INTERVIEW
Role model
From a villainous Roman goddess to a tough rancher's wife, Dame Helen Mirren reveals how she chooses her extraordinarily diverse roles - and says she still feels like a 'fangirl' alongside co-star Harrison Ford
Given she's one of the world's most recognisable leading ladies, it's hard to imagine Dame Helen Mirren being rendered awestruck by anyone.
Yet there is one person who gets the award-garlanded actor to channel what she calls her 'fangirl thing', and he happens to be one of her recent co-stars.
Last year, Helen, who is 78 this month, spent time in an old mining town in Montana filming American western TV drama series 1923 alongside Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford, a man she confides with a smile that she had loved 'from a distance' after last working alongside him nearly 40 years ago.
When reunited with him on 1923's set as husband and wife duo Jacob and Cara Dutton, she says that she was 'slightly intimidated' by him. 'He'd be mortified to hear me say this because he's such an unintimidating person. He is the kindest, most generous, warmest person to be around,' she smiles. 'But still, my fangirl thing is something I can't quite get over, you know, "Oh my God, it's Harrison Ford!"'
The duo last appeared on screen together - again as husband and wife - in the 1986 drama Mosquito Coast at a time when Harrison was already firmly embedded in A-list heartthrob territory courtesy of his role as Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise. 'He was a massive, popular, movie star, which he's been ever since,' recalls Helen. 'It's an amazing journey that Harrison has taken through our profession. And to be still up there, where he has been for the past 40 or 50 years, is amazing.'