The League of Austen Artists: Anglo Fan Favorites

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Helena Bonham Carter wins favorite Woman of 2011 by Anglophenia

BBC Anglophenia

By: Kevin Wicks Posted: Friday, October 7th, 2011

Fans voted Helena Bonham Carter as the Woman of 2011. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

he’s been a critics’ darling and a fashion fascination for three decades. And now actress Helena Bonham Carter, 45, is the very first winner of the Anglo Fan Favorites women’s tournament, pulling out a 55-45 percent victory over Harry Potter novelist JK Rowling. Dame Maggie Smith, the 76-year-old recent Emmy winner for Downton Abbey, overwhelmed 21-year-old Emma Watson 68-32 percent in the third-place matchup. It’s been a great year for Bonham Carter

She received an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA for playing Queen Elizabeth II‘s mother in The King’s Speech, starred in the hugely successful Harry Potter franchise finale, and was honored with the British Artist of the Year award from BAFTA Los Angeles.

Bonham Carter joins men’s champ Alan Rickman on the winner’s stand this year. Both have enjoyed diverse careers, excelling at both villains and heroes. At age 19, Helena first came to prominence as passionate, conflicted Lucy Honeychurch in the 1986 Merchant/Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster‘s turn-of-the-century romance A Room With a View. Later, playing Ophelia in Mel Gibson‘s Hamlet showed that the beautiful ingenue could serve up some major “cray-cray,” and a legendary cinema eccentric was born. (Becoming Tim Burton‘s muse only strengthened her outré status.) And certainly portraying Bellatrix Lestrange in the globally successful Harry Potter films launched her into a new stratosphere of fame. (Read Leah Rozen‘s look back at Helena’s career here.)

What is it about Helena that sparks such fan loyalty? What are your favorite HBC roles? Tell us below in the comments, and we may feature you in our salute to Helena next week.

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Tagged: Anglo Fan Favorites Tournament, Helena Bonham Carter, JK Rowling, Maggie Smith

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

ALAN RICKMAN'S LONG WONDERFUL CAREER

After fans voted Alan Rickman the “Man of 2011″ in first Anglo Fan Favorites tournament, we asked readers to pay tribute to the star in their own words. And we received more than 200 impassioned replies. Over the next few days, we’ll be sharing some of those responses, along with some choice clips that illuminate the actor’s 40-year career in theater, film, and television.
After graduation from the RADA in the early ’70s, Rickman took to the stage, briefly hitting the Royal Shakespeare Company circuit before his camera-ready charisma (and deep, mellifluous voice) brought him TV parts. In 1978, sprightly and lean at age 32, he appeared as Tybalt in the BBC Television Shakespeare adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

For a more lighthearted, buoyant Alan, check out this clip from 1982′s Smiley’s People, an adaptation John le Carré‘s novel. He has a brief scene with star Alec Guinness, and his facility with a throwaway line is a thing of beauty.

His breakout part came with the villainous Rev. Obadiah Slope in the 1982 adaptation of Anthony Trollope‘s The Barchester Chronicles. Here’s your glimpse of the Rickman archetype to come: fastidious yet sexy, with an intimidating, calm intelligence, and serpentine eyes that blink ever so slowly and methodically. And, as Rickman fan Gilly writes, “So slimy!” Fellow fan Devin adds, “He probably had the best exit line ever: ‘May you both live forever!’” Own it on DVD. Watch a clip below. (Warning: spoilers.)

In 1985, Rickman raised his international profile when he appeared as scheming Valmont in the play Les Liaisons Dangereuses, opposite Lindsay Duncan as Merteuil. In 1987, the production moved from London to Broadway, and Rickman was nominated for a Tony for his performance. However, the actor was denied a role in the big-screen version. (John Malkovich nabbed the part in the motion picture.) Here’s some rare footage of Duncan, Rickman, and Juliet Stevenson as Tourvel. Raise your hand if you’d pay good money to see this in full.

Despite the Dangerous Liaisons snub, Hollywood came calling, and it was Rickman’s role as German terrorist/bank robber Hans Gruber in the 1988 thriller Die Hard that secured his myth.

Rickman fan Kim writes, “Hans Gruber is one of the greatest antagonists of all time, and Alan Rickman is the one who made him so memorable. I so wanted Hans to get away with the money actually!”
Lee adds, “He’s just deliciously sinister throughout with his smirks and threats yet still maintains a certain charm. You’re not supposed to root for this guy but you can’t help being captivated by him, Rickman is the king of messing with the audience’s emotions.”
Lily394 writes, “How he didn’t get an Oscar nom for Die Hard I’ll never know. The way he said the line ‘Who cares?’ I said to myself, ‘Who IS this guy?’ I remember, and I’m not kidding here, wondering if he was really some ex-con maniac who had somehow gotten out of jail and was so charismatic [that] he worked his way to Hollywood, and no one said a word about his treacherous past…. I couldn’t believe this guy wasn’t REALLY a bad person. If that’s not acting, what is.”

Die Hard made $138 million at the box office and put Alan Rickman’s name on every studio’s list as a go-to baddie. But while Rickman certainly played his share of terrifying criminals – namely, the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991′s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which won him a BAFTA – he’s built a career of tremendous diversity.
As Sadira writes, “Each movie I’ve seen him in he’s just gotten better and better — he’s the handsome bad boy you just know you could fix, he’s the sensitive guy who’s overlooked, he’s the under-appreciated fellow you suddenly realize has been there all along, he’s the one you let get away. His voice, his face, his incredibly expressive eyes, his dancer’s carriage, all work together to make a completely original, delicious, delightful package named Alan Rickman.”
More on Rickman’s post-Die Hard career tomorrow…I leave you with Benedict actor Cumberbatch doing a spot-on impression of Mr. Rickman singing “Candle in the Wind”