Helen Mirren reveals why she avoided playing well-known real people

Hellen Mirren opened up about her hesitation to take on a real person's role.

The 81-year-old actress, who plays Patricia Highsmith in A Talent for Murder, admitted that she knew she was “on a losing streak” when she signed up for the role.

Despite her excitement for the film, Hellen told Deadline that she has felt uneasy about portraying someone real.

She said, “I always say you you’re always on a losing streak playing a real person, because you can never be, at the most, successful. You’re only going to be 75% if you’re lucky, of what the real person is.

Helen explained, “So you’re never going to win, and in fact, for many years, I would not play people who were real in history, unless they were so far gone, like Elizabeth the First, Catherine the Great, that nobody quite knows what they sounded like or walked like.

“But people who the public are aware of. You know, you’re on a losing streak, really," she added.

She further shed light on one of the challenges of making a movie about Patricia finding her footage because the American novelist and short story writer was a very private person.

Hellen added, “Patricia Highsmith was very private towards the end of her life, very cut away, very locked away, which is sort of part of what our story is about. So, I don’t know how well known she was at that point."

A Talent for Murder is all set for worldwide release on October 23.