Helen Mirren has declined to address questions regarding the controversy over the movie Golda, in which she plays the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
At a press conference for the movie’s world premiere Monday at the Berlin Film Festival, where it is playing out of competition, Mirren reportedly didn’t respond to questions regarding why a non-Jewish actress was playing one of the most famous Jewish women in history.
Instead, the British star deferred to the movie’s director, Guy Nattiv, who is Israeli.
Nattiv said that when he met Mirren, he instantly felt like he was in the presence of a “family member” — an “aunt” who had the “Jewish chops to portray Golda,” according to a Variety report.
“We spoke about that for hours. She totally got everything, every nook and cranny, everything in this character,” he said, adding that filling out the movie with an Israeli cast was a crucial step. to making him feel like he was “making an Israeli film.”
“Helen said something very smart. She said, ‘Okay, so let’s say only Jews can portray Jews, but what about non-Jews?’ So it’s like limiting us in such a way. I think that Israeli and Jewish actors have no limitations and they have no problems to portray [characters] around the world,” he said.
Helen Mirren pays tribute to Golda Meir and says what they have in common was an obsession with kitchen equipment LOL #Berlinale2023 pic.twitter.com/3rXGd32S76
— Elsa Keslassy (@ElsaKeslassy) February 20, 2023
The controversy over Golda kicked off last year when British actress Maureen Lipman, who is Jewish, questioned Mirren’s casting as Golda Meir, telling the Jewish Chronicle, “I’m sure [Mirren] will be marvelous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn’t even go there.”
Mirren responded to Lipman in an interview with the Mail Online.
“It was certainly a question that I had, before I accepted the role,” Mirren said.
“I said, ‘Look Guy, I’m not Jewish, and if you want to think about that, and decide to go in a different direction, no hard feelings. I will absolutely understand.’ But he very much wanted me to play the role, and off we went.”
As Breitbart News reported, the controversy provoked online trolls to attack Mirren for her casting in the movie as well as the actress’s pro-Israel beliefs.
Helen Mirren isn’t the first non-Jewish actress to play Golda Meir.
Ingrid Bergman played the Israeli leader in the 1982 TV movie A Woman Named Golda, for which she won a posthumous Emmy Award.
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