The “Harry Potter” co-stars reunite on-screen for the film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Sweeney Todd,” and find that life ain’t a song.

By Jonathan Zipper

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 12/17/07 – “It’s a perfect Christmas movie, don’t you think?” laughs Helena Bonham Carter, co-star of “Sweeney Todd and wife of director Tim Burton. “Horror-slasher movie, serial killer musical… a little cannibalism thrown in. It’s perfect, that’s why they’re releasing it on the 21^st. A lot of red!”

Yet Burton’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” starring Johnny Depp, required more than just a sense of macabre humor. Bonham Carter and fellow Hogwort’s alumni Alan Rickman and had to learn to sing like angels – or devils, considering the movie’s demonic premise.

Despite being married to Burton, Oscar-nominee Bonham Carter was never a shoe-in for the role of Mrs. Lovett.

“He asked me to audition,” Bonham Carter revealed to Hollywood Today. “He said: ‘but I just don’t know if you can sing, so you’re going to have to audition just like everybody else.’ So, I went and learned to sing – which I always wanted to do cause I always wanted to be in a musical, and I’ve also loved Sondheim. The whole of this was really powered by my complete love and infatuation with whatever Sondheim has written.”

While taking part in the Golden Globe-nominated film was a long-time dream for Bonham Carter, she relates the vocal training process to that of an athlete’s conditioning.

“It was a real eye-opener. It’s a sport, singing. You have to be physically very fit, and you have to exercise those muscles every single day.”

She attributes her performance to vocal coach Ian Adam, best known for his work with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, who passed away shortly after filming wrapped.

“His specialty was getting non-singing actors to sing, and finding a voice very quickly, and giving you the confidence.”

Her “Harry Potter” co-star, Alan Rickman also sought professional help for his performance as the evil Judge Turpin.

“I worked with a singing teacher, I thought that would probably be a good idea,” Rickman told HT. “You know, it’s Sondheim and it’s not easy. My singing teacher was absolutely invaluable. It’s just about trying to ram, what for everybody else is 20 years of training, into a couple of months.”

When it came time to unveil his singing voice to Sondheim, Rickman viewed it as a golden opportunity to collaborate with a legendary songwriter.

“That’s why you do this… to work with these people, not to be frightened.”

Film audiences often equate Rickman with “bad guy” characters, which he feels could potentially have something to do with his off-screen personality. “It’s probably because I’m actually a horrible person in real life,” he said jokingly.

However, Rickman, who is getting noticed as a good guy in upcoming Sundance film “Bottle Shock,” is quick to clarify that the roles he chooses have nothing to do with good or bad, but rather the parts themselves: “If you’re being asked to be an angel or a devil, you commit yourself.”

While Bonham Carter gave birth on Saturday to a baby girl, her second child with Burton, plans are already in place for her return to the “Harry Potter” set in February. Rickman will also rejoin the “Potter” crew but continues to think about the opportunities that await.

“Just around the corner, you know that there’s somebody coming out of film school who’s gonna do something amazing, and you hope that they want not just 12-year-olds in it. Cause I’m ready! I’m still awake and still walking,” said 61-year-old Rickman. “That’s what I get excited about… and of course, by working with Ang Lee, Tim Burton, [Anthony] Minghella, or whomever. It’s all a playground, and there are visionaries, and there are the new hope. I might direct a bit more, so who knows. That might be a bit more of my future.”

With audiences eagerly anticipating “Sweeney Todd,” the movie could very well find itself turning all that red into a large amount of green at the box office this Christmas.