I can't--but first of all, you're sitting so properly too.
It's amazing.
Well you know, I've learned to sit up straight.
That's what-- this is American, British.
Yeah.
And you know it's amazing how much better it makes you feel.
I'm sure, yeah.
I'm just going to do something with the audience
right now, if you don't mind.
Please do.
Audience.
Sit up straight.
One, two, three, go.
Doesn't that make you feel good?
Yeah.
You don't have to keep it up for the whole time.
But you know, it was amazing seeing you all do that.
It was fantastic.
You all suddenly looked just like, oh, I'm up for it.
And because you're Helen Mirren, I
feel like everybody has to do that.
Right?
Oh no.
OK, slump.
But, you're looking at your Instagram.
I'm a big fan of you on Instagram.
It's hilarious like these half photos you take and everything.
But and also you like camping, right?
There's another photo of you camping on Instagram.
You're very outdoorsy, Helen Mirren.
You like--
Well I'm outdoorsy.
That's a yurt.
A yurt.
Yurt.
In--
Easy for yurt to say.
Get it?
I did get that.
Yeah OK.
[LAUGHTER]
But no.
So you go camping a lot.
You like the outdoors.
I don't go a lot.
But I do like it.
I've always loved camping.
I once went camping with Liam Neeson because Liam
and I used to date.
Really?
Yes.
And--
Oh my gosh.
I know.
We lived together for four years.
You did?
We did, yes.
Wow.
Yes.
Sure, why not?
Before Liam was famous.
[LAUGHTER]
Before Liam was the huge, humongous movie
star that he is now.
And we went camping in this tiny little tent that was
about the size of this table.
And we drove there in this tiny little car,
which was a deaux chevaux.
And I don't know if you know what a deaux chevaux like.
No.
I didn't even know what a yurt is.
But you know, Liam is like 6--
you don't know what?
I didn't know what a yurt was until you said it.
A yurt.
A yurt is--
Yeah, I got it.
Oh god.
I need to educate you.
Anyway, look it up.
A deaux chevaux is a really small car.
Liam is 6' 4".
So his head was touching the top.
He was driving it like this, having to drive like this.
And then we camped in this tiny little tent that--
and it rained all day every day.
We were camping in Cornwall.
And then we went camping in France as well.
So yes, I do like camping.
I love that.
I like camping with Liam Neeson, anyway.
Well, give it another try.
And also my husband.
OK.
There you go.
Well that's not going to work.
I was in the yurt with my husband Taylor.
Tell us about Catherine the Great.
You know, I just saw the first episode last night.
You, as usual, are unbelievable in it.
Well she's an amazing woman.
Yeah.
Tell us about it.
She was an amazing woman.
I mean, she took the throne in a country that
was a foreign country to her.
And ruled very successfully for one of the longest ruling
monarchs in history.
And it was great to sort of give her back her reputation.
Because her reputation was so besmirched by history.
Right.
History doesn't like successful, powerful women.
Yes.
And so they find a way of pulling them down.
And Catherine was brought-- pulled down historically
by very false rumors of her profligate sort of sexuality,
which was absolutely untrue.
Right.
Yeah.
I know--
Not to say she didn't like sex.
She did.
Sure.
Well.
But--
And we explore that in the series.
And have lots of lovers.
Yeah.
We do, yeah.
Yes.
But now, you're half Russian.
Yes.
And some-- if you listen closely,
you cannot hear a Russian accent at all.
But can you do a Russian accent?
Yes.
Sometimes I can.
I have done Russian accents in movies.
So do a little, like--
Movies.
It's very difficult to suddenly do Russian
for no particular reason.
[CHEERING]
That's really good.
That's amazing.
That's unfair.
That's really unfair.
I wasn't told I'd be expecting to do this.
But look it--
I couldn't rehearse.
Unfair.
But yet, like everything, you were brilliant at it.
And here you are at the premiere of Catherine the Great,
and keeping it low key.
Yeah.
That's just-- that's at the premiere.
Whose idea was that?
And that looks like a bathroom.
I know.
It does a bit.
Or a telephone booth.
It's actually a sedan chair, which is very 18th century.
You know, Catherine ruled in the 18th century.
And yes, I had four wonderful Cossacks carrying me
through the streets of London to much
of the surprise of everyone in London.
So tiny yurts, tiny chairs, and tiny camping.
What's with the tiny?
Everything tiny and small.
I do like little things, actually.
I do.
Don't you like little things?
I like little-- some little things.
Not all little things.
I would agree.
So but this, I read on the internet.
And I saw the clip of you in the Paris Fashion Week, was it?
Yeah.
And I mean, that was so cool.
You just came out like, I'm Helen Mirren and I don't care.
Well, I didn't.
No, what happened was, they gave me
these incredibly high heeled boots too.
Look at that.
Yes.
Well there you see I have no high heeled boots on.
They gave me these really high heeled boots to sort of,
you know, walk very model-y, you know?
And I practiced in them.
And I thought, oh God.
I'm going to-- they're going to get caught in my dress,
and I'm going to fall A over T. You know?
A over T.
Cause I know, you're probably not allowed to say--
Ass over [BEEP].
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah.
It's all right.
We can say it.
So the last minute, I suddenly thought, you know,
I'll just wear bare feet and I'll run out.
Cause all the other girls had walked out in a very like,
models, you know?
I thought I'd just run out.
So you're barefoot, and you ran out.
I was barefoot and I ran out and it went great.
And how did this happen?
Like, who made it happen?
Like, how did this come about?
Well, it was for L'Oreal, actually.
And they do this lovely--
they do this great fashion show where they--
instead of having one designer, they
have all these different sort of really modern cutting edge
designers.
So you see lots of different designers in the show.
And then they have a very eclectic group
of people of different ages, different sizes, you know,
different--
very diverse group of people.
Well I love it.
I love that you--
One of which was me.
I love that.
I love that you just didn't care.
And you're like, look, I'm going to do a fashion show.