The ‘Golda’ standard
Helen Mirren embodies controversial Israeli leader
“This is not a biopic,” Helen Mirren said of playing Golda Meir, Israel’s first and so far only female Prime Minister, as she waged a war for Israel’s survival in “Golda.”
Mirren spoke Monday, prior to the red carpet world premiere for “Golda,” which is being shown out of competition for the fest’s top prize, the Golden Bear, and opens in late August in the US. Meir, born in Ukraine in 1898 and an
American citizen before she emigrated to Israel in 1921, was a famous and controversial political figure in the 1970s. She died in 1978 and was subsequently played by Sweden’s Ingrid Bergman in an Emmy-winning TV movie and by the Oscarwinning “Graduate” star Anne Bancroft on Broadway. Back then, no one thought to ask why a Jewish actress wasn’t cast. But in today’s woke culture where gay people are touted to play gay people and the handicapped cast in handicap roles, social media in the UK asked why the non-Jewish Mirren, 77, got the job.“That’s a legitimate question to ask,” she has said.
Added Guy Nattiv, her (Jewish) director, “From my point of view as a director, when I meet Helen in my house I felt I was meeting a family member. Like a Jewish person. She’s got the Jewish chops for Golda. She totally got every nook and cranny of this character.
“She’s one of the best actresses in the world,” he added, “and I just found her very authentic. To surround her with an Israeli cast, and an Israeli editor I’d feel I was making an Israeli movie. That helped a lot. But there was no doubt,” ever, he said of the casting, “and I was surprised to see this reaction.” Lior Ashkenazi, the Israeli star who plays the Israeli Army’s chief of staff, took the mic. “Let’s say it’s a movie about Jesus Christ. Who’s going to play him — a Jew? Or a non-Jew?”
“Well,” Mirren joked, “it won’t be me.” As the Berlinale hits the midpoint before various juries award prizes Saturday, it’s been busy.
Matt Damon and Bono were here Sunday as producers of the human rights documentary “Kiss the Future” about the power rock music had during the horrors of the Bosnian war. Steven Spielberg receives his Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement Tuesday. And at the end of the week Cate Blanchett toplines a panel to discuss her Oscar worthy “Tar” which is set and filmed in Berlin.