Four minutes with Helen Mirren

HELEN Mirren talks about her insecurities, going naked and working with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in the film Red.

1. GAME DAME BATTLES INSECURITY

"It was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done," says Dame Mirren of her new movie, The Door. "You can't see that, but it was."

Set in post-war, Communist Hungary, she plays a stern maid who reveals her past to her new employer. "I had to strip all my artform, all my technique away - the performance had to be naked. I was very insecure. Is this enough? Is it too much?"

2. THAT'S NOT ALL THAT WAS NAKED!

"I had absolutely no make-up on - which, incidentally, is brilliant," says Mirren, whose killer looks at 66 are well-chronicled. "I literally took five minutes to get ready in the morning. There's a liberation in that: take me as I am." She got back in the make-up chair for Hitchcock, playing wife to Anthony Hopkins as the famed director. "He's so wonderful, it was fantastic."

READ MORE: http://www.news.com.au/news/four-minutes-with-helen-mirren/story-fnejnl1p-1226428423079

Jude Law, Judi Dench and Daniel Radcliffe to star in productions for new theater company Daniel S Levine 6/16/2012 (CELEBRITY CAFE)

Actors Jude Law, Daniel Radcliffe and Judi Dench will all star in productions for a new theater company founded by acclaimed director Michael Grandage.

Grandage, who was the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in London for the past decade, made the announcement on Friday, reports Reuters. The new Michael Grandage Company will also produce film and television productions, mostly in New York and London.

Grandage and his partner, executive producer James Bierman, said that they hope that they can create theater productions that will reach new audiences thanks to lower prices. “This unique West End season brings together writers, actors and other artists in a single venture over 15 months dedicated to presenting work of the highest quality at affordable prices,” the two said in a joint statement.

According to USA Today, Grandage has directed several acclaimed productions on Broadway, including Red, Frost/Nixon and Hamlet with Law. He earned a Tony Award for Red in 2010.

READ MORE: http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/2012/06/jude-law-judi-dench-and-daniel-radcliffe-star-productions-new-theater-company

Helen Mirren - Summit Entertainment has targeted Aug. 2, 2013, for the sequel to RED, its hit 2010 action-comedy loosely based on the DC Comics miniseries by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.

SpinOff Online

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 at 7:45am

• by Kevin Melrose

RED (retired, extremely dangerous) starred Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich as former CIA agents targeted for assassination because of the secrets they know. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the $60 million original exceeded Summit’s, and pretty much everyone’s, box-office expectations, grossing nearly $200 million worldwide.

Brothers Erich and Jon Hoeber returned to write the sequel, “which reunites our team of retired CIA operatives as they use their old-school style to take on a new set of enemies all across Europe.” Although there’s been no official announcement of whether Schwentke or the original stars will return, Mirren confirmed last month that she’ll reprise her role as Victoria.

Summit also set dates for director Jonathan Levine’s zombie romance Warm Bodies, with Nicholas Hoult and Theresa Palmer (Aug. 10, 2012), Louis Letterier’s Now You See Me, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffalo (Jan. 18, 2013), and Gavin Hood’s adaptation of Ender’s Game (March 15, 2013).