Israeli director Guy Nattiv has defended his casting of non-Jewish actress Helen Mirren as iconic Israeli Prime minister Golda Meir in his biopic Golda, which world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday.
UK actress Maureen Lipman kicked off a debate around the issue in early 2022 when she publicly criticized the casting of Mirren in the role of Meir.
She said the stateswoman’s Jewishness was “integral” to her character and commented that Ben Kingsley would never have been cast to play Nelson Mandela.
Mirren later said that Lipman had a point. Talking at the film’s Berlin press conference, Nattiv said he had instinctively felt Mirren was right for the role from their very first meeting. “I can tell it from my point of view as a director.
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