Cinema “A Talent for Murder” | Helen Mirren: “You don’t have to wear a lot of make-up to change yourself”

Helen Mirren has nothing in common with Patrica Highsmith, which is exactly what she found exciting. Photo: Copyright Tobis Film In “A Talent for Murdering,” a young editor is supposed to persuade Patricia Highsmith to write one last Ripley novel. Did you know Patricia Highsmith's work before filming?

I saw Hitchcock's Two Strangers on a Train many years ago. I wasn't aware that the film was based on a book by Patricia Highsmith. Hitchcock also changed the book quite a bit. Then I saw the wonderful film “Only the Sun Was Witness” – with Alain Delon in the leading role of Tom Ripley. The film is said to be Patricia Highsmith's favorite film adaptation of her work. After watching these two films, my husband said, "You should read her work, she's great." That's how I discovered Patricia Highsmith. 

Where does the fascination with Ripley come from?

We're used to the idea that if someone does something wrong, they won't get off scot-free. Patricia Highsmith simply completely turned things around with Ripley and thus literally shook the social order. Nobody was as radical in their approach as she was. Usually the antihero is the one who does a few bad things but is basically a good guy. But the fact is that Tom Ripley was in no way a good person. You just keep wishing he would show human kindness, but he doesn't. It is thanks to Patricia Highsmith's incredible artistry that you are completely fascinated by him and follow his story spellbound. 

Helen Mirren, born in London in 1945, is one of the most renowned actresses of our time. In 2007 she won the Oscar for Best Actress (“Queen”), she received several Bafta Awards (British Film Awards) and awards at the Venice, Berlin and Cannes festivals. At 19 she was accepted into the Royal Shakespeare Company and in 1969 she switched to the film genre.

In Highsmith's debut novel "Two Strangers on a Train" it is written: "Good and evil lived side by side in the human heart." Does this apply to all people?

I think she was talking about herself. Patricia Highsmith definitely had a dark side. Of course, I also know people who are in a relentlessly bad mood, who just don't feel right about anything and who are simply unhappy, but that doesn't apply to many people. There are no bitter, angry murderers in them. They see their lives in a benevolent and loving way. But of course we all get angry or upset about certain things sometimes.

Patricia Highsmith says in the film that happy people don't ask enough questions. How do you see that?

She's right! The people who are always a bit grumpy constantly question everything, in contrast to more naive people like me. They ask why and when and don't just go along with everything. I'm a happy person, so it's even more fun for me to play Patricia Highsmith, who is so different from me, grumpy and mean. I would also like to see a biography or biopic with her. 

What kind of research did you do to get as close as possible to Patricia Highsmith?

I read a wonderful biography of Patricia Highsmith. Then, thank God, there was YouTube with a few interviews she gave to British television. There's a very interesting scene on the late night show "After Dark" where she sits next to a man whose daughter was killed. She shows an incredibly unhealthy interest in the circumstances of her daughter's death. He talks about how terrible it was that they had to clean the crime scene themselves because no one came to help them. When he talks about the stains that they had to remove from the floor themselves, she asks in a very strange way (Helen Mirren immediately slips into the role of Patricia Highsmith): “What kind of stains were there on the floor? Can you describe it for me?" It was really scary to see Patricia Highsmith like that. But it was very valuable to see what kind of person she was later in life.

Through the look, the costume and the hairstyle! The moment I put all of that on, I couldn't look at myself in the mirror anymore and just thought: Oh, that shade! That was enough. The costume and the hair are so important. You don't necessarily have to wear a lot of makeup to change yourself. Basically, it's more about the inner attitude than the external appearance. When I played "The Queen" (2006), I hardly wore any make-up and when I portrayed Golda Meir in "Golda - Israel's Iron Lady" (2023), the prostheses were important because I didn't look like her enough otherwise.

In a sense, in "A Talent for Murdering" you deconstruct your own image by playing a misanthropic character. What did you focus on for the role?

First of all, it was a great script based on a wonderful play by Joanna Murray-Smith. Because it's a play, it has this powerful, intimate impact. That was a real page turner. You couldn't wait to find out what happened on the next page. Of course we had to shorten the piece significantly and it couldn't all be played in one room like in the theater. 

"A Talent for Murder" is primarily a chamber play by two characters, set in Patricia Highsmith's house. How different was this shoot compared to your last films and series?

We shot “A Talent for Murder” in a house just outside London. The house was so terrible and perfect. It was listed because it was built around the mid-1950s. The ceilings were incredibly low. The bedrooms were literally like prison cells. They were made of white painted bricks with a single small bed and there were four of them in a row. There was a green, rather disgusting pond outside. You should check out Patricia Highsmith's home, which she designed herself and built in Switzerland! It resembled a military bunker and was terrible. But it was perfect for our purposes, although it was a challenge to shoot in it. Since the ceilings were low, lighting was very difficult. But we had a really brilliant cinematographer in Robbie Ryan. In film, if you can manage one or two pages a day, you're happy. Alden (Ehrenreich, editor's note) and I had pages and pages of dialogue and long scenes and managed 15 pages a day. He was a fantastic playing partner.

You filmed Chris Columbus’ “The Thursday Murder Club” (2025), the series “Mobland – Familie bis aufs Blut” (since 2025) and Anton Corbijn’s “A Talent for Murder” (2026) almost in the same breath. Did these films perhaps influence each other?

Yes, because I shot them more or less one after the other. I had a very intense year and a half of just working, with hardly any preparation time. The characters were very different. That helped in a way so that they don't significantly influence each other. Maeve Harrigan, my character in Mobland, is one of the most extraordinary roles I've ever played, which I really enjoyed, but it was an intense period of work. At the end I was completely exhausted.

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