Helen Mirren’s favourite scenes of her career
Academy Award-winning actor Helen Mirren has starred on the big screen since the late 1960s, although the early period of her career was largely defined by her time with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In reality, Mirren’s movie career didn’t take off until the 1980s following a breakthrough performance in The Long Good Friday. Since then, she has earned praise for roles in movies such as The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Queen, Calendar Girls, and countless others.
Throughout Mirren’s prosperous career, she has found herself unable to forget certain scenes from her movies, picking out some of her favourites along the way. One of her most recognisable early performances came in Caligula, the erotic historical drama directed by Tinto Brass that was highly controversial upon its release. Mirren described the film to Huffington Post as a “great adventure”, equating the film to a “surreal fantasy world”. Her favourite section is the “death scene where they’re walking into the stadium and they’re all in white and they’re going to be stabbed to death”.
Discussing 1994’s The Madness of King George, the actor gushed about the outfits she was allowed to wear, stating, “One of the reasons I became an actress is because of costumes. So the whole film, really, just being on the set with all those costumes, wearing the costumes. It was beautiful.”
Later, in 2001, Mirren starred in Gosford Park, Robert Altman’s take on Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game. The film took home ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Oscars, with Mirren earning a nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’. Reflecting on that project, Mirren picked her favourite scene as the one in which she says, “I’m a good servant, I’m the best”.
Detailing further, she added, “I can’t remember who I’m saying it to; I think it’s the Kelly Macdonald character. It was a wonderful speech written by Julian Fellowes, a very, very good speech.”
Two years later, Mirren starred in Calendar Girls alongside Julie Walters and Celia Imrie, playing one of several middle-aged women who come together to make a nude charity calendar. Calling it a “very happy experience”, Mirren highlighted the yoga scene as her favourite, despite getting bitten by flies. “It was such a beautiful countryside, to be up on that hillside, giggling away with all of those girls. It was lovely.”
One of Mirren’s most acclaimed roles, however, is her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in 2006’s The Queen. For the actor, her favourite part of filming was driving her Land Rover. “I did my own sort of stunt driving, if you could call it that,” she said. “I was driving through the Scottish countryside, not being able to see where I’m going because there are two cameras strapped to the front of that vehicle.”
Yet, due to her roots as a member of the RSC, Mirren has been drawn back to adaptations of Shakespeare’s works several times, such as Julie Taymor’s gender-swapped version of The Tempest. Mirren treasured the ‘our revels now are ended’ speech, calling it “the most beautiful”.
Mirren continued, “Just to have the opportunity to have those words in your mouth is extraordinary, and I loved doing that.”
A few years later, Mirren portrayed Alfred Hitchcock’s wife, Alma Reville, in 2012’s Hitchcock, calling the “golden era of Hollywood,” in which the film is set, “so romantic to me,” she said. The actor’s favourite moment was “the arrival into Paramount in the car because it was so wonderful”.
Finally, Mirren selected a scene from 2014’s The Hundred-Foot Journey as one of her favourites. The movie depicts the rivalry between an Indian restaurant and a French restaurant, with Mirren playing the owner of the latter. She revealed, “I very much enjoyed her first arrival in the kitchen,” highlighting how it defines the character – “You just see how in her element she is”.
