Feminist superhero Helen Mirren (or, to call her by her full title, Dame Commander Helen Mirren) has added yet another award to her bevy of glittering trophies.
Ahead of receiving the Crystal Nymph award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival, she sat down for a magazine interview. Discussing women in the media with The Hollywood Reporter, she was asked if she had seen Wonder Woman yet.
“Not yet,” she said, admitting that she plans to rectify this with a trip to the cinema very soon.
However, when Mirren learned that Wonder Woman studio bosses have been accused of “tokenism” for hiring female director Patty Jenkins, she immediately bristled.
“I hate that,” said Mirren. “Of course there is such a thing as tokenism and it does exist, but tokenism is just the first step.
“Then the next step after tokenism is that there is one woman, and then there are three women and then there are five women, I hope.”
Mirren didn’t leave it there, either: instead, the absolute badass went on to denounce everyone who has failed to embrace feminism in Hollywood as “dinosaurs”.
“It’s becoming embarrassing to turn someone down [for a role] because they’re female,” said Mirren (scathingly, we like to believe).
“The mindset has changed. Unfortunately there are dinosaurs, and there are some dinosaurs that are 50 instead of 80. A lot of males over the age of 50 are locked in a past world really, and we just have to let them pass through the system and get them out the other end, if you like, for things to really change.”
Realising that her temper was close to being lost, Mirren paused, and added: “That’s a very generalised statement, so maybe I should stop right there.”
Mirren is not the only feminist icon to have her say on Wonder Woman: Hillary Clinton – as in, yes, the Hillary Clinton – was also asked whether she’d seen it.
Her response was savage.
“I haven’t seen Wonder Woman yet,” confessed the politician, “but I’m going to, in part because it’s directed by the fabulous Patty Jenkins. But something tells me the story of a strong, powerful woman fighting to save the world from a massive international disaster is right up my alley.”
Slay. We have a feeling that President Donald Trump will be quaking in his boots when he reads that. He’s always been afraid of this particular nasty woman, after all.
Images: Rex Features
undefined
By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy
Thank you!
You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.