Yahoo Movies Helen Mirren shows up for Tonight Show interview in a bubble bath, talks F9 and black bears
The world may be reopening, but it looks like Helen Mirren isn't ready to leave virtual talk show appearances behind.
The Oscar-winning actress and F9 star showed up remotely for an interview on The Tonight Show Thursday, broadcasting from a very elegant-looking bubble bath. As Mirren explained to host Jimmy Fallon, given the Zoom of it all, why not do the interview from her "favorite place in the world"`? And so she regaled Fallon and viewers from her tub with anecdotes about the latest Fast and Furious film and her encounter with a black bear.
Let's start with F9, which hits U.S. theaters on June 25. Mirren revealed that she finally gets to drive a car in the film, having "begged" to do so since joining the franchise in 2017's The Fate of the Furious. (The Dame plays Magdalene Shaw, the mother of Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw.)
"I whined and moaned enough that they finally let me drive," Mirren said. Apparently, it was a repeat of a strategy that worked before; she confirmed that she initially got her role by begging Fast star Vin Diesel for a part in the franchise. "I was shameless. I begged, I whined, I moaned, I cried a little bit, I pulled every trick that I could possibly pull," she recalled. "And he very, very kindly acquiesced."
So, about that bear? Well, as Mirren has previously discussed, she had a run-in with a black bear that showed up outside her Nevada home while she was quarantining there. However, she managed to avoid a crisis by shooing the bear away and calling it a "naughty bear." (It seems even the ursine community respects Dame Helen.)
"I've seen that bear since, and every time I see her, I go, 'Naughty bear! Off you go!' And off it goes," she told Fallon.
You can see and hear more from Mirren, including her recollection of a memorable run-in with the Who's late drummer Keith Moon, in the videos above.
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