Helen Mirren makes regal bow as Harry Potter quiz show host

By Lynn Elber, Connected Press

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021 | 12:05 a.m.

LOS ANGELES — Helen Mirren is oddly absent from the Harry Potter film franchise that proved near to a full-work act for Britain’s acting greats. But she’s discovered her very own route into its magical planet.

Dame Helen, as the Oscar, Emmy and Tony-profitable actor is thoroughly dealt with, tends to make her debut as a quiz host with “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Match of Houses.” The weekly, four-portion collection begins 8 p.m. EST Sunday on TBS and Cartoon Community.

In episode 1, contestants representing the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff residences area trivia inquiries about J.K. Rowling’s novels-turned-films in a bid to declare a championship trophy and prizes.

Mirren left the cramming to the gamers and is unworried about getting a newbie match display emcee.

“I can surely enjoy a rigorous host,” she claimed, drolly.

Mirren’s willingness to choose on a little something distinctive should not elevate eyebrows. She’s celebrated for her regal roles — such as “The Queen,” “Elizabeth I” and “Catherine the Great” — but also counts the Quickly & the Furious movie franchise amid her different credits.

Her return to a comic guide-primarily based venture is impending: She plays a mythological goddess in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” Mirren’s baptism in the style arrived with the movie “Red” and its sequel.

In an interview with The Associated Press, she talked about her admiration of the Potter canon, making a Television set trend statement, and female bonding on the established of the DC Comics-based film. Remarks have been edited for duration and clarity.

AP: You’ve experienced an eclectic acting profession, and now you are adding your initial recreation present to the resume.

MIRREN: Certainly, which is why I signed up for it. I’m constantly up for a little bit of an adventure. Also, of study course, it is a superb issue and at a terrific instant, the 20th anniversary (of “The Sorcerer’s Stone,” the 1st Potter film). And the very actuality I was under no circumstances in any Harry Potter films — a great deal to my chagrin, I may insert. It was a fantastic way to to be capable to take part in the full incredible phenomena that is Harry Potter.

AP: Are you a admirer of the tales?

MIRREN: What I try to remember incredibly obviously was when the total environment of Harry Potter started off growing. The most magical point is the way the textbooks had been handed from hand to hand among young ones, and older people type of did not know nearly anything about it. It wasn’t like it was printed with excellent fanfare. A great deal of the people today who’ll be competing (on the present), they will be in their 20s, 30s, 40s, but they will have earlier practical experience with Harry Potter as a kid.

AP: Have you watched any Tv competition exhibits for guidelines or sought assistance on internet hosting?

MIRREN: I assumed I would just perform it by ear and be as natural as I could. I’m individually quite energized about it, so ideally I’ll talk that. I’ll be probably as nervous as the contestants themselves, and I’ll attempt to cover that.

AP: You usually are not actively playing a part with the costume dictated by your character, but was there a certain look you desired as a host?

MIRREN: That’s an fascinating query. The set, as you will see, it’s so amazing, it’s a wonderful, gorgeous Harry Potter earth that they’ve constructed. So I did want what I wore to replicate a slight costuming truly feel. And in a way, I’m participating in a kind of a character. So, indeed, I needed it to be a feeling of costume and presentation. It really is received a slight feeling of classic about it, and a feeling of belonging in that globe.

AP: In the sequel to “Shazam!” you enjoy Hespera, daughter of Atlas. Is she a hero or villain?

MIRREN: I’m not going to convey to you the answer to that. You are heading to have to determine for on your own. I’m a member of three goddesses: Lucy Liu as Kalypso and the third goddess played by Rachel Zegler, who will be a big star in a really quick space of time. So there are a few of us collectively, and that was definitely a excellent expertise for the reason that it’s so infrequent that you get to expend a whole of a film with two other ladies. So normally you are the only lady in the solid. Right here we were being a trio, and that was fantastic. I loved it.