Helen Mirren picks her all-time favourite role
British acting royalty Dame Helen Mirren has graced our screens for over four decades, but her acting legacy stretches back a further two decades of theatrical eminence. Although her youthful appearance deceives, Mirren is now 78 years old and sits atop a remarkable filmography, including highlight roles such as Gosford Park and her Academy Award-winning appearance in The Queen.
Despite her numerous accolades, including the Triple Crown, and laudable appearances on both stage and screen, Mirren asserted that she doesn’t “know anything about acting” in a 2018 interview with Town & Country.
Alas, the actor was regarding her recent move into teaching for the online education platform MasterClass. While she found her own approaches and helmed her roles by almost subconscious means, Mirren realised rather quickly that her technical knowledge was somewhat limited.
Fortunately, after consulting her husband, movie director Taylor Hackford and purchasing a helpful book by Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, Mirren scraped by and enjoyed her teaching experience. “I ran out and bought Stanislavski because I’d never read it,” she admitted.
“I sat down in the chair and started talking, and all of these things I didn’t realise I knew just flowed out of me,” Mirren added. “I thought, ‘My God,’ I had no idea that I knew all of this stuff!”
Elsewhere in her interview, Mirren discussed her past roles humbly as ever. “As an artist, I know how difficult it is to say, ‘This performance is better than that performance,’ so I’m always honoured to receive awards [specific roles], but do take it with a grain of salt,” she said. “However, to be recognised for all of your work, that’s a very different thing and quite affecting, really.”
Despite fence-top deliberation, Mirren was asked to pick out her one favourite role. “It’s Elizabeth I,” she replied. “I did win a Golden Globe for that, but when I look at it now, I see it as possibly some of the best work I’ve ever done.”
Elizabeth I was a popular two-part drama released on HBO in 2005. With Mirren in the titular lead role, the story follows the Queen’s eventful latter years on the throne. Watch the trailer below.
