Helen Mirren is having quite a year. She won an Emmy for her portrayal of the first Queen Elizabeth in the HBO production Elizabeth I and played the more contemporary second Queen Elizabeth in the exquisite Indie film The Queen, a performance which will more than likely earn her a third Oscar nomination, if not the Best Actress award itself.
But in between playing such courtly figures, Mirren also snuck in an edgy thriller, playing an assassin with a conscience in Shadowboxer, along with Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff and Mo’Nique. The oftentimes violent story examines love and relationships in a way that doesn’t adhere to the conventional, mixing age and race indiscriminatingly.
Hollywood.com chatted with Dame Helen–as well as first-time director Lee Daniels (noted for producing controversial, acclaimed films such as Monster’s Ball and The Woodsman)–about this little-exposed gem of a film that they both hope will generate a healthy cult following once its released on DVD Nov. 7.
Hollywood.com: Shadowboxer is definitely a film that grips you.
Helen Mirren: I know, it is! Sadly, it didn’t stay in the theatres for very long, but being here in New York and doing lots of publicity for The Queen, which is just opening, lots of people have come up to me and said, “Oh, I loved your movie!” I thought they were talking about The Queen, but then they’d say, “Shadowboxer, it’s a great movie!” It’s really great to hear that. I mean, I met a woman in the supermarket and she could hardly speak. I think she must have had a similar experience or something, she just absolutely loved it. I’m hoping it’ll be poised to becoming a cult movie. Because it deserves to be.
Lee Daniels: As a filmmaker, I don’t like any of my films. I always see flaws in all of them. But Helen is so proud of our little film, she’s so happy with it. Out of all the directors she’s worked with, she had me talk to 60 Minutes, who is doing a piece on her. I was so honoured that she thought that much of the film and me. It just validated the thoughts about the person I hired and what a great person she is. I miss her.
HW: Do you think it didn’t generate more in the theatres because of its Indie sensibilities? I mean, I don’t think the studios knew what to do with it since it crosses so many boundaries in what’s considered an “”urban”" tale.
HM: I think that’s very true. The director Lee Daniels had something interesting to say about it. He said if you’re an African American and you don’t make a movie about the ghetto and drugs, or pulling yourself up and becoming a professor of science or something–if you make a movie with its own sort of individual style, they don’t know what to do with it. It doesn’t fit into their idea of what kind of films African Americans should be making. And it confuses them. Lee calls this film: “Homo-Euro-Ghetto” [Laughs]. Perfect description. It’s got the courage and bravado of the gay community. The sophistication of a European movie. And it’s got the deep down funky nature of a ghetto movie. And that’s the magic of the movie, combining those different elements.
LD: That’s the great thing about independent film that you can hire who you want to hire and you don’t really have to have a sea of suits telling you you can’t. But it was a hard film to market. Is it about art at the end of the day that will get money? It made me think about the cookie cutter way. But then I thought about how much I loved my movie, how different it was. It’s representative of the truth I know it to be, which I think is more important than trying to get a broad audience. Of course, don’t tell that to my investors. I guess what upsets me sometimes is that because of Monster’s Ball, I suddenly find myself is this league with these big-ass f**king movies, and these big-ass famous directors, and how can you compete with these $80, $90 million dollar movies when you have a budget of $1 million? It’s almost depressing as a filmmaker, you know? It’s hard. But I’m not anti-studio, just waiting for the right studio gig.
HW: In your collaboration, how did Lee Daniels as a director sort of stand out from the crowd?
HM: Lee is a first-time director and because of that he was free of constraints other directors might have. He was utterly free and brave. It was very exhilarating as an actress to be exposed to that. He wasn’t influenced by anyone but himself. Lee’s an extraordinary person because he’s very experienced in the world of movies, producing and so forth. But he’s not a film buff and you don’t feel like he’s watched a 100 movies by Kurosawa. So he’s very free in his imagery and his ideas of what you can and can’t do. He has no rules, and there’s a great freedom there. And also, I got to meet incredible people I wouldn’t have gotten to meet otherwise, in my normal British sort of world…Like Mo’Nique and Macy Gray, these wonderful people who are so inspiring to me. It opened my parameters considerably.
LD: [Directing] was an experience I did to better understand, as a producer, to work with directors. Because we are always on a low, shoe-string budget and when you are on that kind of a budget, you are really hard on the director. Time is money. So I felt, how could I be a better producer? And a better producer would direct. And now, of course, I’m a total whipped producer. If a director asks for a rain machine, “Yeah, bring the f**king hurricane machine!” It has made me emphasize and understand the mind set.
HW: And it’s so refreshing to have a film like Shadowboxer cross so many lines—age, race, even body sizes. Was that Daniels’ intention?
HM: Yes. But those are real relationships [Relieved laugh]. In the movies, it’s always like we all have to be a certain age, a certain size and sometimes a certain race, to play certain roles. I mean, if you’re British, all you get to ever play are the evil characters. We get to play all the baddies. But that’s what I was saying about Lee because he breaks all the rules. He completely ignores all of that. He doesn’t see it, enjoys the disparities, the contradictions. And although the film is extremely stylish and quite extreme, there’s a kind of thread of reality in it. That truth is stranger than fiction.
LD: After I cast the film, I looked at my freak show and thought, “My god, it IS a freak show!” I mean, I understand the show, but will middle America get it. I thought I was going to be f**king run over. I told all the actors walking in, “You guys, we are going to get rammed by the critics. Just know that this is just so left field that it will take a rare bird to get this world. And if you can understand that walking in, then let’s have a party!” So we did, we had a party. I have to stop thinking I have to please middle America but rather the world that I understand and know. The streets that I walk, the people I encounter on the train or at home or in the neighbourhood. I think we are forced fed by the media to believe that it’s a cookie cutter situation, relationships and people and such. But in reality, it’s not.
HW: When you signed onto the project, were those ‘contradictory’ things already in place or did the process change as you went along?
HM: Yeah, I think as the process went on. Cuba, for example, was never going to play that role, but was being talked about for a completely different role. But someone fell out and Lee said, “Why don’t we have Cuba play that role?” And I thought it was a fantastic idea. How I came onto the project is a funny story. I was walking down a New York sidewalk, minding my own business, when this maniac approached me, with unbelievable dread locks and said, “Oh my god, you’re Helen Mirren! I love you and I have a movie I want you to be in!” I was very polite but was like, Right, like never! Lee was saying he was a producer and whatnot. I think it was before Monster’s Ball . But then Monster’s Ball came out and saw that Lee was attached to that and responsible for it, in many ways. Then suddenly, there he was again, “Hi, it’s me, Lee, remember? Well, I’ve got the money for it!” And unconventional, as everything around Lee is.
HW: So many memorable, piercing scenes to choose from–what was your favourite?
HM: I sort of liked the scene in which Cuba does a strip tease for me [Blythely]. And the [compelling] music playing in that scene is what Lee brought to the set when we shot it. Cuba is wonderful actor, also very free, very generous, fun to be around. He just goes for it, like all great actors do.
LD: I didn’t want to hire [Cuba]. Something about Cuba annoyed me, I still can’t articulate what is about him that bothered me. But then I remember this fleeting scene he did in Boyz n the Hood and I said why not? He was hungry, he’s militant and he needs a director who tells him, “No, this is what I want. Give me your soul.” I am most proud of him in [Shadowboxer] because he did give me his soul. And once he got into the rhythm of it, he was a f**king one-take wonder.
HW: How did you prepare for the role of an assassin and for your incredibly sensual moments with Cuba?
HM: I did have to think about who this woman was and why would she be an assassin, what brought her to this place. So I had to think about the back story of that a lot. If you had the ability to fly in the window of any of these apartments that I’m sitting here looking at from my New York apartment, and then find out the intricate details of the people living in those apartments, you’d find all sorts of extraordinary relationships and lives. Love is a very generous thing. It hits people in all kinds of ways. It doesn’t follow one single format–do you know what I mean? And it comes in many, many different manifestations. It’s great to see a movie that allows that to happen.
HW: Do you think because of all the buzz over your performance in The Queen, people might be more attracted to come back to Shadowboxer?
HM: I hope so. I’m hoping a lot of people watch this movie on DVD because it’s such an interesting movie: those who haven’t had the opportunity to see it, and those who have seen it and have given such a strong response.
HW: And how do you feel about all the award energy surrounding The Queen? I mean, I hate to j-i-n…
HM: Put a spell on it? [Laughs] It’s great, but I’ve been a professional actress for quite a long time. And you have successful moments and less successful moments. In a funny way, the successful moments are as difficult and as pleasurable as the unsuccessful moments. In a sense that you just continue, you just carry on working, really, is what you do. Of course, when a project is successful, it’s lovely. But when it’s not as successful, I mean, this is the case in point with Shadowboxer. This was a film I LOVED doing–and for me and for my life, it was a hugely successful experience. It exposed me to people and situations I wouldn’t have had otherwise, and it was a really cool film to be in. I’m incredibly proud of it and am so glad it’s on my CV. Of course, I’m not going to be nominated for an Oscar for it, but for me, it’s one of the most successful movies of my career. I mean, if I get nominated, I’d be extremely happy and proud but that’s not really how I judge my life–and my work.
