Helen Mirren returns to screens on Friday with “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” playing the owner of a posh restaurant in France who clashes with the Indian restaurateurs across the street until food bridges the cultural divide. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and based on the book by Richard C. Morais, the film could make for a great date, Mirren says in her typically candid style.
“It will make you hungry,” she said in promoting the film. “Go have a fabulously sexy dinner, then go home and make love. That would be the perfect evening.”
Mirren, sixty-nine, has a forthright approach that’s made her a hero for women, though she’d likely scoff at the term. She chooses roles that follow her own bold, independent spirit, and her no-nonsense attitude toward sexism and conventional beauty makes her all the more alluring.
“Two phrases I hate in reference to female characters are ‘strong’ and ‘feisty,'” she said in one interview. “They really annoy me. It’s the most condescending thing. You say that about a three-year-old. It infantilizes women.”
With wicked humor, she once opted for another description: “I know ‘ballsy’ is a funny phrase, but somehow ‘ovarian’ just doesn’t have the same zing.”
I’m thrilled to take Word and Film readers through Mirren’s extensive career, hitting high points such as her debut in “Age of Consent” through her Oscar-winning performance in “The Queen” and beyond.