Welcome to Emmy Campaign Season! “But Kismet, the Emmys aren’t until September 14 — we don’t even have the nominations yet!” Yes, but voting to determine those nominations begins on June 12, which is why we’re seeing an uptick in For Your Consideration events, plus specialty articles like The Hollywood Reporter’s Roundtable series. THR debuted their Drama Actress Roundtable on Friday with the following lineup: Kathy Bates, Niecy Nash-Betts, Parker Posey, Cristin Milioti, Keri Russell, and Helen Mirren. Helen is in the running for her roles in 1923 and MobLand, both Paramount+ shows. During the discussion (which somehow included once again Helen’s sadness over Kurt Cobain missing out on GPS), Helen revealed that when she was starting out in her 20s, someone in the industry told her she wouldn’t get work unless she got a nose job. But just like when a bear waltzes up to her property uninvited, Helen stood her ground, didn’t back down, and said no (to the asshole). As she put it to the roundtable, “I didn’t want to be a pretty actress anyway.”
“I was told to have a nose job in my 20s,” Mirren told the group.
“You’re kidding me,” a surprised Russell, 49, said.
“Someone said, ‘You’ll never get work if you don’t have a nose job,’” Mirren replied, adding, “I said no. I didn’t want to be a pretty actress anyway. I elected to be not so pretty.”
Last November, Mirren opened up about her perception of the word beauty and how she believes it has more to do with what’s inside a person, during an appearance at the 2024 L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth Honoree celebration in West Hollywood, Calif.
“I’ve always had this issue with the word beauty because it assumes that you’re looking to be beautiful in an exterior,” she told PEOPLE exclusively.
“Of course, there are many, many different kinds of beauty in the world; it’s a very broad term,” Mirren continued. “Being an ambassador for a beauty products company, I always wanted to say, ‘We’re not trying to be beautiful, we’re trying to be authentically and genuinely and happily and positively ourselves, whether that’s beautiful or not.’”
The Oscar-winning actress says she appreciates the “world of makeup and of costume and of fashion, because it’s all transformative.” But there are other times when she feels like her best self.
“I think probably in a bath with a candle and a book,” she shared, adding, “Or having a cocktail with my husband in the evening, just one!”
Oftentimes when I’m watching a Helen Mirren performance, I think to myself, “Oooh I want to be that person!” Not because her characters are necessarily good or smart or beautiful, but because I’m usually bowled over by how undeniably themselves they are. So Helen’s comments about wanting authenticity over beauty totally resonated with me. Although I’d argue that there is a definite, inherent beauty in authentically being yourself. Helen has long been averse to using the words “beautiful” or “pretty,” but I felt like her comments here were the most clear she’s been on what she’s striving for on the inside, which then has the side effect of beauty. At this point in the roundtable, Kathy Bates brought up another nuance to the beauty conversation, noting “When you see an amazing performance, it doesn’t matter what that person looks like — they’re beautiful.” Yup, I agree. As did Cristin Milioti, who replied, “They’re hot!” Anyway, Helen Mirren doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell at winning an Emmy this year, but I love that she’s showing up in her bearable shoes to vie for the nominations, nonetheless!
PS — Since Helen brought up feeling like her best self in the bathtub, I feel compelled to remind us all of the time she Zoomed into the Tonight Show… while in the tub. #Goals.
Retro photos are from 1969 (black and white with art), 1979 (black and white curly hair) and 1986 (color photo from the TV movie coming through) credit: Photoshot/Avalon, United Archives/IFTN/Avalon/Avalon. Current photos credit: Olivier Huitel/Avalon
What’s wrong with her nose? Looks perfectly good to me.
I liked the comment about her characters being undeniably themselves. She played an MI6 lethal assassin with wild gun skills in the movies “Red” and “Red 2” and IMHO she stole the show. Kudos to the director(s) who gave her scenes where she was a total bad ass and so believable. I liked her in those movies so much I bought the DVDs.
I read from a lot of actresses that this is an advice given to almost all women by their agents. They were all told that if they want to get jobs, they need to have a nose job. I don’t know if there is a Hollywood nose that is more preferable for camera work, but I don’t think any of them needed it.
Even a legendary beauty as Sophia Loren was asked to undergo a nose job early in her career…I don’t know what’s wrong in Hollywood.
A small nose makes the eyes and mouth look larger in comparison. And larger eyes and lips is considered more beautiful on most faces. More importantly, the eyes and the mouth are two of the most important tools in an actor’s toolbox. So yes, there is a benefit on camera to having a nose job. However, that doesn’t excuse the amount of pressure actresses are under to get plastic surgery.
Yep. The nose and boobs. Barbra Streisand said she was pressured to get a nose job in her early 20s when she transitioned to films from strictly singing. She refused.
I recall reading an article interview with actress Julia Stiles. She said in her late teens (she was 18 when “10 Things I Hate About You” was released) and early 20s directors and producers would leave brochures for breast implants on the table in her dressing room.
Sad that agents and directors selected actresses and artists like Barbra Streisand, Helen Mirren, and Julia Stiles because of their inner spark and talent, but it always comes back to the physical for many men in the industry doesn’t it?
And finally … what the heck is wrong with young Helen’s nose??? P.S. “Excalibur” is one of my favorite films! 🙂
Have you watched MobLand? I’d definitely say she has a chance…
Watch ‘Excalibur’. She was already a pretty actress. And she could pull off a crochet knit top.
Have you seen the Graham Norton clip where she and Liam Neeson are guests, and the host mentions they were once an item.
And Liam tells the story that they met on Excalibur, he and his friend showed up to the set, she was in costume, and someone called her over to meet them and both he and his friend were gobsmacked by her beauty. And they ended up living together for several years.
Patriarchy- where a gross man tells a gorgeous young woman she is not good enough, and needs to seek painful and expensive surgical intervention to be worthy of praise and fame.
F*** that guy.
🎯
I don’t know if she was ever conventionally pretty in the Hollywood sense but she’s always been sexy as hell. Mainly because she just owns herself.
Yes I agree. She seems to have been an outlier from an early age with the self confidence to know her own mind and value.
Thank god she didn’t. Nose jobs in the time when Helen was in her 20s were ugly af.
Have you seen the old Michael Parkinson interview from the 1970s? He goes on and on and on about how she appeared nude on stage in a recent Shakespeare production. She tries to shut it down, but he goes on and on. She’s playing with a large feather she’d worn in her hair trying to be a sophisticated “the theatah is the thing, old darling” and starts to get pissed off.
He had a long career and was a great interviewer, but this was a definite low point for him. She does become more real when she’s angry, though. Even the audience gets less tee-hee as he goes on. Good for her!
We want a memoir!