Helen Mirren Shows Off Her MobLand Irish Accent, Talks A Talent for Murder and Groundbreaker Award

Oh, I love you so much. Welcome back. Hi, James. How are you? Thank you so much for doing the bit with me. Anything I do with you is always super fun. You know what you make me do. I know. I can't believe I made you do that. I'm a serious actress. I know, exactly. Mind you, it was a bit of mob land in there. It was a bit in there, yeah. I was channeling Maeve Harrigan. Oh, you're so good in that show. That is so good, and it's so unlike you. It's out there, isn't it? It's great. Yes, you're dark in that. It's fantastic. It's scary, frightening. Well, I wonder if it is a little bit like me. No, it is not. The me that would like to be me if I wasn't me, if you know what I mean. Yeah, maybe if it weren't you, you'd be this, but no, you're so good, though. Thank you for making it to the show. You've been very busy. You just came from the Toronto Film Festival. Yes, yes, I had a film opening in Toronto. Yeah, congratulations, and you also... I want to talk about that. We'll get to that film. I play another biatch. You do. A biatch. You're a biatch. Yeah. You do. But you also got an award. I did, yes. You got the Groundbreaker Award. I don't know. Whatever that is, I don't know. Which I love. Yeah, pretty cool, yeah. Your speech got a lot of online. People loved it. Oh, did it? Oh, okay. Yes, because you talked in this... Well, I was thinking about groundbreaking women, and we lost two major groundbreaking women just recently, Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem, almost in the same week. And they were, you know... Amazing. They were the true groundbreakers, so I dedicated my award to them. That was so nice of you to do that. I loved it. And how was the premiere? It was fun. It was good? Toronto's always fun. It's always a big... You know, it's a big red carpet, and it was in the middle of the day. It wasn't, like, at night. And there were, like, hundreds of fans. It was fun. I went years ago. I was barely in a movie called... Were you? Yes. It was called Almost Famous. This is sort of rather accurate, isn't it? It's the truth. Yes, it is. I was barely in this movie. Cameron Crowe directed it. I know the film. It's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm in this, and... Are you playing yourself or a character? No, I was a character. I had a beard. I grew out a beard. I had a whole speech. We've all got to look for that scene. Can we see a little bit of it? No, no, no, no. I don't have it here. But they had the premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and my role was so small, they didn't invite me. Oh. You know, because I was barely... Did you prepare your own way there? I did. Oh, you did? Yeah. I showed up, and everyone was like, what are you doing here? I'm like, hi, guys. Can't stop me, man. I'm on my premiere. Let's do it. I loved it, man. I had the best time. But the film, this is called The Talent for Murder. Yes. And you play Patricia Highsmith. I do, yes. The novelist. She wrote Talented Mr. Ripley. Great, great American novelist. Strangers on a Train. Absolutely, yes. I mean, a really great writer, but a terrible person. Really? She became an awful person at the end of her life, and I'm playing her at the end of her life. Yes, I just go from playing one horrible person to another these days. I don't know how you do that, because in real life, you're one of the nicest, most fun humans I think I've ever met. I appear to be, but I'm not really. Yes, you really are. No, I want to talk about this thing you're doing. You're involved with this great campaign that has to do with saving ancient olive trees in Italy. Yes, and I heard that you had saved a tree, and thank you, Jimmy, so much. That's a brilliant thing to do. I went to your website, yes. Save the Olives. SavetheOlives.com Save the Olives, yes. But what is going on over there? Well, there's been a terrible virus. In the part of Italy that I have a house in, I've spent a lot of time in southern Italy. They have ancient, ancient trees. They're 1,000 to 2,000 years old, these trees. When you think of the history of that, it's incredible. Look at these trees. And there they are, a living thing in the earth that's been there for 1,000 years, and this terrible virus is decimating them. It's moving up the southern peninsula of Italy and killing forever, killing these ancient trees. The only way to save one is by grafting, but a graft is expensive. Yeah. And so thanks to people like Jimmy, which is fantastic, I just heard. I did. That you have saved one of our trees. I donated. Absolutely. I did it. Absolutely. It's my receipt. And then they said that I can write whatever I want on a plaque, and they will put it on the tree that grows in the spring. And what are you going to put on it? I think I'm going to do this. Yeah. I love Helen. Oh, really? Is that good? No. Right? Yeah, that would be good. So when you see that, say hi and give it a hug. Give it a hug. That would be fantastic. I love that. Do you have an olive tree in your house? We have 700 olive trees, but not ancient ones like that. New ones. And do you make olive oil? We do make olive oil. Yes, absolutely. And I'm giving you a bottle of our olive oil. It's fantastic. Come on. I would love it. All right, next time. Well, any minute now, we've got the new harvest coming in. And I don't know if you do make olive oil or anything like that. No. I know you're a great tomato grower. Yes, I do. And I was introduced to one of your tomatoes. That's right. The last time I came here. You were on the show. And we ate one of my tomatoes. I was very honored. Demi-tomato, we called it. Yes. And we had a salsa together. Yes. With Pierce. Yes. That's right. And we made it fresh on the show. Yes. Oh, yes. With Pierce, who stars with you in Mob Land. Yes, he does. And you have great chemistry. We do. We love each other, yeah. All three of you are just fantastic together. All three of us are great, great. Season 2 premieres this Friday. It's already been renewed for Season 3, by the way. Congratulations. You are so fun. You are so fun in this. If you haven't seen Mob Land, I urge everyone to watch it. I think everyone has seen it. But I think it's the biggest show on Paramount+. People are freaking out about it. It's scary. It's frightening. It's fun. And funny. Hilariously funny. Yes. You've got some great lines. Quotable lines, yeah. I mean, how do we describe your character? Maeve Harrigan is a piece of work. Yeah. There certainly is. She's a terrible person. You wouldn't want to meet her on a dark night. Ice cold. Ice cold heart. Oh, my goodness. And I love it. It's good. And it's just, yeah. That's all I can really. That's all we need to say. It's just good, scary, and very smart. Well written, and it's fun. I want to show a clip. Here's Helen Mirren in Season 2 of Mob Land. Take a look. Follow orders. Do as you're told. You'll be fine. And you can start by getting out of the car. You said follow orders. Yes, I did. Oh, Conrad gave me an order. Yes, he did. And I'm giving you another. He'll murder me. Nevertheless. Please, Miss Harrigan, I can't. I said get out of the car, you. Go on. Wait. Quick. Greg, stick around, everybody.