What’s it like to live with Helen Mirren?
An interview with Taylor Hackford about living with wife Helen Mirren. The thing that turns me on – as a man and as an artist – is talent. The fact that Helen is a great actress was an important part of my attraction to her. That she’s a very sexy woman wasn’t lost on me either. Our first proper encounter was not exactly what you would call positive. I had seen her before in an experimental performance in California; three or four years later, I called her in for a casting for White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov [released in 1985]. I was running late and out getting a sandwich when she arrived. When we got back, she was piping mad. She said, “Are we going to read, or not?” She read beautifully, of course, and got the part; though she certainly wasn’t courteous. Last year we worked together again, on my film Love Ranch. When she first arrived on set, she had just caught flu. It’s hard when you’re sleeping with someone every night who is hacking and coughing, then you have to ask them
