Dame Helen Mirren is more than a British national treasure, she’s a global treasure. Outspoken and ballsy, Mirren draws admiration from all over – and she’s been working steadily since the late 1960s when she first started her career in movies. If anything, her career has progressively gone on to bigger and better things with every passing year.
So it’s especially interesting to hear the venerated actress weigh in on what’s happening in Hollywood right now with regard to sexual misconduct allegations and the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements. While promoting her new film, Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built, Mirren told FANDOM:
“It’s been too long coming. It should have been like that 40 years ago, [from] my point of view. And the reality was, the ‘70s and ‘80s were an awful time for women in the film industry, I felt. I was in the film industry and I thought it was terrible and grated against it.
“The reality is the culture won’t change until the culture changes, and then everyone realises. Because until the culture changes… people have ascribed so many things to nature. Women can’t direct movies because they haven’t got the sufficient this or sufficient that. Or whatever the reason is. It’s all a load of bulls–t anyway. But it’s all ascribed to nature. And then people realise as soon as people are given the opportunity, the attitude changes. People realise it wasn’t nature, it was culture. It was the attitude of the people at the time. There’s been a major shift and it’s wonderful. I just wish it had happened 40 years ago in time for me to enjoy it.”
Winchester: The House that Ghosts Built hits screens on February 2. The film — directed by Michael and Peter Spierig — tells the story of a real-life house said to be the most haunted in the world. It also stars Jason Clarke and Sarah Snook.
Here’s the synopsis:
After the sudden death of her family, firearms heiress Sarah Winchester becomes convinced that she’s haunted by the souls of those killed by guns. Winchester then decides to build an enormous mansion that’s designed to keep the evil spirits at bay. When skeptical psychiatrist Eric Price visits the estate to evaluate her state of mind, he soon discovers that her obsession may not be so far-fetched after all.