It was quite a while ago now, but I had somewhat forgotten just how lovely it was to sit down and talk to Dame Helen Mirren, star of Monsters University and a list as long as my arm of other fantastic movies. We chatted about her excitement at being involved in a Pixar movie - she gets visibly overwhelmed at the awesomeness that is Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear's catchphrase 'To infinity and beyond' - her experience of the very talented Billy Crystal and, most interestingly, her nervousness taking on a role as iconic as the Queen (in The Queen).
You can watch the full interview here but this is what she had to say about the Royal Family and her portrayal of that in particular. Interesting indeed. "That was scary, not because of her reaction, I knew there would neve be any actual reaction there, I didn't say yes to the role until I had read the script. I wouldn't have been in something that I felt was unfair, or mean spirited. The script came in and I thought it was rather beautiful. Having said that, anything to do with that in Britain, let alone the rest of the world, but in Britain, we have such a weird love, not hate but we're so messed up about our attitude to the Royals. The public can't get their heads around it, so anythign to do with the Royal family gains a huge amount of attention, and it was that attention that I was frightened of. Of putting a foot wrong, of finding myself letting the side down somewhere or other, so I knew I had to navigate that quite carefully."
Dame Helen Mirren stars as Dean Hardscrabble in the much anticipated prequel to Monsters Inc. It hits Irish cinemas on July 12th.