Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The new Queen of Hollywood


Me with Helen Mirren

To me, Queen Elizabeth II is a mysterious character. Most people never get to meet her. Those privileged enough to be graced by her presence are usually awarded with no more than a fleeting smile or handshake. I’ve seen the Queen once from outside Buckingham Palace with thousands of onlookers (mostly tourists,) but I normally rely on the tabloids for latest photos and movements of Her Majesty. So when asked to set up an interview with actress Helen Mirren – the silver-haired English actress who played Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen" - I was eager to find out what she had to do to prepare for this role. How did she portray this highly-publicized figure with so little insight into her personal life?

Hours before our interview, the Academy Awards revealed this year’s nominees. Mirren was nominated in the Best Actress in the Leading Role category with other much bigger names. Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and Judi Dench, but she’s widely seen as the favorite. We showed up at the studio on the outskirts of London where she was filming her next movie, "Inkheart," and she met up with us shortly after the day’s filming wrapped. Didn’t take much time to get made up, and she looked every bit the same in person as in her movies.


Helen Mirren with Adrian Finighan

"Delicate" was my first impression of Helen Mirren, probably because of her petite, slim frame and soft demeanor. No entourage. No attitude. Cameramen Darren Bull and David Mcbride set up three cameras and plenty of lights to capture the best shots, and CNN anchor Adrian Finighan sat down with her for a one-on-one interview. Since there was a short queue of media waiting after us, we were initially given five minutes for the interview, however Helen seemed to be enjoying Adrian’s questions so much that her publicist let the time slip a bit. We ended up with about 10 minutes of usable material and edited two versions of the interview. Not bad for half a day’s work!

One thing I didn’t expect from this interview is ... now when I think of the Queen of England, I think of Helen Mirren.

Click here to watch highlights of the interview.

-- From Eileen Hsieh, CNN Producer
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