'That's why we're still together' Helen Mirren's 'secret' to marriage is spending it apart

express.co.uk:

coronavirus pandemic actually brought them closer than ever before.For the first time in around three decades, the couple were able to sit down at the table to eat dinner together.Speaking on the Graham Norton Show, Helen said: "For the first time in 30 odd years of marriage we sat at the table opposite each other and had dinner together every night for six months."It was fantastic, brilliant."She was there to promote her new film The Duke, where she portrays Dorothy Bunton.The comedy-drama, which is set in 1961, follows 60-year-old taxi driver Kempton Bunton, played by Jim Broadbent, who steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.He sends ransom notes saying that he will return the painting if the government invests more in care for the elderly.It is the final film from director Roger Michell, who died last September.She told the audience: "I swore to myself that I would never play a character that is described as the long-suffering, but she is, and she is a great character."Helen added: "This turned out to be Roger Michell's last film."He was a great film director and I think it is wonderful to have this as his last because it is very funny, but at the same time it has great emotional depth."Speaking to Radio Times about her role in the film, she admitted it might help her "break free" from the casting chains of 2006 film The Queen; a character she has been tied to ever since.And Dorothy's drab, worn-down essence is a far cry from Her Majesty.Mirren appeared as Queen Elizabeth II, in an iconic performance that won her an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a SAG Award, among others./latest/queenThe film follows the Royal Family as they try and deal with the series of events that.