Women of a certain age owe a debt of gratitude to Dame Helen Mirren. A few weeks ago, an L.A. Fitness poll crowned the 66-year-old as having the “Body of the Year.” Mirren beat out other regulars, including Jennifer Lopez and even royal sister-in-law Pippa Middleton.
“It’s fantastically flattering. Enormously flattering,” the Oscar winner tells the Sun-Times with a warm laugh. “I just can’t work out in my mind how this happened.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve toddled on in my own sweet way doing my thing,” she says of her amazing body. “I feel very undeserving. I have feet of clay and knees and a bottom of clay just like anyone else.”
Film fans are about to celebrate her late summer body of work, too. Mirren stars in “Brighton Rock,” opening Friday, about a disadvantaged teenager with a death wish.
She also has her name above the title in the much-awaited “The Debt” (Aug. 31), directed by John Madden. Mirren plays Rachel Singer, a former Mossad agent and hero who has been celebrated constantly over her lifetime for going undercover to kill a vicious Nazi war criminal who conducted medical experiments at the camps. But is he really dead?
In “The Debt,” you play a woman living with a terrible secret revolving around a Nazi war criminal. What was the appeal of the film?
It just ticked all the right boxes for me. This was a director [John Madden] I’ve worked with before and I was longing to work with him again. It was also a wonderful, unexpected story and one I hadn’t seen before. Honestly, ‘The Debt’ is the kind of movie that’s becoming a rarity these days. It has a complex story line.”
The film switches up and back between your younger self, played by “The Help’s” Jessica Chastain, and the older Rachel, who must deal with the ramifications of her past. Was it tricky to have two actresses playing the same role?
That’s always a very tough thing for a director. This film has some of the hardest technical filmmaking I’ve seen in a long time. You have to make that kind of story understandable for an audience. … I was cast first in the film, which left John with the problem of finding someone believable as me as a younger person. He shared with me that this was very difficult. We were very lucky to find Jessica. She is much more beautiful than I was at that age, but there was still a similarity between us. And I loved her when I met her. She had a similar sense of dedication and seriousness about the work, which I recognized as my younger self.
At the core of the movie, you play a woman who harbours a horrible secret for life. Can you imagine walking around with that kind of burden?
I think a lot of human beings walk around with secrets, and some are very heavy ones. I can’t even remember what percentages of murders are unsolved, which means there are a lot of murderers walking around amongst us and carrying that secret. Many of us carry things to the grave, including these war criminals. There are so many of them around us now from the Slavic wars. That person who did the terrible thing works in the candy store or cuts your hair. She’s the sweet woman in the candy store.
In the upcoming Phil Spector biopic with Al Pacino, you replaced Bette Midler, who had a back injury and couldn’t do the role of Spector’s attorney, Linda Baden. Do legendary actors such as Pacino ever intimidate you?
I did come in late, but it’s been amazing. Al is an intense, wonderful experience and it’s incredible to be working with him. It’s funny because Al was in a movie my husband [director Taylor Hackford] did called “The Devil’s Advocate.” He played the devil and Keanu Reeves was his lawyer. Now, I’m in a movie with Al playing his defense lawyer and defending a man who many people think is the devil. … And, yes, I get very intimidated by big movie stars when I first meet them. I feel insecure to work with someone like Al, but I know that he loves actors and the process of acting. I saw how he was on “Devil’s Advocate.” He’s very loving to actors.
And before we’re done: Any workout tips?
(Laughing) I’m far from being a big workout person. All I can say is it’s best to move as much as possible. Get outside. Take a walk. Enjoy your life. Still, I don’t have a routine I can tell the world. I like to garden. Does that even count?