Dame Helen: Stars like Jodie keep me inspired
DAME Helen Mirren says she finds the work of younger British actresses such as Killing Eve star Jodie Comer “inspiring”.
The Oscar winner, inset, is due to receive a Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award in Los Angeles tonight.
Despite worrying that her career can only go “downhill” from that “pinnacle”, the 76-year-old star has no plans to retire.
Dame Helen said: “Now I find my inspiration comes from younger actors and actresses. And I have got quite a long list of those that I really, really admire.
“Many of them fellow countrymen of mine – Katewinslet,vanessa Kirby, Jodie Comer.those sorts of young actresses that I watch, and I find very inspiring.”
Her praise came as Jodie, 28, returns as assassinvillanelle in the final series of Killing Eve, on BBC iplayer tomorrow or on BBC One on Saturday.
Her co-star Sandra Oh, 50, who portrays British intelligence agent Eve Polastri, has teased fans by saying both she and Comer will feature in the hit show’s last ever scene.
But she refused to reveal the fate of the characters, who have enjoyed romantic and near-fatal liaisons.
Sandra said: “Jodie and I were lucky enough to actually do the last shot of the show together and it’s too much of a spoiler to tell you where we were and the setting.”
Dame Helen, who received a Bafta Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2014, has been winning plaudits for her performance in new filmthe Duke in which she plays Jim Broadbent’s on-screen wife.
The real-life drama is about taxi driver Kempton Bunton who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.
● See our film critic’s review of The Duke on P41.