Helen Mirren in Jerusalem: Golda ‘one of most extraordinary characters I’ve played’

British actress Dame Helen Mirren says in Jerusalem that Israeli prime minister Golda Meir is “one of the most extraordinary characters I’ve ever played.”

Mirren, who is in town for the premiere of “Golda” at the Jerusalem Film Festival this evening, tells reporters at a press conference at the Inbal Hotel that the late premier “is one of the most extraordinary characters I’ve ever played.”

“Her history, her commitment to her country, her character in general… she had utter dedication to her country. Her commitment to her country was over everything — over family, over personal contentment, over personal ambition,” Mirren says.

At the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, Mirren opined that Meir “would have been utterly horrified” by the Israeli government’s move to overhaul the judiciary, but in Jerusalem she deflected questions about the current political climate.

“I don’t want to speak to [it] because I’m not Israeli and I haven’t lived in Israel,” she says. “I’ve watched it from from afar, obviously, in these past weeks. I’m personally very moved and excited when I see those huge demonstrations. I think maybe it’s a pivotal moment in Israeli history.”