Helen Mirren finds bright side during the pandemic

LONDON » Helen Mirren has been finding the bright side of the pandemic.

Working from home? “Much more convenient,” she said. She bought a ring light for Zooms, balancing her laptop on two dictionaries. “I love it... I hope elements of our quarantine lockdown are going to stick with us.”

She’s savoring slow dinners with her husband, the director Taylor Hackford. They’ve been living together in the mountains near California’s Lake Tahoe for much of the last year.

“It’s given me the opportunity to be with my husband in a sort of normal everyday way, which has been fantastic. It is actually the first time in all of our 30 years together that we’ve sat down at the table each night and had dinner together. Normally we’re examines their time at Camp SAY.

Mirren was introduced to the charity by friend Kelli O’Hara, and has been an advocate and ambassador for years, hosting SAY’s fundraising gala in New York.

“I have known people who, as we say in England, stammer or stutter, actor friends of mine who have quite a severe stutter off-stage and can walk on stage and do Shakespeare absolutely fluently. And I was always sort of rather surprised or moved or affected by that,” Mirren said.

SAY founder Taro Alexander called the film, directed by Ryan Gielen, a “beautiful representation” of the group’s work.

Mirren, meanwhile, has restarted acting under COVID-19 protocols, but said social distancing and face coverings make film productions “just not so much fun” as they used to be.

SAG AWARDS VIA AP