Dame Helen Mirren has addressed a verbal confrontation she experienced in East London while attending the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, where she was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Oscar-winning actress was walking with her husband, director Taylor Hackford, when a man branded her an “evil Zionist b****”.
The incident captured on video that resurfaced online on May 28, though it originally occurred last November.
Speaking about the encounter, Ms Mirren suggested the man was “maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable” and described it as an attack “by mistake”.
Ms Mirren said she was ‘devastated’ by developments in Israel and the wider Middle East
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PAThe 80-year-old star, who portrayed Israel’s first female prime minister Golda Meir in the 2023 film Golda, expressed her belief in Israel’s right to exist.
“Evil forces are rising everywhere, even in a country like Israel,” Ms Mirren said.
“How could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?
“I have such great friends from Israel. The artistic community in Israel, the intellectual community in Israel, are so remarkable.”
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The actress continued: “I was born at the end of the Second World War.
“I grew up in Europe post-Second World War, and the realisation in my parents’ generation of what had happened in the Holocaust was so profound, so important.
“Therefore, the creation of Israel was a very important moment, although maybe it was done in completely the wrong way, in the wrong place, I don’t know. But something had to happen after the horror.”
Her remarks appeared to draw a connection between the Holocaust and the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The actress praised Israel’s artistic community while voicing concern about the ongoing conflict
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While urging journalists to exercise caution about online content, Ms Mirren spoke warmly of her Israeli friends and praised the country’s artistic and intellectual communities.
Ms Mirren revealed her deep personal ties to Israel, recounting how she travelled there as a young woman with one of her first boyfriends, who was English and Jewish.
She spent time working on a kibbutz shortly after the 1967 Six-Day War, during which she “saw some things”, although she declined to elaborate further.
The actress drew historical parallels to explain her anguish, noting that figures like Catherine the Great and Alexander the Great earned their titles through brutal conquest and land seizure.
“So it devastates me,” she said.
“The evil is always lurking, waiting to take over, even in a place like Israel.
“I played Golda Meir and worked in a country that was the idealistic Israel, and I always thought it was a country that would never do wrong, but of course they were doing wrong, even then.”
Beyond addressing the controversy surrounding Israel, Ms Mirren also spoke about her MobLand co-star Tom Hardy, who has faced unconfirmed reports of unprofessional conduct on the set of the Paramount+ series.
Dame Helen Mirren
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When asked whether she would collaborate with Mr Hardy again, the actress was emphatic: “Absolutely. In a f****** heartbeat.”
“I love Tom, I think he’s the most amazing actor,” she continued. “My support of him is genuine and heartfelt.”
Ms Mirren defended Mr Hardy’s working methods, explaining that actors have varying processes and some require more time to reach their performances.
She expressed confidence that discussions are progressing to bring Mr Hardy, who portrays gangster Harry Da Souza, back to the show.
“We will go forward, absolutely, and it will be even better,” she added.