Mirren returns to New York as queen of the subway
NEW YORK (AP) – Trust Helen Mirren to look regal while surrounded by rats, seat hogs and grime.
The 69-year-old Oscar winner was spotted riding the city’s squalid subway system and offering a lesson in elegance along the way.
She was photographed during one commute sitting up straight in a fur-trimmed coat and long lavender gloves. A sleek taupe tote sat politely on her lap, not beside her.
“I would never dream of putting my bag on the seat,” the actress said during a recent interview during rehearsals of her new Broadway play. “You’ve got to leave room for other people.”
Mirren seems a bit bewildered by all the fuss over her underground style, which Buzzfeed declared “the classiest thing to ever happen on the subway” and prompted InStyle to offer a shopping list inspired by her outfit.
She said she adores New York, even in the depths of winter: “I love it. I’ve got nice cozy boots, warm coat and hat and scarf.” And on her decision to brave the city’s public transport system, she didn’t hesitate: “It’s the quickest way to get around.”
Mirren may be queen of the subway these days, but she’s a monarch above ground, too. She’s playing Queen Elizabeth II in the play “The Audience,” which wowed crowds in London in 2013.
Peter Morgan’s play imagines the private weekly meetings between the monarch and Britain’s prime ministers over her six-decade reign, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. It begins previews today at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
“It’s about the clash of her being, on the one hand, the most visible woman in the world and, on the other hand, the most invisible woman in the world,” said director Stephen Daldry. “Helen is extraordinary.”
Mirren was initially reluctant to join the show since she’d already portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the movie “The Queen,” another Morgan-written story set after the 1997 death of Princess Diana.
“I didn’t want to go back to her, I must say,” Mirren said. “It felt as though I was going backward. And it’s always a mistake for an actor to get overly identified with any particular character.”