Welcome to The Helen Mirren Archives, your premiere web resource on the British actress. Best known for her performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, "Prime Suspect" and her Oscar-winning role in "The Queen", Helen Mirren is one of the world's most eminent actors today. This unofficial fansite provides you with all latest news, photos and videos on her past and present projects.  Enjoy your stay.
Celebrating
10 years
on the web
Jun
04
2021

ABC’s unscripted wildlife comedy series ‘When Nature Calls’ has found its voice in British actor Helen Mirren, who will narrate the series, which will now be titled ‘When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren’. According to Deadline, the series, which premieres on Thursday, June 24, looks at the funny things that animals get up to in the wild such as the surprising sounds that come out of the mouths of majestic beasts, teeny-tiny frogs and beatboxing badgers. ‘When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren’ will be based on a BBC Studios format, ‘Walk on the Wild Side’, which aired on BBC One in the UK for two seasons. It is produced by BBC Studios’ L.A. production arm, the division behind ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and Nat Geo’s ‘Life Below Zero’ and ‘Breaking Bobby Bones’. K.P. Anderson, the executive producer of ‘The Soup’ and ‘Norm Macdonald Has a Show’, will executive produce and serve as showrunner with Ryan O’Dowd exec producing for BBC Studios. Brad Stevens and Boyd Vico will serve as head writers and executive producers. “I am excited by the opportunity to reveal the ‘true inner lives’ of the noble creatures with whom we share the planet,” said Mirren. “When you’ve won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony, the only way to further add to your legacy is to narrate When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren,” said Rob Mills, executive vice president, Unscripted & Alternative, Walt Disney Television. Valerie Bruce, general manager, LA Productions, BBC Studios said, “Helen Mirren is without a doubt one of the greatest talents of our time, and we consider it a privilege to bring her iconic voice to this series. She is the perfect storyteller to take us on this journey as we reimagine the animal kingdom with a comic twist and bring to life the more humorous side of creatures great and small.”

May
28
2021

PatheUK has debuted a new trailer for the comedy ‘The Duke’ starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. The film follows a true story that celebrates a man who was determined to live a meaningful life. Set in 1961, it follows the story of Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first, and remains the only, theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton proceeded to send ransom notes declaring that he would only return the painting on the condition that the government invest more in care for the elderly, specifically bringing attention to his long-running campaign for pensioners to receive free television. What happened next is the stuff of legends…only 50 years later did the full story emerge and it was revealed that Kempton had spun a web of lies. The only truth was that he was a good man, determined to change the world and save his marriage – how and why he used the Duke to achieve this, is a wonderfully uplifting tale that will be seen on film for the first time. The film hits UK cinemas on September 3rd.

May
24
2021

Solos, Amazon’s newly launched sci-fi series, is unlike anything else on the small screen. Creator David Weil’s vision of the future unfolds via episodes that focus and feature a single performer. Familiar faces like Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Mackie, and Constance Wu monologue through stylized sequences that combine to form an overarching narrative. While we’re used to seeing actors command the stage by themselves on Broadway, most television shows and films rely on a cast of characters. This stripped-down version of storytelling offers a new level of intimacy for audiences, but it’s just as exciting for the performers. “Anything that shakes up the format is interesting, isn’t it?” shared Mirren via Zoom. “At first, I thought, oh, it’s a monologue, it’s just too much work. I don’t know if I’ll be good enough, but then I read the script, and I thought, this is such a beautiful piece of writing. There’s such sensibility and understanding of a certain sort of woman, one who is very recognizable.” It’s hard to imagine an acting scenario where Mirren wouldn’t be up to snuff. As one of cinema’s most versatile stars, she’s played everyone from Catherine the Great to a trained assassin with skill. Still, her Solo character, Peg, feels like a departure. Self-doubting and shy, she’s spent her life apologizing for existing, but when an opportunity to see the galaxy comes around, Peg decides to take a chance. Surprisingly, Mirren saw a bit of herself in the role. “When I read it, I thought, this is my apologetic, British side, and it drives my husband crazy because he’s American and doesn’t understand it at all,” she says. “I identified with Peg. That part of me is why I became an actor. Many actors are extremely shy people who can’t deal with the real world, but the way they [manage] is through performance. It gives them a portal through which they can engage.” The complete article can be read over at Vogue.

May
21
2021

In the new Amazon science-fiction series “Solos,” Helen Mirren plays a senior citizen who decides to take a one-way ticket to the farthest reaches of the universe. Joining TODAY live, the actress also talks about finally achieving a longtime career goal – being in a car chase in the upcoming film “F9” – and reflects on a 1975 interview when she was critical of a “boring” question. The video can be watched above and in the video archive, HD screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

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Video Archive – Talkshows – The Today Show (2021)
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May
13
2021

Yesterday, Helen Mirren sat down with various entertainment outlets to promote next week’s release of Amazon Prime’s “Solos”. In interviews with Entertainment Tonight Canada and Access Hollywood, she also talked about her appearances in the upcoming “Fast & Furious 9” and “Shazam: Fury of the Gods”. Additionally, the first couple of featurettes for “Fast 9” have been released as well, so head over to the video archive to watch all new additions.

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Video Archive – News Segments – Access Hollywood (2021)
Video Archive – News Segments – Entertainment Tonight Canada (2021)
Video Archive – Career – Fast & Furious 9 – Featurette: The Women of F9

May
10
2021

Amazon Prime Video is ready to launch their upcoming sci-fi series, “Solos”. In a first look at the anthology series starring Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and more, fans get a sneak peek at the 30-minute episodes presented as a monologue of each character’s point of view. According to Amazon, the seven-part series “explores the strange, beautiful, heartbreaking, hilarious, wondrous truths of what it means to be human. The series spans our present and future and illuminates that even during our most isolated moments we are all connected through the human experience.” Uzo Aduba, Nicole Beharie, Anthony Mackie, Dan Stevens and Constance Wu also star. The star-studded anthology series comes from creator David Weil. “Solos” will premiere May 21 on Amazon Prime Video. Alongside the trailer, screencaptures and new production stills have been added to the photo gallery.

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Photo Gallery – Television Projects – Solos – Production Stills
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Photo Gallery – Television Projects – Solos – Trailer screencaptures
Photo Gallery – Television Projects – Solos – Posters & Key-Art

May
02
2021

Amazon Prime Video announced today that the highly anticipated Amazon Original anthology series Solos, created by David Weil and starring Academy Award-winning actors Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren, Emmy Award-winning actor Uzo Aduba, Nicole Beharie, Anthony Mackie, Dan Stevens, and Constance Wu will premiere on May 21 exclusively on Prime Video. The seven-part anthology series explores the strange, beautiful, heart-breaking, hilarious, wondrous truths of what it means to be human. The series spans our present and future and illuminates that even during our most isolated moments we are all connected through the human experience. These character-driven stories contend that even during our most seemingly isolated moments, in the most disparate of circumstances, we are all connected through the human experience. Amazon Studios’ Solos is executive produced by Weil and Laura Lancaster with Pixie Wespiser serving as a producer. Weil makes his directorial debut, helming three episodes. Sam Taylor-Johnson directs and executive produces two episodes. Additional directors include Zach Braff and Tiffany Johnson.

Apr
17
2021

For his new Amazon anthology series Solos, which explores the depths of human connection through the lens of eight remote characters, “a lot of the inspiration for [it] came from things I’m not allowed to do as a writer,” creator David Weil tells Entertainment Weekly. “In film and television, you’re really not allowed to have a 30-minute monologue, though I would love to in every episode of something I write.” In fact, the writer/director/executive producer of the new show, who also created the series Hunters for Amazon, explains “I remember films by their monologues, I remember TV series by those great epic speeches, and so I’ve always been yearning to do a piece that was one person in one room.” The question though becomes, “How do you engage an audience for that long of a time, and take them on a journey when you don’t have explosions and act breaks?” Weil’s answer is “It’s really on you, the writer, to create a story that’s compelling, that’s narratively thrilling, and that’s emotionally deep.” To achieve those goals, it’s of immense help having Anne Hathaway, Nicole Beharie, Helen Mirren, Uzo Aduba, Anthony Mackie, Constance Wu, Dan Stevens, and Morgan Freeman anchoring these stories. “These are some of the most masterful actors [to] have been on screen ever,” states the creator. “And I think that what’s so exciting and consistent about each of them is that they always want to challenge themselves. They always want to do something different, and Solos, I think, presented an opportunity for them that was unlike anything they’ve done before.” With its seven episodes mixing in elements of science fiction and classical theater, Weil describes Solos as “something special for a world that really needs material that can feel cathartic, that can feel hopeful, that can feel joyous, and terrifying, and really take you through the gamut of emotions in this short 30-minute piece.” EW got the exclusive first look at Amazon’s Solos below, along with input from Weil on things he loves about each episode.

Helen Mirren as Peg: Alone on a space shuttle headed toward the farthest reaches of the universe, Mirren’s character has a lot of time—too much?—to think about how exactly she got to this moment. The piece is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, “who is not only a brilliant filmmaker but also really an observationalist, she’s a photographer, she’s an artist, she’s someone who has such deep empathy,” according to Weil. “What Helen did in her performance with the bat of an eye, or look off to the side, or emotion welling in her eyes, or picking at her fingernails—there are all these little, almost mosaic tiles that created this grand beautiful performance. And I think it requires a director like Sam, who is such an observationalist, to come in and be able to see those beautiful nuances and to help realize it.”

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Photo Gallery – Career – Television Series – Solos – Production Stills
Photo Gallery – Career – Television Series – Solos – Posters & Key-Art

Apr
17
2021

On Tuesday, a new trailer dropped for F9, the next installment, which arrives in theaters on June 25 – most probably. We actually got our first look at F9 well over a year ago, when the first trailer dropped at the end of January 2020. Family has been a central theme to the F&F movies, and that continues here. Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) and the gang have to confront his younger brother Jakob (John Cena), described as “the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they’ve encountered.” He’s working with criminal mastermind Cipher (Charlize Theron), who sports a much more flattering haircut than in Fate of the Furious, the movie where she improbably hacked a bunch of old cars to drive themselves. Based on this second trailer, the plot for F9 appears to involve magnets, and at one point Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) don makeshift pressure suits and take to the skies in what might be a DeLorean with rocket boosters strapped to the roof. Helen Mirren returns in her third appearance in the F&F franchise. New posters and screencaptures from the trailer have been added to the photo gallery.

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Photo Gallery – Career – Fast & Furious 9 – Screencaptures
Photo Gallery – Career – Fast & Furious 9 – Posters & Key-Art
Video Archive – Career Videos – Fast & Furious 9 – Theatrical Trailer 02

Apr
07
2021

Fantastic news, according to The Hollywood Reporter: Helen Mirren is set to portray Israel’s only female prime minister Golda Meir in an upcoming biopic set during the Yom Kippur War. Golda, from BAFTA-winning producer Michael Kuhn (Florence Foster Jenkins, The Duchess) and being directed by Oscar winner Guy Nattiv, will focus on the 1973 conflict, when Egypt, Syria, and Jordan launched a surprise attack on Israel to reclaim territory lost during the Six-Day War in 1967, and the decisions made by Meir amid infighting from her all-male cabinet. Nicholas Martin (Florence Foster Jenkins) wrote the screenplay and also produces. Embankment, which was behind current Oscar- and BAFTA-tipped hit The Father, will represent international sales with CAA Media Finance and ICM jointly handling the domestic rights. Production is expected to start as early as October. “As someone who was born during the Yom Kippur War, I am honored to tell this fascinating story about the first and only woman to ever lead Israel,” said Nattiv, who won the live-action short film Oscar in 2018 with Skin (which he also developed into the A24 feature starring Jamie Bell, Vera Farmiga and Danielle Macdonald). “Nicholas Martin’s brilliant script dives into Golda’s final chapter as the country faces a deadly surprise attack during the holiest day of the year, a core of delusional generals undermining Golda’s judgment, all the while undergoing secret treatments for her illness. I could not be more excited to work with the legendary Miss Mirren to bring this epic, emotional and complex story to life.”