Earlier this week, the internet exploded after topless photos of Dame Helen Mirren were published in New York Magazine. Based on the brouhaha it created, I half expected the 64-year old Dame to be stark naked, riding a unicorn side-saddle and eating a Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich with Elvis when we Googled the shots.
Nope.
All that raucous was over a little flash of murky areola under water in a bathtub. What a snooze of a "controversy."
Sitting down to speak with Mirren at the press day for her new film, "Love Ranch," I mentioned the free-for-all the photos had ignited and she was quick to sound off.
"I know. Please! Idiotic. What can you do?" she said with a dismissive wave of the hand before continuing.
"Those photographs were taken by a very great art photographer, one of the best in Europe. Whenever I work with a really good photographer, I try to give him or her their own artistic freedom because that's how you get the best work, or, at least, the most interesting work. I gave [photographer Juergen Teller] his freedom and that was the result. I like the photos because I thought they were naked in the proper sense of the word: I've got very little makeup, there's no elaborate lighting and it's simple and real. They weren't intended to be sexy. I think sex and nudity are two different things. People tend to get the two mixed up."
Asked if she felt that people were upset because the actress is willing to flaunt her body "at a certain age," when most women are fed the propaganda that they shouldn't be sexualized past the age of 40, she quietly replied, "Well, too bad," cracked a knowing smile and started to laugh.
Take that haters.
"Love Ranch" opens June 30.
No comments:
Post a Comment