Helen Mirren has never seen her role in The Tempest as a gender swapping part.
The actress is back on the big screen in the new year as she stars as Prospera, originally Prospero, in Julie Taymor’s new adaptation of the Shakespeare classic.
Speaking to Total Film the actress said: With Prospera, I just regarded the role as if Shakespeare had written it for a woman. I never saw it as gender shifting.
"I’d seen the play several times and whenever I watched it, I’d felt that it could be played by a woman without changing any of the dialogue, any of the relationships.
"In Arthur, they have changed the role of Hobson, the butler, that was originally played by John Gielgud, to the Hobson I play, who’s a nanny.
"My character, Victoria, in Red was always a woman, and it was lovely that the writers thought of that."
It’s been a busy year for the actress as she has starred in action movie Red and lent her voice to animation film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga ‘Hoole.
Brighton Rock will be released in 2011 and she has already completed work on the remake of Arthur.
The Tempest is released 4th March.
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