At 79, Helen Mirren has the career that most actors dream of. And we’re not talking past tense either. Mirren is busier than she’s ever been, holding down two prestige Paramount+ series almost concurrently: the final season of Taylor Sheridan’s epic Western “1923” and the inaugural season of “MobLand,” a British crime drama that was directed, in part, by Guy Ritchie.
In “1923,” she plays the strong-willed frontierswoman Cara Dutton, the matriarch of a family of ranchers who’s dealing with the encroachment of modernity and perpetually struggling to keep her farm afloat. And in “MobLand,” she’s Maeve Harrigan, the ruthless matriarch of a crime family operating in modern-day London. This is Mirren at her most venomous and unchained, as she pushes her capo husband, Conrad (Pierce Brosnan), into new lines of business and eggs on Eddie (Anson Boon), her more darkly villainous grandson (who might not even be her grandson at all). Concidentally, both characters are Irish.
She is also as sharp and funny and skilled a performer as ever, which came across when we spoke to her recently over Zoom. After we said we were curious about something, she shot back with a laugh, “I don’t think you’re that curious.” Oh, but we were.
What drew you to “1923“ and “MobLand”?
In the case of “1923,” it was to do with my two leading men: I had Taylor Sheridan and I had Harrison Ford, two pretty amazing forces in American entertainment. Harrison always says, “I only came on board because you were on board.” And I always say, “No, I only came on board because you were on board.” Obviously they pulled a fast one on both of us. But we were both there because of Taylor, mainly. Although with Taylor, you have to jump in without reading anything. You have no idea who or what you’re playing, because he says he likes to write for the actor that he knows he’s working with, which totally makes sense to me. But it means you have to go in blind. You really don’t know what’s awaiting you.
And in a way, with “MobLand,” it was not such a different scenario because I was working with Pierce Brosnan on a Chris Columbus film called “The Thursday Murder Club” that will be coming out quite soon. And we were both asked at the same time. It was the same thing: I was told that he was in it and he was told that I was in it, only we happened to be working together so we could ask each other, and we discussed it together. It’s a combination of working with Pierce, who’s an actor I both admire and love deeply. He’s such a great guy. I knew it would be fun and just a lovely journey. And, of course, Guy Ritchie. Again, two leading men.
Both of these characters are so juicy, too.
Oh, of course. In the case of “1923,” I didn’t know. “MobLand,” I think I only read the first episode, so we didn’t really know where it was going at all. That was fun. I love that sense of jumping into the unknown. I’ve always enjoyed that.
You had no idea how villainous your “MobLand“ character was? Would you have played her differently knowing that?
No. I love having to invent on the spot. I love that process. I love reading something that I have no idea what it is and discovering it as you go along. I find that very creative. And “MobLand” was like that. I hope we get to do it again.
Going into Season 2 of “1923“ you probably knew her arc, having played her already.
Oh no, absolutely not. By then, obviously I know the character, who the person is. The relationship, Harrison and I fell into in a very natural and easy way. But no, I had no idea. I thought maybe I was going to die. Actually. I thought, “Oh, they’re definitely going to kill me off. I’m going to get a horrible disease and die, probably.” But that was not the case. So, no idea. It’s such fun. Here comes Episode 6. What’s going to happen?
You’ve been doing this for so long, what still excites you about projects like these?
I was 21 when I started acting professionally. And many things still excite me. The technology is constantly evolving, and I’ve seen such enormous changes in technology, obviously, in my career. And every time you walk on a film set, there’s new technology or a new idea that the props guy has come up with that you’ve never seen before or a new way of doing focus. Focus is extraordinary because the most important person on the set is actually the focus puller. More important than the director or the actor is the focus puller and the whole technique now of focus pulling, which has become digitalized. It’s very exciting to watch all of those developments, I find. And also, discovering wonderful new young actors, seeing the next generation appearing.
This story first ran in the Drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
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