Helen Mirren.
| Photo Credit: AP
Actor Helen Mirren showed support for her MobLand co-star Tom Hardy amid reports of tensions surrounding the production of the crime drama series. She also spoke about a verbal confrontation she faced in London and expressed her views on Israel and the ongoing conflict in Gaza.Mirren, in Sicily to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Taormina Film Festival, praised his abilities as an actor. “Tom is an extraordinary performer,” she said, adding that actors often approach their work in different ways.Mirren said that the creative process varies from person to person, but the quality of performance delivered on screen is what matters ultimately. Reports suggested uncertainty over Hardy’s future on MobLand.“When talented and passionate people work together, disagreements and misunderstandings can happen,” she said, expressing confidence the show will continue with future instalments.The actor also addressed a verbal attack she experienced in East London while walking with her husband, filmmaker Taylor Hackford. In the video of the incident that resurfaced online recently, a man is shouting abuse at her and accusing her of being a Zionist.“I was attacked by mistake by a man who was maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable,” she was quoted as saying by Variety about the incident, adding that the media shouldn’t interpret incidents circulated on social media wrongly, before talking about her views on Israel.“Evil forces are rising everywhere, even in a country like Israel,” she said. “How could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?” she added, perhaps referring to the Holocaust and the current war in Gaza. ALSO READ: Dame Helen Mirren interview: ‘The world should be as available and accessible to women as it is to men’Mirren said her views on Israel were shaped by growing up in post-war Europe and by the significant impact that the Holocaust had on her parents’ generation. “I have such great friends from Israel,” she said.“The artistic community in Israel, the intellectual community in Israel, are so remarkable. 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.” Published - June 12, 2026 02:31 pm IST
