helen mirren: August 2011

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Helen Mirren Confesses To Buying Shoes At Stripper Shops

If there was ever any doubt in my mind that Helen Mirren is the most grande dame of over-50 fabulousness, a recent interview with UK magazine Woman & Home helped squarely cement her as the rightful title owner. Find out why, after the jump.

Styleite uncovered this interview from Woman & Home, in which Ms. Mirren confesses that the trick to making her legs look so long (and her secret little confidence booster) is wearing four-inch platform shoes...from an unexpected place! "[They] give you great height and make your legs look unbelievably long," she says. "I used only to be able to get them in stripper shops, but now you can buy them everywhere - although, unfortunately, that means everyone else has discovered the trick too."

Dame Helen Mirren Reflection

You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen.
But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul's own doing.

Helen Mirren is She famous

With a filmography that consists of almost 100 titles, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where Helen Mirren’s work has resonated with viewers, but with appearances in such well-known hits as Gosford Park (2001), Calendar Girls (2003) and The Queen (2006), Helen is certainly a familiar face to anyone with even a passing interest in cinema.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Helen Mirren hates the glitz and glamor of Hollywood

The Oscar-winning actress - who lives in Los Angeles with husband Taylor Hickford - is not interested in walking the red carpets because she prefers to concentrate on her career. She said: "I do live in Hollywood with my husband, but I can't be doing all that partying stuff. I just do the work I'm asked to do and that's it."
Helen - who starred as Britain's Queen Elizabeth I in hit TV miniseries 'Elizabeth I' and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 movie 'The Queen' - also revealed she is ready to take on another regal character.
She added to Britain's BBC Radio 2: "I'd love to play Queen Catherine of Russia next - another queen! She was a very interesting character."
Queen Catherine II of Russia reigned as the Empress of Russia for 34 years from June 1762 until she died in 1796. She never married but had a series of lovers, including Sergei Saltykov who was the father of her son Paul.

Helen Mirren Up For Titanic Mini-Series Role

British TV is preparing to launch an assault on the history of the Titanic with a new mini-series and Dame Helen Mirren is reportedly up for a starring role with the show.

The series, a four-part affair will be released to pay tribute with Titanic’s 100th anniversary and according to The Mirror the 65-year-old actress will be making her second appearance in a Titanic special, her first being the 1979 TV drama called SOS Titanic.

Filming for the series is set to begin this Spring in Hungary, while the mini-series will make a UK debut April 2012.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Dame Helen Mirren: a national treasure who likes to court controversy

Dame Helen Mirren, the British actress known for her immortal good looks and versatility on stage and screen, has courted controversy with a string of risque remarks in recent years.

Helen Mirren: Bathing Bikini Beauty

Most women only a few days away from their 63rd birthday would be steering well clear of the beach. And if they did venture there, it would be in the most modest of concealing attire.
Dame Helen Mirren, however, is happy to flaunt her enviable curves and flat stomach in a bikini.

Mirren
It seems hard to believe that this is the same actress whose portrayal of the Queen won her an Oscar.
Yet this was no retouched studio shot, with the only work to transform her toned body having been carried out during gruelling hours in the gym.

Dame Helen is holidaying in Puglia, on the southern tip of Italy, with her film director husband Taylor Hackford, 63.

Could Helen Mirren's bikini start a revolution

This week, Dame Helen Mirren, 62, showed that she's confident but not obsessed about her body. Other women should take note, says Joan Smith

When Dame Helen Mirren packed a bikini for this year's summer holiday, she probably didn't imagine that several million women would soon be looking at her in wonder - and with a little bit of envy.

The 62 year-old actress has inadvertently provided the picture of the week, prompting intense discussion after she was snapped on a beach in Puglia in southern Italy.

Shading her eyes with her hand, Mirren looks so self-assured that it's hard to believe most women's anguished holiday dilemma - should I take the bikini or stick to a flattering one-piece? - has even crossed her mind.

Some women are only in their forties when they decide to play safe and cover up on the beach. In the photograph published yesterday, Mirren has wisely avoided a thong, but there's no denying that she's gone for an eye-catching bright red ensemble with low-slung bikini briefs that show off her enviably flat stomach.

Racy lady: Golden girl Helen Mirren revs up on a scooter at Brighton Rock premiere

Vroom with a view: Dame Helen Mirren was the night's golden girl as she straddled a scooter at the Brighton Rock premiere

Helen Mirren showed she still likes to live her life at full throttle when she revved up on a scooter at the London premiere of Brighton Rock tonight.

The 65-year-old was was looking glamorous in a gold Jacques Azagury dress gown and matching gloves and stilettos as she posed on the machine to promote the film, which is set amongst the battles between Mods and Rockers in the resort in the Sixties.

After posing for photographers, Helen, who landed an Academy Award in 2007 for her portrayal of Her Majesty Elizabeth II in The Queen, tipped Colin Firth for Oscars glory this year for his role in The King's Speech. She told reporters: 'I think he deserves it, and I think he will get it.'

Racy: The Oscar winning actress kept on an even keel with stabilizers however

Need a lift? Dame Helen was clearly having fun messing about with the motors

The actress - who plays tea shop manager Ida in the remake - joined other stars of the film on the red carpet including John Hurt, 71,and rising British stars Andrea Riseborough, 29, and Sam Riley, 31.

The movie is based on Graham Greene's classic 1938 crime thriller, but unlike the 1947 original film adaptation that made a star of Richard Attenborough as Pinkie Brown, the action has been moved forward to 1964.

Golden girls: Helen (L) was wearing Azagury whereas Andrea Riseborough (R) wore Armani

The cast (L-R): Sam Riley, Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough and John Hurt

Stepping into the role of young thug Pinkie is actor Sam, who sprang to fame playing Joy Division singer Ian Curtis in the 2007 film Control.

His love interest Rose meanwhile is played by Andrea, who played the former Prime Minister in the TV movie Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk To Finchley and stars this month alongside Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go.

Stellar support: The film also features performances from Helen Mirren and John Hurt

She's also in Madonna's forthcoming feature film about Wallis Simpson, W.E.
The £8 million British movie is being backed by BBC Films and Optimum Films, a production company which controls the rights to the first Brighton Rock film.

The 1947 original: Richard Attenborough as Pinkie and Carol Marsh as Rose

Director Rowan Joffe, who directed George Clooney in last year's movie The American, explained that he'd brought the action forward to truly reflect the violent action in the novel, which was subject to censorship in the original adaptation.

However, he said he didn't want to bring Brighton Rock right up to date and set it in contemporary times, since 1964 was the last year the death penalty was carried out, and that threat over Pinkie was an important plot point.

Film fans: Other stars on the red carpet at the premiere included Cherie Lunghi and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl star Gemma Chan

Going Greene: Madness frontman Suggs and Greg Wallace - who dug out his parka for the occassion - and wife Heidi Brown were also on the red carpet

'Pinkie is a psycho sexually-abused kid who has become a cold-blooded killer. He's a complex creation and we can bring him fully to life,' Joffe said.

The film comes out this Friday, 4 February.