A last update for the Helen Mirren Archives before the Holidays hit us with full force. It has felt like such a short year, so it’s time to celebrate, reflect – and look back: Four of Helen Mirren’s previous performances screencaptures have been replaced with high definition versions. The standout is the 1968 adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. If you have only seen the grainy DVD version that was published years ago, it’s a revelation to see the restored version which was made ready for streaming services. Screencaptures from “Where Angels Fear to Tread”, “Gosford Park” and the magnificent “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” – still one of Miss Mirren’s best performances – have been added as well. Enjoy the screencaptures and your Holidays with your loved ones. See you in 2023.

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.

On a Friday full of surprises, Helen Mirren not only made her music video debut in Kendrick Lamar’s “Count Me Out”, she’s also narrating the teaser trailer for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Barbie” film. For the latter, it is not known yet if Mirren also narrates the film, which will star Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and will premiere next Summer. In the former video, a visual for the “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” album cut, Helen is featured as Lamar’s therapist, with the two in session. She asks him about an interaction he had with a woman in a parking lot, where the woman accused Lamar of stealing her parking spot. Kendrick makes a joke and the two have a laugh about the incident before the therapist digs deeper, asking him why he texted her “I feel like I’m fallen” at 2 a.m. The Dave Free and Lamar-directed “Count Me Out” video then cuts to different scenes as he attempts to answer her question. Kendrick is seen in various settings: the desert, among a herd of goats, in the car, having drinks with friends—one of whom is Jack Dorsey—and more.

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)

L’Oréal Paris USA continues to celebrate and elevate the stories of extraordinary female non-profit leaders by announcing the 2022 L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth National Honoree and Karen T. Fondu Impact Award Winner on December 1 at a star-studded event at the Ebell of Los Angeles with Helen Mirren, Camila Cabello, H.E.R., Aja Naomi King, Katherine Langford and more. Pictures from the event have been added to the photo gallery. Edit: You can now watch the complete ceremony on Youtube.

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.

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.

It’s still some weeks until the Merry season, but Helen Mirren turns out to be a fitting testimonial for this year’s Christmas themed magazine covers. Both the British Woman’s Weekly and the Australian Mindfood have put Mirren on their Christmas covers. There’s also a new cover from the Hungarian Nok Lapjá and and article in the British Woman & Home (with many thanks to Joan for the contribution). Enjoy the new additions.

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.

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.