Helen Mirren looks really great at her 62 years old. Behind her back is a great career in acting. Some of her earlier film appearances include O Lucky Man! (1973), Caligula (1979), 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), The Hawk (1993) and more. During her career, she has portrayed three British queens in different films and television series. These include Elizabeth I in the television series Elizabeth I (2005), Elizabeth II in the film The Queen (2006), and Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, in The Madness of King George (1994). Her role in The Queen gained her numerous awards including a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar. During her acceptance speech at the Academy Award ceremony, Mirren praised and thanked Elizabeth II and stated that she had maintained her dignity and weathered many storms during her reign as Queen.

Helen talks to More magazine in an interview about everything: love, movies, aging gracefully, and reveals the sex appeal that just won’t quit.

About fame Mirren said: “What I have is very benign, very sweet. Often it goes straight over my head. There are only two really tough times to be recognized: One is when you’re waiting for your luggage in the airport, and the other is when you are standing in line for the ladies’. Then you’re a captive and you either give up your place in line or you pretend that you don’t want your luggage after all. And then the embarrassment of my scruffy luggage when it does come out.’”
On sexuality and power: “I’m still trying to wriggle out from under that label. Sexuality for girls is so complex and tricky. I was never beautiful, but as a young woman, beautiful or not is sort of irrelevant. Being a sexual object is mortifying and irritating, yet it’s giving you power—an awful power that you’ve done nothing to deserve, a powerless power. I think some young women fall in love with that power, and it’s really objectifying. And when it starts falling away, it’s an incredible relief.”

On her opinion on Americans: “I think Americans are a little parochial, a little naïve. Naïveté can be a good thing as well, all that innocence and idealism, not like those cynical Europeans: ‘Oh, it’ll never work!’ But sometimes Americans show a terrible cruelty toward their own people, like what happened post-Katrina, in the wealthiest country in the world. Which is extraordinary to me.”

On aging and still working: “I’ve never been worried about getting older, but I do recognize that I’ve been incredibly lucky. I’ve been able to keep working and working, how cool is that? I’m still here, and I’m surging ahead at the moment. But that happened because I’ve always thought of myself as constantly learning.”
On experience and getting older: “When you’re 16, you think 28 is so old! And then you get to 28 and it’s fabulous. You think, then, what about 42? Ugh! And then 42 is great. As you reach each age, you gain the understanding and experience you need to deal with it and enjoy it.”
 


Publication date: 17 March 2008   

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