Dame Helen Mirren Blasts Hollywood Executives
Helen Mirren The 64-year-old actress thinks her countrymen-and-women are seen as “easy targets” when choosing masterminds, citing recent malevolent performances by Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, Sir Ben Kingsley and Sir Anthony Hopkins as proof. She wishes more Britons would be cast as the heroes and heroines of films because she thinks they are all such “cool” people.
“I think it's rather unfortunate that the villain in every movie is always British, we're such an easy target that they can comfortably make the Brits the villains,” Helen said at a Los Angeles gaga to celebrate the success of British actors in Hollywood.
“It's just nice to say we're not snooty, stuck up, malevolent, malignant creatures as we're so often portrayed. We're actually kind of cool and hip!”
Helen said she was keen to inform the US public that British people are a lot more than they appear in film. She went on to discuss the things she loves most about citizens of her native country, declaring them to be funny, eccentric and with very good taste.
“It's very important to let Americans know that we're not just the royal family, there's a lot more to us than that,” she said.
“I love the idiosyncrasy of the British people, I love the eccentric nature of the British people, their boldness in fashion and I think the Brits have a very good eye for taste. They have a very good eye for what's cool and hip and nuts.”
Ian McKellen played evil Magneto in the X-Men film franchise, Paul Bettany was Silas in The Da Vini Code, Ben Kingsley is the villain in upcoming action movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Sir Anthony Hopkins played serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter in horror classic The Silence of the Lambs.