Considered one of the greatest actresses of our time, Dame Helen Mirren stars alongside fellow Brit and Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent in the new film The Duke out in theatres this weekend.
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The plot is based on an actual headline-making event that took place in England in 1961, when working-class taxi driver Kempton Bunton stole Spanish artist Francisco Goya's 1814 painting "Portrait of the Duke of Wellington" from the National Gallery in London. Bunton then issued a ransom demand to the authorities that the painting be returned, on the condition that the government ceases to abandon the elderly population in England. Bunton's wife, Dorothy, is played by Helen Mirren.
Mirren, 76, is one of only 21 actors who have won the title of "Triple Crown" with wins in all three leading acting awards: the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Tonys. She won her Academy Award for her role as Queen Elizabeth II of England in the 2007 film The Queen and has picked up four Emmy Awards over the years, including for her role on British drama series Prime Suspect. Earlier this week, Mirren was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
While promoting The Duke Mirren said that "The whole story took me by surprise, you would want to take it with a pinch of salt if it wasn't all true. I loved the charm of the script; it was sweet and very endearing. I love the 1960s, it was a more naïve, innocent time. And Dorothy is the practical one, which the woman so often is in the family; she is keeping the family going. Kempton is the dreamer, but he is very committed and courageous in many ways. We should not only take a leaf out of Kempton's book, but also Dorothy's - dreaming is all very well, but you still need to pay the bills! So, let's hear it for the practical people in life too"
On working with Broadbent, who starred inn such films as Bridget Jones's Diary, Another Year and 2001's Iris in a role that earned him the Academy Award, Mirren said, "It was crucial that we had the right chemistry, I slipped into the role of his wife very easily, there was no effort on my part, and the death of their young daughter has caused a change in the couple's previously happy marriage that neither one is able to talk about. There is a crack because of how they dealt with their grief differently. Dorothy suppressed it and tried to move on, whereas Kempton constantly revisited it in his writing".
Mirren's credits include such films as Gosford Park, Hitchcock and Woman in Gold and in recent years she has even joined the Fast and Furious film franchise. Last month, she made headlines when her casting for as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in Academy Award winner Guy Nattiv's upcoming feature film drew criticism, claiming the role should have gone to a Jewish actress.
"It was certainly a question that I had, before I accepted the role", revealed Mirren to The Daily Mail recently, in response to the criticism, "It is a very important person in Israeli history, I said, 'Look Guy, I'm not Jewish, and if you want to think about that, and decide to go in a different direction, no hard feelings. I will absolutely understand'. But he very much wanted me to play the role, and off we went".
In the past, Mirren talked about her trips to Israel over the years and while accepting the Career Achievement Award at the 2015 Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles, she even revealed that back in the 1960's she volunteered at Ha'On Kibbutz and hitchhiked her way to the shore city of Eilat.
"Since then I've been back a couple of times, I've been very grateful", said Mirren, "I was in the remake of the great Israeli film "The Debt" and I'm so impressed by the incredible Israeli film industry and very excited to see the films that are showing here. I love Israel; I think it's a great country. I think that through all the difficulties and all the pain that Israel has suffered in the past and will in the future, the great thing that Israel has is Israelis and they will guide it through".
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