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 Magnificent 7
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Helena Bonham Carter plays Maggi
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Rather fittingly for someone famed for her own individuality, Helena Bonham Carter
says it was the eccentricity of the Jackson family which made her want to take on
the role of Maggi and make a rare appearance on the small screen.
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"People seem to make a division between big and small screen but I don't really
care what the medium is, it's the writing and the part that matter.
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"I've always
been attracted by eccentrics or differences in people and I really liked the whole
message of it's all right to be different," she explains.
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"It's actually a
celebration of all the kids and their differences and what they like. It's the
scrapbook of a year in the life of this eccentric family and it sets out to
enchant, not to depress.
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"I was also fascinated by autism and one good thing about this job is it offers a
free education along with it."
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With her hectic schedule encompassing filming for
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and providing voices for the animated films
Corpse Bride and Curse of the Were Rabbit, Helena only had ten days to prepare for
Magnificent 7 so Jacqui was her window into that world.
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"I couldn't have done it
if Jacqui hadn't been so generous with her time," she says. "I had a massive
education in autism and her life – and also in speaking with a northern accent."
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"I went up to visit her and the kids. They were all so down to earth, it was very
easy.
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"I could feel as soon as I walked in that's she a great homemaker, and there
are these other people, waifs and strays, that she adopts because she's a natural
mother.
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"I ended up speaking to her pretty much every day on the phone as I had to
call her up and ask what would I do in this situation or that situation.
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"I
approached it thinking she has to be all these different kinds of mothers to all
these kids because they all have different needs so that was quite fascinating."
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"There's something striking about a single mother with seven children doing it all
on her own. When you hear of her situation you think immediately of words like
harassed and careworn but Jacqui confounds every expectation.
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"She's very sexy,
unbelievably vivid and vital, very bright, very quick, has a great sense of humour
and she's quirky.
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"She's not a conformist and I think that's central to the way
she's brought up her children with the central message that it's alright to be
you. Don't pretend to be anything else but yourself.
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"She doesn't seek to change
her children, but she does seek to change the world, there's a bit of the
revolutionary in her."
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"Jacqui is really enchanted by the kids, not depressed by them. Obviously, a lot
of it is incredibly hard but there are things that she finds really funny.
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"Luke,
who has Asperger's syndrome, really can't conceive of any type of metaphor or
idiom, he takes everything desperately seriously and that often has hilarious
results.
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"And Joe is so imaginative. He really can't tell the difference between
fact and fantasy, which she finds amusing.
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"As the character of Maggi says in the
script sometimes she thinks the world would be much more fun if it was how he
imagined it. They've got a very fresh perspective.
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"There's a real childlike quality to Jacqui herself, I think that's what makes her
such a good mother.
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"And the Jackson kids have got so much charm, they're all so
sweet and so loving.
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"The day they all came down to set it was like a mad mirage
appearing across the field – it really was multi-coloured mayhem (the title of
Jacqui's book), a mad ragbag of family."
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Helena was impressed by Jacqui's quest to understand and explain autism to others.
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"It's so prevalent, autism touches in some sort of way so many families that I
speak to, but given the prevalence I think there's still quite a lot of ignorance
about it. People don't really know about it.
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"It's such a huge spectrum that ranges
from dyslexia and dyspraxia to severe autism and Jacqui has done so much to try
and communicate this and to spread the word and the awareness so that people
aren’t so befuddled and puzzled.
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"I think Magnificent 7 will definitely give people
a feeling for what it's like to be Jacqui but also what the world is like for the
children."
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Having become so involved with Jacqui's world, Helena was understandably nervous
about what Jacqui would make of the finished film.
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"It's always daunting playing someone alive because you owe them a responsibility,
but luckily she's got a sense of humour and she's got a sense of proportion," she
laughs.
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"I said I don't look anything like you so it's not going to be an
impersonation," she says.
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"And I'm glad my character has a different name. This
isn't a documentary – there's one of those already. But I think she was moved.
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"She literally doesn't have a moment for herself and so she doesn't stop to see her
life for what it is, so seeing it with some kind of objectivity with friends - I
think that maybe brought something out."
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And Jacqui must have been pleased because the two are still in touch.
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Asked
whether meeting Jacqui has affected her life she smiles: "Obviously, it made me
feel very lucky as I've got a nanny and I've only got one child.
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"It's been a
great addition having her as a friend. There's no pretence about her, which is
what I really like.
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"Of course there are times when she's incredibly tired and it's
just awful but she doesn’t pretend otherwise.
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"She speaks to other mothers of
autistic children and she's really strong at saying, 'I'm not perfect. Often I
don't get out of my pyjamas by 12'."
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Magnificent 7 is a drama that will strike a chord with any parent.
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Helena feels
that a parent's job is to bring their children up to be independent and grow away
from them but there's also a strong urge to protect and in Jacqui's situation this
is even harder.
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"What's so beautiful about the kids is they've got such
innocence, they haven't got that competive ego, but that doesn't bode them well
in the big wide world."
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Filming took place over the summer and with the saying 'never work with children'
ringing in her ears, Helena was delighted to find that she loved working with her
seven on-screen kids.
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"They were all so professional – it was the middle of summer
but there was no complaining about wearing earmuffs, goggles and a balaclava," she
laughs.
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And for Helena the filming was summed up by the first day.
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"We were
filming in the Trafford Centre thinking it would be deserted on that day and the
whole of Manchester was there.
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"And I thought, you know what, it's right it should
be like this because the whole of Jacqui's life is chaos and mayhem."
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