Helen Mirren: British actors are 'lazy'
Dame Helen Mirren has labelled British actors 'lazy', saying they are less hard-working and take longer to learn their lines than American performers.
Dame Helen, 64, described British actors as "struggling", saying rehearsals had to be cut short so that they could learn the script.
Her comments related to a 1994 London production of A Month In The Country, in which she starred along with Joseph Fiennes and John Hurt, although she made no mention of individual members of the cast.
The Oscar winner, speaking in Los Angeles at the Brit Week Film & TV Summit last week, said there had been no such problem with the American ensemble when the play moved to New York several months later.
She said: "They were two wonderful casts and great productions. But in England, at the first rehearsal a lot of the cast were still not on top of their lines.
"We used to finish at two in the afternoon so everyone could learn lines. In America, by the second week the whole cast had their lines down.
"And they did a full day's rehearsal, which we didn't do in England. There were no complaints, they just took that as being what you do. I've always loved American actors for their work ethic, their absolute commitment."
In July Dame Helen will team up with British comedian Russell Brand to begin filming a new version of the 1981 comedy Arthur, which originally starred Dudley Moore and John Gielgud.
Dame Helen and Brand have also finished filming a new version of The Tempest, which is to be released in the autumn, the Mail on Sunday reported.
海倫•米倫女爵士日前大呼英國(guó)演員“懶惰”,說他們不如美國(guó)演員用功,且要花很長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間來記臺(tái)詞。
64歲的海倫爵士稱英國(guó)演員記臺(tái)詞“十分費(fèi)勁”,在拍戲時(shí),為了讓大家背臺(tái)詞,不得不縮短排練時(shí)間。
海倫爵士這里所說的是她1994年排練倫敦出品的戲劇《鄉(xiāng)間一月》時(shí)的情況,她與男演員約瑟夫•費(fèi)恩斯和約翰•赫特共同擔(dān)綱該劇主演。但海倫沒有指明具體是哪些演員。
這位奧斯卡影后于上周在洛杉磯召開的英國(guó)影視周峰會(huì)上說,這部劇在幾個(gè)月后轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)紐約,美國(guó)演員就不存在這樣的問題。
她說:“這兩組演員陣容都很強(qiáng)大,制作也很棒。但是在英國(guó),第一次排練時(shí)很多演員都還沒記住他們的臺(tái)詞。”
“于是我們一般在下午兩點(diǎn)就結(jié)束排練,好讓大家去記臺(tái)詞。而在美國(guó),在第二周之前所有演員都把臺(tái)詞背下來了。”
“而且他們用了一整天的時(shí)間來排練,而在英國(guó)我們則沒能做到這一點(diǎn)。沒有人抱怨,大家都覺得是自己應(yīng)該做的。我一直都很欣賞美國(guó)演員的職業(yè)精神,他們都非常兢業(yè)。”
今年七月,海倫爵士將與英國(guó)喜劇演員拉塞爾•布蘭德開始合作重拍1981年的喜劇電影《亞瑟》,原劇的主演是達(dá)德利•穆爾和約翰•吉爾古德。
據(jù)英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》周日?qǐng)?bào)道,海倫爵士和布蘭德已結(jié)束新版(莎翁名作)《暴風(fēng)雨》的拍攝,該片將于今年秋季上映。