The Queen Poster
Helen Mirren Talks The Queen Symbolism
While the public wants the Queen to publicly mourn
her ex-daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) tries to stand
on ceremony and keep private. This problem is visually illustrated by a
stag. The royals go hunting to escape the issues in London, but when the
stag is fatally wounded but not immediately killed, she deals with the same
issues that Diana’s death has.
“There is a dichotomy in life,” said Mirren. “Part of
that Scottish world, that Scottish tradition is very much to do with the
hunting parties, and people and American’s pay vast sums of money
to go and stay in a Scottish Barony Hall and go stalking and go kill a deer.
That’s all they want to do. I love that scene because you know the
Queen is just dying inside, and all she wants to do is scream, ‘How
could that stupid man have been so idiotic as to not have a clean kill?’
But her sense of politeness form is to say, ‘Congratulations to your
guest.’ And, to me, in those words, it’s just all the depths
of emotion and the British sense of self control. I love that one.”
One well known moment that is not addressed in
the film is when the royal family stood outside watching Diana’s hearse
drive by. This was due to simply practical matters. “I was keen to put that
in. There were two television stations covered it. ITV missed the shot.
ITV, for whom we were making the film, missed the shot. The BBC got the
shot. The BBC then are terrified of losing their relationship with the palace,
so the BBC stopped me using it. When you point out to them that you are
actually paying the queen a compliment, they fail to understand what you’re
talking about. So don’t blame me, blame the BBC. To be fair, that was the
only incident and it was just unfortunate the ITV camera was behind the
car so you didn’t actually see the event.”
The Queen herself does not hunt, but supports the hunting parties, and Mirren
isn’t ashamed of portraying that on film, despite a PC attitude against
killing animals for sport. “The reality is that deer are very, very
destructive. I don’t know if you live in Los Angeles, or ever had
deer in your garden but they can wipe out a garden in 24 hours. So they
are very destructive, and they are very, very prolific. They multiply very
fast. So if they weren’t hunted, they’d have to be coddled in
one way or another. Although, there is a recognition of the nobility of
the animal. But the Queen doesn’t hunt. She’ll go out with the
hunting party cause she likes the country side, she likes to walk, she likes
to be with her dogs, but she doesn’t hunt herself.”
The Queen is out in theatres now.
For the trailer, more interview, clips and additional movie info, go to
The Queen
Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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