Fish tales: in Tim Burton's latest adventure, Big Fish, a dad weaves tall tales to win the love of his family and friends. Here, Interview asks some of the film's cast about their own flights of fancy

HELENA BONHAM CARTER

"The only tall tale I'll admit to telling was when I was at school, aged 10 (actually, that's a bit of a tall tale--I was 16, and should have known better by then). To get out of an English-literature exam I soooo did not want to take, I told my teacher I'd fainted on the subway on the way to school. Principally because I had a naturally tubercular hue to my complexion (and have always had, for that matter), it worked a treat. I was sent home. An addendum: The same teacher, when I shared with him my ambition to become an actress, pointed out that the Greek for actor is hypocrites--the same word for liar."

DANNY DEVITO

"Oh, I love to tell my sisters wild stories that keep them on the edge of their seats. Here's one: About a year and a half ago I went with the family on a photo safari to the Serengeti plains. We're in the Land Rover with a guide and a driver, and around us there are some clumps of vegetation, but mostly just wide plains. Now, on the first day, we stop for lunch and the guides get out of the car and set up a picnic table. They've already told us, 'Don't ever get out of the car.' It's Africa, man! You're either a cat, or you're cat food! [laughs] But I've got to take a leak to beat the band. So I got out, and in midstream I look up and see a freaking lion 20 feet away. I look back at the car, I see my family, they see the lion, and I thought I was going to be killed right in front of their faces. I stood still because I thought, There ain't no way I'm gonna outrun a cat! I could hear him making sounds in the bush, then he turned and walked away. I was within an inch of my life, but I made it. And let me tell you something: I never got out of the fucking car again. [pauses] And let me tell you another thing: It never happened because I never got out of that car."

ALISON LOHMAN

"I walked into the audition with Ridley [Scott] for Matchstick Men, and I told him I was 14 to get the part. I had my hair in pigtails and wore this baby-doll T-shirt that made me look really flat--I mean, I am anyway. I felt weird, but I figured if I could convince him I really was 14, well, that'd be the ultimate audition. But I hadn't planned it all out, and it started to get a little difficult to keep up. At one point Ridley was like, 'Who drove you here?' and everything started to fall apart. I told him the truth, and he laughed. A week later I got the part."

STEVE BUSCEMI

"I would love to tell you a tall tale, but I have a stomach ache."

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