Helena Bonham Carter "gets off on" researching her characters.
The 'Les Miserables' actress - who has played memorable characters ranging from the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 'The King's Speech' to her latest role as a peg-legged prostitute in 'The Lone Ranger' - loves the process of getting into character and is drawn to roles that provide a "challenge".
She said: "The research is what I get off on. My mum is a psychologist and I'm very similar to her. I love the challenge of working a character out. Ultimately, I don't agree to do a film because I think it's going to be a success. I do it because I think I'm going to learn something from the character I'm playing."
The 47-year-old star is currently researching for her next role as screen icon Elizabeth Taylor in a new BBC film and has been "annoying" her partner, director Tim Burton with her impersonation.
He told Vogue UK magazine: "She's been Elizabeth Taylor, very annoyingly, for several months now. She has been reading lots of things, making notes, studying. She's like a scholar. You would think she was writing a biography."
In her quest for knowledge, Helena picked up numerous skills from her role as a gun-toting, prosthetic-legged prostitute in western film 'The Lone Ranger' - including learning "how to be a w***e".
She said: "I learnt how to be a Southern belle, which I've always rather wanted to be. And how to be a w***e, which I've also always rather wanted to be. And I learnt how to fire a double-barrelled shotgun out of an ivory prosthetic leg. It's frighteningly empowering firing a gun, you know? I'm afraid I learnt that, too."
Tagged in Elizabeth Taylor Helena Bonham Carter Tim Burton