said that he always wanted to find out if the main actress had a body double, “as she had the most magnificent tits….”
He is such a dirty old man.
I find it hard to believe any man or woman would turn down a bed invite from HBC, but I love her sense of humor.
HBC is so stunning.
Like someone already said, HBC is a true actress. Remember her in Fight Club? She’s done a ton of movies but there was something about how she played that role that made me fall for her as an actress. She is a bit cray, but god bless her. I think it fuels her craft. Can’t wait to see this – she’s dignifying this woman’s life to make up for Blowhan soiling her memory with that horrendous self-involved performance. Liz was one in a million…glad HBC chose to take the part!
I totally agree, that’s when I first fell in love in HBC! I’d seen the bodice movies and whatnot but Marla in Fight Club? She became my instant hero!!
Never was a Taylor fan. Truly awful actress. Yes, I KNOW. She was good in 2 or 3 movies. But out of the many she made, that’s not a lot. She was also very loyal to noted pedophile Michael Jackson as long as he gifted her with diamonds.
Am I the only one who has never really been fascinated by Liz Taylor? I was born in the late 80s and only knew Liz Taylor as a frail obese woman in a wheel chair. She did not age well and even when I saw pictures of her younger self, I was never that impressed. I’ve tried watching Cleopatra–I just get incredibly bored. And I don’t think it’s a generational thing–I know plenty of friends my age who love Liz Taylor. I’m probably the only one here who feels that she is way overhyped.
I do love HBC though, despite her kooky style choices.
Can’t wait! HBC and West look sexy together. “Love is a Drug” is a great song.
Her makeup is absolutely stunning! And while she may not look exactly like Elizabeth, her look is very evocative of Elizabeth’s style and glamour, and HBC is a great actress in her own right. I love HBC’s quirky self. While the best Elizabeth Taylor I’ve seen was Sherilyn Fenn (who pretty much looked exactly like her)I’m excited to see this film. Nothing can be worse then Lindsay’s crackhead portrayal of Elizabeth, I know that much.
My favourite actor, and one of my favourite actresses 🙂 REALLY looking forward to seeing this!
Dominic West is a stellar lover. No lie.