Director praises Helen - Feb 8 2008
National Treasure: Book Of Secrets director Jon Turteltaub has heaped praise on Helen Mirren.

"Helen was the miracle on the movie," he said.

"Helen was the 'we're never gonna get that person, why are we even wasting our time offering her this movie?'"

He added: "She just won the Academy Award, why did we wait? We should have asked six months ago when she was not an Academy Award winner."

But Jon revealed how ecstatic he was when the British star agreed to play Nicolas Cage's mother, Emily Appleton, in the sequel to 2004's National Treasure.

"Holy Moses. She said yes, and I think more than anyone in this movie leapt in and embraced the fun of being in this movie," Jon continues.

"Loved playing roles she hadn't played, loved the action, and wanted more, more, more. That's it. It's Helen Mirren.

"You work with Helen Mirren - everything's perfect and great."

Dame Helen’s stunt fun - Dec 21 2007
Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren hopes to become known as an action hero after doing her own stunts for her latest big budget film.

National Treasure: Book Of Secrets is her first film since winning an Academy Award for starring role in The Queen. Speaking in LA, the 62-year-old said she took her action part not as a career move but to have some fun.

"I didn’t want to be the star of the piece, and I’ve never been in a big, big, big budget movie before," she said. "It was wonderful to participate in something like that where there is enough money to do what you want to do. ... Most movies that I’m in, the budgetary considerations are so tight, you have to work so fast, you have to make such compromises all the time, it was great to be in something where that wasn’t an issue."

The actress’s stunts included swinging on a vine and water action for her role as Emily Appleton.

"It was fantastic, at the end of swinging on the vine the whole crew just thought I was so funny because I was just yelling with pleasure," she said. "I was so excited about it. And I said to (director) Jon Turteltaub at the end of the day that that was the best day of my professional life."

She added: "I would be so thrilled of people seeing me as an action hero. That would be the pinnacle of my career definitely."

The movie also features Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight and Nicolas Cage.

Now Dame Helen comes out fighting! - Dec 11 2007
Helen Mirren may have won an Oscar and two Golden Globes for her portrayals of two Queen Elizabeths, but her latest role takes her as far from a royal corset as she can get.

The British actress plays Nicolas Cage’s mother, a linguistics expert who reluctantly joins a quest to find a book of centuries-old government secrets in action flick National Treasure: Book Of Secrets.

"I kick ass, man. I’ve wanted to do it all my life," she tells the New York Daily News.

Her co-star Nicolas agrees, saying: "Oh yeah, she got very physical, and she was a real sport about it.

"It’s funny. We’d be on the set, and movie studio publicists would introduce her as Dame Helen Mirren, Academy Award winner. And I would say, ’Well, I’m Ghost Rider!’ And she would say, ’Exactly!’."

Despite being in the industry for over 40 years, Helen’s Hollywood career is now red-hot. She has four films in the works, including one with Brad Pitt.

"It is remarkable. But it wasn’t like I was struggling and then suddenly I arrived," Helen says.