Helen Mirren Transforms For Historical Drama, Golda
Who else stars?
Golda also features French actress Camile Cottin (A Haunting In Venice) as Lou Kaddar, the personal assistant and close confidant of Meir, and Rami Heuberger (Schindler’s List) as a military leader and defense minister Moshe Dayan.
Meanwhile, Ray Donovan star Liev Schreiber is opposite Mirren as Henry Kissinger, the controversial US Secretary of State and diplomat who becomes arrives in Israel and becomes involved in supporting the war. As Golda realises the scale of losses from the surprise attack and the clock keeps ticking, she and her all-male team of advisors in cabinet band together to stop a devastating defeat.
When is the release date?
The film is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and US on 25th August, before a later release on streaming this year.
She’s one of the best actresses in Hollywood, known for her wide repertoire of roles ranging from Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen and Cara Dutton in 1923. Acting legend Helen Mirren may be at her most unrecognisable though in the new biopic drama Golda, releasing in cinemas this month.
Mirren (who also recently voiced the narrator in Barbie) plays Golda Meir, the first and so far only female Prime Minister of Israel, as she navigates the outbreak of a conflict that threatens global security. Here’s why you should watch…
What is Golda about?
The biographical drama is directed by Israeli director Guy Nattiv, who directed the Oscar-winning short film Skin. It is set in 1973, a few years into Meir’s tenure as Israeli Prime Minister. Mirren looks transformed in the role- though her casting as a Jewish figure has caused some controversy from actors like Maureen Lipman and David Baddiel.
Golda sees Meir’s government tackling the Yom Kippur War, a 19-day conflict between Israel and the Arab states led by Egypt and Syria and led to serious Cold War tensions between the US and Soviet Union. The late Prime Minister has been dubbed “the Iron Lady of Israel” for her persuasive determination and decision-making, and the film depicts how she dealt with the fallout of the damage the country took.
The film’s complex moral dilemmas and race against the clock premise certainly point to this being an engaging political drama as well as a biopic of an important 20th-century figure. The trailer for Golda shows Mirren in prosthetics, chain-smoking her way through the intensely difficult conflict- “I’m not going to hide under the table, but don’t let me stop you,” she says tersely to her cabinet.