Helen Mirren is not normally known to be eccentric, but you could say she is nothing like a traditional dame.
In her latest role the 71-year-old actress plays firearm heiress Sarah Winchester in the movie called Winchester.
Written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig, Winchester is described as a biography, horror, mystery. It stars Mirren as the wealthy recluse who feared she was being haunted by the souls of people who were killed by the Winchester Repeating Rifle.
Following the deaths of her husband and child, she threw herself into the 24/7 construction of an enormous 160-plus-room mansion — complete with staircases that lead nowhere — designed to keep the evil spirits at bay. When skeptical San Francisco psychiatrist Eric Price (Jason Clarke, pictured below, an Australian actor seen in Blue Heelers, Home and Away, Farscape, Stingers, Everest) is dispatched to the estate to evaluate Sarah, he learns that her obsession might not be so insane after all.
Today, the Winchester Mystery House remains a popular tourist destination in San Jose, CA. Construction began in 1884 of the Queen Anne Victorian-style estate and continued until Sarah’s death on September 5, 1922.
The movie is set for release in the US and Australia next February.
Read more: Helen Mirren pictured holidaying in Tasmania.
While filming has now finished, Helen has been taking a more relaxed approach to live, according to her Instagram page.
She recently posted pictures of herself looking stylishly comfortable while barbecuing, relaxing on a beach, and even announcing her new title ‘Dame Doctor’… or is that ‘Doctor Dame”?