When Helen Mirren stopped by for coffee and talked about playing the Queen

In September 2009 the Oscar winning star gave me invaluable insights as well as a look behind the scenes of "The Queen", the iconic film that anticipated "The Crown," soon to launch its final season

Queen Elizabth II, dressed in her Order of the Garter robes, having her portrait painted in the opening credits of “The Queen”.

PART I: Behind the interview and how Helen Mirren prepared for her role of a lifetime

PART II on October 28: Behind the filming of “The Queen,” and Helen Mirren’s perspective on Queen Elizabeth II

PART I

She arrived promptly at 12:30 on a Tuesday in September 2009, not for lunch, but for coffee in the middle of a busy day in Washington, D.C. “I love Washington,” she said. “There is always so much to do.” Dame Helen Mirren had just visited Hillwood, the museum founded by heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post to showcase her collection of Russian imperial art.

That evening Helen was playing the title role in a sellout production of “Phedre” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She was midway through the ten-day limited run, and at age sixty-four, she brimmed with energy. Vice President Joe Biden would be attending, so she reckoned the play would start late. “It is two hours straight, so there is no good time for latecomers,” she said.

Helen Mirren as Phedre in the National Theatre of Great Britain’s production presented on the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s stage in Washington, D.C. in September 2009

So how did Helen Mirren end up in my apartment on Embassy Row? Ironically, it was Peter Morgan, who wrote “The Queen” and later created “The Crown” series on Netflix—which begins its 6^th and final season on November 16—who paved the way for our meeting. I say ironically because while I admired “The Queen,” I have since been among many writers who have strongly criticized “The Crown” for fictionalizing real life, inventing people and events, and unfairly portraying members of the British royal family. “The Crown” will revisit some of what was depicted in “The Queen”: the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash, and what Netflix describes as the “devastating” aftermath for the British monarchy.

In 2009 I was deep into researching my biography of Elizabeth II, and I had been trying for over a year to persuade Helen to sit down with me to discuss how she created her indelible portrayal in the 2006 hit film that won her the Best Actress Academy Award.  In May 2008 I had emailed her husband, the director Taylor Hackford, who had forwarded my request to Helen.

I hope you become a `Queenist’

“I am no more or less than an actress,” she promptly replied, “and the Queen was no more or less than another role, and one that has become too weighted in the perception of my overall body of work.” She hoped I would forgive her need to decline, as she was “trying to wriggle out from under, so I do not wish to engage in anything that pushes me back to ‘the actress who played the Queen.’”  But she did offer a small glimpse into her thinking: “I found the rather cloying book, The Little Princesses, written by their nanny ‘Crawfie’ very valuable.” And, she added, almost enticingly, “I hope you become a ‘Queenist’ like I, and the writer and director did.”