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
Dec
16
2022

Lots of additional press material for Sunday’s premiere of “1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story” have been added to the photo gallery, including production stills, many new promos with Helen and Harrison Ford and new posters. Also, this Wednesday saw the release of many press junket interviews with Helen that were conducted during the promotional stay in Las Vegas. You can watch them all in the video archive.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Television Films & Series – 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story – Production Stills
Photo Gallery – Television Films & Series – 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story – Promotional Stills
Photo Gallery – Television Films & Series – 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story – Posters & Key-Art

Dec
16
2022

While all eyes are on 1923’s December 18 premiere, let’s not forget next Spring’s theatrical release of “Shazam: Fury of the Gods”. In a recent interview with Total Film, director David F. Sandberg teased Mirren’s compelling new DCU villain in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. After Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is imbued with special powers by the last remaining member of the Council of Wizards in the previous film, the 14-year-old boy is transformed into Shazam (Zachary Levi). To defeat Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), an evil scientist who was denied the chance to become Shazam’s champion, Batson shares his power with his foster family to create a superhero team. Shazam! Fury of the Gods picks up two years after the events of its predecessor and sees Batson and his family take on the Daughters of Atlas. The director recalled his surprise that he was able to hire Mirren – an actor with a long esteemed career in film – to portray his chief antagonist, Hespera. Read Sandberg’s full quote below:

You need great villains for a great superhero movie. It was interesting that we landed on these mythological characters. It felt like something new for fans. We said from the start we should aim really high. We said, ‘We should get someone on the level of, like, Helen Mirren.’ And then we tried reaching out to her and she said ‘yes’ straight away. It was like, ‘Holy sh*t! We actually got Helen Mirren.’ Then we went to Lucy Liu and she said ‘yes.’ They bring so much to the parts. (David F. Sandberg, Total Film, December 2022)

Dec
10
2022

We’re only one week away from next Sunday’s premiere of “1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story” and fortunately the marketing for the series is not slowing down. While we’re crossing our fingers for more additional interviews next week, a nice batch of videos from the Los Angeles and Las Vegas premieres, as well as a first featurette, have been added to the video archive. For a complete list, have a look at the previews below.


Related Media

Video Archive – Career Videos – 1923 – Season 1 – Featurette
Video Archive – News Segments – FOX5 Las Vegas (2022)
Video Archive – News Segments – Studio 10 (December 08, 2022)
Video Archive – News Segments – Entertainment Tonight Canada (2022)
Video Archive – News Segments – E! News (2022)
Video Archive – News Segments – Associated Press (2022)

Dec
04
2022

It has been a big week for “1923” and its upcoming release on Paramount+ on December 18. Premieres for the first season of the “Yellowstone” spin-off were held in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with additional appearances made for a SAG/AFTRA conversation panel, yesterday. Pictures from all events have been added to the photo gallery.

“He’s fabulously hands-off. He presents the script, and it’s so extraordinary that you don’t want to change a word. You want to do it exactly as it’s written because it’s written with incredible precision but without being labored. To be able to be a part of a franchise in a world that is so singular on American television is very exciting. There’s nothing else quite like it.” (Helen Mirren on Taylor Sheridan, The Hollywood Reporter, December 02, 2022)

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2022 – “1923” Premiere (Las Vegas)
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2022 – “1923” SAG/AFTRA Conversation Panel
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2022 – “1923” Premiere (Los Angeles)

Nov
28
2022

The official trailer for 1923, Paramount+’s second Yellowstone prequel, is here. The trailer for the series, which stars Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford as Cara and Jacon Dutton, opens with a shot of Mirren being approached by Timothy Dalton’s Donald Whitfield, who announces that he’s moved into the ranch next to theirs. According to Paramount+, 1923 will introduce a new generation of Duttons led by patriarch Ford and Mirren’s characters. It will explore the “early 20th century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the mountain west, and the Duttons who call it home.” The Yellowstone prequel from Taylor Sheridan also stars Darren Mann, Michelle Randolph, James Badge Dale, Marley Shelton, Brian Geraghty and Aminah Nieves. 1923 will premiere simultaneously on the Paramount Network and on Paramount+ on Dec. 18.

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Photo Gallery – Career Photography – 1923: A Yellowtone Origin Story – Screencaptures – Trailer
Video Archive – Career Videos – 1923: A Yellowtone Origin Story – Trailer

Nov
24
2022

AARP The Magazine is giving us an early Christmas present with a stunning cover story on Helen Mirren’s return to television with “1923”. The full article can be read on their website. An excerpt can be found below, alongside a fantastic video interview from the shoot. It’s the tail end of a sun-sparkled afternoon in Butte, Montana, and here I am in a windowless basement bar with — if you’ll excuse the expression — this dame I met a few minutes before. I was standing on the street outside the Miner’s Hotel, minding my own, when she pulled up in her car, looking a bit tiny behind the wheel. Then she whipped into this swift, effortless U-turn, settling without a hitch, nice and tight to the sidewalk. Oddly impressive. She pretty much jumped out of the car, and she seemed just a shade invigorated. “It’s extraordinary!” she told me later. “There’s no traffic! You can do a U-turn here in the middle of the road.” This dame, her name is Helen. Dame Helen Mirren. We shook hands right there on the street.

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Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2022 – AARP The Magazine (USA, December 2022)

Nov
14
2022

The teaser trailer for the new “Yellowstone” prequel “1923,” starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, is here. The new original drama series is another “Yellowstone” origin story from Paramount+ centered around a new generation of Duttons. In the upcoming series, the family is led by patriarch Jacob Dutton (Ford) and his wife Cara Dutton (Mirren). Jacob is the brother of James Dutton, Tim McGraw’s “1883” character. In the teaser trailer, a voiceover states, “Violence has always haunted this family. It followed us from the Scottish Highlands to the slums of Dublin, and it followed us here. Where it doesn’t follow, we hunt it down. We seek it.” The series “will explore the early 20th century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the Mountain West and the Duttons who call it home,” according to a press release.

Related Media

Video Archive – Career Videos – 1923: A Yellowtone Origin Story – Teaser Trailer

Nov
12
2022

In a series of pictures posted by Vanity Fair, the pair unveil their new series set at the Dutton ranch a century ago. In times of overwhelming change, tradition can be vital for survival. Knowing how things were done before, understanding what still works, and discarding what doesn’t can be a crucial part of moving forward. This is what brings Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren’s longtime frontier couple to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in the upcoming series 1923. Tradition—and unstoppable change. Set a century before Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III holds together his family’s sprawling Montana empire in America’s most popular TV show, the contemporary Yellowstone series, this latest spin-off from creator Taylor Sheridan explores what life was like for the second and third generation of Duttons to work that land. They find themselves turning back to the first generation for guidance. A lot has changed in the 40 years since James and Margaret Dutton (played by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in the predecessor series, 1883) brought their family to this territory. Exactly what became of them by the time of 1923 is a mystery the show will reveal, but suffice to say their children, now in their late 30s and 40s, and grandchildren, now in their 20s, have come to rely on a new matriarch and patriarch as they confront the rise of mechanization, the growth of local government, and competition for resources from other ranchers. Their father’s brother, Jacob Dutton (Ford), and his wife, Cara (Mirren), now lead the family. The complete article can be read over at Vanity Fair. Helen’s promotional images can be found in the photo gallery.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Career Photography – 1923: A Yellowtone Origin Story – Promotional Stills

Oct
27
2022

Taylor Sheridan‘s limited series 1923 has turned out to be such a sprawling saga that he’ll need two seasons to get it done, according to Deadline. 101 Studios and MTV Entertainment Studios have given a thumbs up to Sheridan’s ambitions for the Paramount+ limited series, and sources said that negotiations are underway to bring back the cast for another season. Each 1923 season will be eight episodes, starring Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, and a cast of bright young actors playing the three young sons and two daughters. While the bulk of the action focuses on the construction of the sprawling Yellowstone ranch in Montana, the series is also shooting in South Africa, Tanzania, and Malta, to give a sense of the saga’s scope. All this is happening while the Taylor Sheridan Universe continues to spin. Yellowstone, the series that started it all, returns for a fifth season with a two-hour-episode premiere on Paramount Network on November 13. The series continues to grow in popularity, with the Season 4 finale viewed by an audience of 10 million. The Yellowstone premiere leads into the first episode of Tulsa King, the new drama Sheridan created as a star vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, with Terence Winter serving as showrunner. Jeremy Renner and the cast of Mayor of Kingstown are set to return for a second season.

Oct
21
2022

Consequence TV has a lenghty profile and interview with Helen Mirren for the recent premiere of “Documentary Now”: It’s been five months since I spoke with Helen Mirren about hosting the IFC spoof series Documentary Now!, and I still haven’t gotten over her saying that she doesn’t think she’s funny. “I’m never comfortable with comedy,” she says, to be exact. “I’m so out of my depth with comedy. The only way I can deal with it is to be as serious as I possibly can be, if you know what I mean. I think if I was ever a part of a comedy team, I would definitely be the straight man. I wouldn’t be the funny one. I would be the one to set the joke up.” It’s an opinion that comes from her deep respect for the genre: “I think much too seriously so I love watching comedy. I’m very admiring, especially on film, comedy is very difficult. I’m very admiring of people who do comedy well on film. I think it’s easier to do it live because film is so technical to maintain the timing and the lightness of improvisational quality on film, it’s very difficult. But no, I’m not very good at comedy.” The complete interview can be read here.