Helen Mirren speaks out on Golda Meir casting controversy

Fellow actress, Dame Maureen Lipman, said in January 2022 that the part required an authentic Jewish voice.

“Helen will be great. Good actress, sexy and intelligent. Looks the part. [But] my opinion, and that’s what it is, a mere opinion, is that if the character’s race, creed or gender drives or defines the portrayal then the correct – for want of an umbrella [term] – ethnicity should be a priority," the actress said (via Variety).

However, speaking in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, Mirren revealed that the question of whether she was right for the role has occurred to her too – and that a “discussion” about the casting of certain actors in certain parts “absolutely has to be had”.

The Oscar-winning actress has previously played Jewish characters, starring as a Mossad agent in 2010 thriller The Debt, and as a Jewish refugee in 2015 drama Woman in Gold.

“So I’ve done it a couple of times,” she told us. “But I think this discussion absolutely has to be had, because it is in the context of playing a very high-profile, highly committed Israeli Jewish woman.”

Mirren added that she gave Israeli director Guy Nattiv an opportunity to withdraw the offer to play Meir due to the fact she isn’t Jewish, but that he insisted she was the actress he wanted.

“I said, ‘Look, I’m not Jewish – and really, really think about it because if you want to withdraw the offer to me, I have absolutely no hard feelings. I would absolutely understand if you want to go another route.’"

She continued: “He did think about it and he said, ‘Yes, I want you to do it,’ and so that gave me, in a way, the confidence to go forward.”

She added that the casting conundrum has “sort of exploded from the inside out… but I do agree that if you have, say, a brilliant disabled actor and there’s a great disabled role, maybe we should start talking about it – because it’s all about opportunity. And without opportunity, you can do nothing.”

She continued: “And if the discussion has to be had around my performance then – oh my god – I hope that I’m all right as Golda, because if I’m not…”

Golda is set during the Yom Kippur war in 1973, when Egypt, Syria and Jordan began a coordinated attack on Israel to recover territory lost during the Six-Day War in 1967.

The film will explore the great responsibilities resting on Meir’s shoulders and the huge decisions she was forced to make amid infighting from her all-male cabinet.

Production on Golda began in November 2021 and a first-look image showing Mirren in costume and makeup was released, with Mirren commenting: “Golda Meir was a formidable, intransigent and powerful leader.

“It is a great challenge to portray her at the most difficult moment of her extraordinary life. I only hope I do her justice!”

Talking about Mirren’s casting, director Nattiv said at the time: “I have long been an admirer of the great Helen Mirren. She has melted so brilliantly into Golda Meir’s character with incredible talent, intelligence, depth and emotion, doing justice to the richness and complexity of this incredible woman.”

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Read the full interview with Helen Mirren in this week's Radio Times – out Tuesday 15th February.

A release date for Golda has yet to be officially announced.

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