Helen Mirren has described portraying author Patricia Highsmith as her most challenging role to date, citing the author’s abrasive personality. Mirren plays Highsmith in the upcoming thriller *A Talent for Murder*.
Mirren, known for her portrayals of real-life figures including Queen Elizabeth II, Golda Meir, and Cleopatra, stated that Highsmith is “so different from how I am.” She discussed the role at The Hollywood Reporter’s Studio at 1 Hotel during TIFF, presented by sponsor Canada Goose. Mirren identified Highsmith, author of *The Talented Mr. Ripley*, as “probably the most difficult” of the real people she’s played, due to the character’s depiction in the film as being “very abrasive, very reclusive, basically, very fucked up.”
Mirren previously noted that playing real people carries a greater responsibility than fictional roles, but that the core of storytelling remains consistent. In 2015, she told *The Hollywood Reporter*, “Of course it’s different…because you have a responsibility to look like them and sound like them…but the essential journey is exactly the same…as with a fictional character.”
*A Talent for Murder*, directed by Anton Corbijn and adapted from Joanna Murray-Smith’s 2014 play *Switzerland*, follows a young publisher’s attempt to persuade Highsmith to write another Ripley novel. The film stars Alden Ehrenreich, Olivia Cooke, and Juliet Stevenson alongside Mirren and is scheduled for theatrical release on October 23.
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