Helena Bonham Carter linked to 'Les Miserables' writer through ancestral cousin
London, Dec 19 (ANI)
Helena Bonham Carter shares more with French author Victor Hugo than just a role in the film based on his novel 'Les Miserables', it has been revealed.
A study by ancestry.com has shown that Hugo was a colleague of French financier and politician Achille Fould, Bonham Carter's first cousin five times removed, the Telegraph reported.
The two men served together, Hugo in the constitutional and legislative assembly, Fould as minister of finance, in the post-revolutionary French government of the 1840s.
Fould was a great supporter of Louis-Napoleon III who seized power through a coup d'etat in 1851, whereas Hugo declared him a traitor.
Whilst Bonham Carter's ancestor rose through the ranks of the new regime, Hugo relocated to Brussels then Jersey, finally settling in Guernsey where he wrote contemptuously about the treachery of his former colleagues, including Fould.
In one publication, the novelist referred to Fould as a "chameleon" who had "blood on his hands."
It seems only appropriate, therefore, that Bonham Carter takes on the role of villainous Madame Thenardier in Tom Hooper's all-star production of Hugo's celebrated novel 'Les Miserables' which premieres in January.