Helen Mirren is up for a Tony Award on June 7 for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in “The Audience.”
Mirren won an Oscar wearing the same crown in “The Queen,” but the performances are different. In the movie, she plays Elizabeth at the time of Diana’s death. In “The Audience,” she plays Elizabeth at various other points in her life. Her transitions from a woman of 25 to an old lady of 80 are done with quick wardrobe changes and subtle adjustments to her voice and posture. It’s that kind of acting that’s going to win her the Tony.
Will this be the first Tony Awards you’ve attended?
No. I was nominated for “A Month in the Country” [1995] and “Dance of Death” [2002]. I think I went for “Dance of Death.”
You’re something of a New Yorker, are you not?
My husband [film director Taylor Hackford] and I have a place in the East Village. We’ve had it since 9/11. One of the reasons we got the apartment is that I wanted to do more theater here.
The East Village seems a bit funky for Dame Helen Mirren.
I’ve always loved funky and young areas in any city. I prefer the small boutiques to the designer palaces. Other neighborhoods, like the West Village, are a bit chichi. We really love the East Village. It’s noisy with foot traffic, not noisy with car traffic. I can get a taxi day or night.
What do you like to do in the East Village?
Well, we love to take a stroll up to Union Square and check out the wonderful farmers markets. And we are spoiled for choice when it comes to incredible restaurants. I love the holes in the walls, the small restaurants. Sadly, some of our favorites are closed because of that terrible gas explosion [in March]. We loved the Stage and the B&H, and the Pommes Frites. [That] was completely destroyed.
Do you remember the first time you set foot in New York?
It was in the 1970s. I was promoting some Shakespeare plays on PBS. It was very rough and very intimidating and, honestly, you didn’t walk the street. There was a sense of danger. But in its heart and soul it was a wonderful city. But I got to know it better when I came [in 1994] to do “A Month in the Country.” I cannot tell you how imprinted on my memory the first sight of Manhattan is. I was coming from Kennedy Airport in a taxi quite late at night, and at a certain point in the road, there was the whole of Manhattan. It looked like a walled city, a medieval walled city. And in a way it is, being contained by two bodies of water. I had a feeling of excitement and anticipation. New York was so big and impressive and powerful. I still get that feeling every time I drive into Manhattan from the airport.
What are you going to do when you’re done with “The Audience”?
I should like to take a break and spend some time here with my husband. I’d like to go to a bar or a restaurant. I can’t do that now. I am onstage for two hours every night. I can’t go out. And right now I’m on the Tony march. I said to [fellow nominees] Kelli [O’Hara] and Kristin [Chenoweth], “We all have to live like nuns.”
Ethel Merman once told Elaine Stritch that if you want to be a Broadway star, “You have to live like a f - – king nun!”
You do. You have to live like “a f – - king nun.” That is exactly what you have to do.