Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
You'd think that Helen Mirren would tire of being referred to as "Your Majesty."
But apparently the only way she could top her Emmy-nominated critical triumph in HBO's Elizabeth I was to reclaim the crown as Elizabeth II in The Queen, which opens the New York Film Festival Sept. 29 and begins a limited run the next day.
"It's fantastic doing both in the same year," says Mirren, a British citizen married to American director Taylor Hackford (Ray). "It wouldn't be so interesting if they were similar, but their personalities are diametrically opposed. There are common threads. Both came to the throne at the same age (25). Both have had long-running reigns. Both were completely and utterly dedicated to accepting the mantle of monarch."
Otherwise, she adds, "they are completely different. Elizabeth I was a dictator who could do whatever she wanted. She had the power. Elizabeth II, of course, absolutely doesn't."
Then there is the great fashion divide: The first Elizabeth was a clotheshorse. The current Elizabeth is famed for her frumpery.
"I was used to jewels, beautiful fabrics," Mirren says. When she went for her costume fitting for The Queen, however, "there were all these brogue shoes lined up, and tweed skirts. She is utterly without vanity."
Though the actress, 61, is celebrated for her ageless beauty, she appears remarkably like the formal and formidable royal. "When I was younger, whenever I put on dark hair to play a character, I looked just like Princess Margaret," the queen's younger sister. "There must be a genetic connection. I used very little makeup. A little padding. The hair and glasses make a huge difference."
The bio portrait, directed by Stephen Frears (Mrs. Henderson Presents), focuses on a defining moment in the ruler's 54-year history: a bereaved public's outcry over the initial lack of royal response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
The intimate account of the Windsor clan, who were vacationing at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the time of Diana's death in a car crash, does mine some comedy from the tragedy. The humor, she assures, "comes from us looking at their behavior from the outside."
The Queen is on the radar of the gossip-hungry British media, which already have speculated that a scene of a chambermaid delivering the news while the queen is in bed was potentially disrespectful. "I'm in curlers with a hot water bottle," the actress explains. "Details of her private life are exposed, but the film is not a cheap shot or sensationalized."
Mirren, who became a dame in 2003, is glad not to be a real queen. Doesn't her husband treat her like one? "Oh, God, no," she says with a chuckle. "You must be joking."
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
