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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Kate Connolly in Berlin

‘For me, she had the Jewish chops to play Golda’: director of Golda Meir film addresses casting Helen Mirren

This combination of pictures created on January 13, 2023 shows British actress Helen Mirren (L) during a press conference part of the
Mirren said she had forged the ‘deepest of admiration for Meir, who she described as being ‘extremely brave’. Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images

Helen Mirren ducked a question at the Berlin film festival as to whether it had been appropriate to cast her as former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in a feature drama during a promotion event ahead of the film’s world premiere.

Having faced criticism for taking on the role amid a debate about authentic casting, with leading British Jews such as Maureen Lipman and David Baddiel suggesting Jewish roles should be reserved for Jewish actors, Mirren turned to her director, Guy Nattiv, to respond to the question from The Guardian.

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