Helen Mirren’s best-known biographical role may be the Queen, but there’s another real person she’d like to get her acting teeth stuck into: US President Donald Trump.
The actress made the admission during a talk at the Hollywood Masters interview series held at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & TV last month, when she was asked who she’d most like to play.
‘I’d be so funny as Trump,’ she said. ‘I love it. I’ve almost got the hair! I mean what a fascinating character. What an extraordinary character. I mean, that’s a character isn’t it, the real thing? I would say real life is so much more interesting than anything you can make up, you know. But, you know, a fantastic sort of slightly Shakespearean character. He may have a Shakespearean fall, I don’t know but you know, he is an extraordinary character.’
But how would she penetrate the psyche of one of the world’s most powerful men?
‘I don’t think that would be too difficult to penetrate quite honestly,’ she said. ‘You look at the upbringing. You look at the schooling, the father, the mother. I don’t know much about Mr. Trump’s background, but if I was to play him, I would definitely start there. That’s what you have to start with, the child, you know, and the child is very much in Trump.’
It’s not the first time Mirren has spoken about the Trumps: she previously criticised First Daughter Ivanka, saying: 'Ivanka talks a good game, but there’s no substance. Her book is so ignorant about how the majority of women live, talking about “Make time for yourself to have a massage.” Puh-lease.’
Elsewhere during the interview she also revealed that the Queen is aware that she has played her in a film, something she let slip when introducing her to someone else: ‘I'd met the Queen before we did this, but very briefly,’ she said, ‘and in a room with a lot of other people. I met her again afterwards, which was rather a loaded moment. She never mentioned the film to me personally. She did introduce me to someone as: “This is Helen Mirren. She played me, you know, in the film.”'
Now we just want to know if she's seen Claire Foy's turn as her in The Crown...
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