Helen Mirren, who is in Sicily as the recipient of a Taormina Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, opened up about her relationship with “MobLand” co-star Tom Hardy and the verbal attack she recently suffered in London by a man who called her an “evil Zionist bitch.”

In late May, Mirren expressed support for her “MobLand” co-star Tom Hardy on Instagram amid unconfirmed reports that the actor was going to be fired due to unprofessional behavior on set. Variety has confirmed that discussions are underway to find a way for Hardy (who plays gangster Harry Da Souza in the Paramount + show) to come back. 

Asked by Variety whether she would continue to work with Hardy, Mirren was categorical: “Absolutely. In a fucking heartbeat.”

“I love Tom, I think he’s the most amazing actor,” she continued. “Different actors have different processes. I’ve learnt over the years that some people get to things faster. As long as what’s on the screen is fantastic, I’m totally chilled with however someone gets there. Tom is a very special person. I think he’s absolutely remarkable. My support of him is genuine and heartfelt.”

Mirren said she hopes another series of “MobLand” goes ahead, praising the “powerful” creative team behind the show. “When you have powerful artistic people working together, the creative process is challenging. People will get their knickers in a twist as we say. We will go forward, absolutely, and it will be even better.” 

Meanwhile, Mirren — as seen in a video shared online on May 28 — was branded an “evil Zionist bitch” by a man while she was walking in East London with her husband, Taylor Hackford. Mirren, who played Israel’s first female prime minister, Golda Meir, in the 2023 drama film “Golda,” has previously said she believes in the “existence of Israel.”

Asked about the attack, which took place last November but resurfaced online in the last few weeks, Mirren said she was “attacked by mistake by a man who was maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable.”

The Oscar-winning actor urged journalists to be careful about what they read and see online before clarifying her position on Israel. “Evil forces are rising everywhere, even in a country like Israel,” she said. “How could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?” she added, presumably referring to the Holocaust and the current war in Gaza. 

“I have such great friends from Israel,” she went on. “The artistic community in Israel, the intellectual community in Israel, are so remarkable. I was born at the end of the Second World War, I grew up in Europe post Second World War and the realization in my parents’ generation of what had happened in the Holocaust was so profound, so important. Therefore, the creation of Israel was a very important moment, although maybe it was done in completely the wrong way, in the wrong place, I don’t know. But something had to happen after the horror.” 

Mirren said that she has “many Jewish friends” and her first two boyfriends were Jewish, including an Englishman with whom she traveled to Israel as a young woman, where she worked in a kibbutz shortly after the Six-Day War of 1967. Referring to the time, she briefly said she “saw some things” in Israel during the conflict, but didn’t elaborate further. 

Mirren later added: “When you play Catherine the Great, why was Catherine called the Great? Because she took land. Why was Alexander the Great? Because he took land. He invaded, he killed people, he destroyed cities and he took land. Why is he remembered in history? Because with incredible brutality and unbelievable cruelty, he took land. So it devastates me. That’s what I mean. The evil is always lurking, waiting to take over, even in a place like Israel. I played Golda Meir and worked in a country that was the idealistic Israel, and I always thought it was a country that would never do wrong, but of course, they were doing wrong, even then.”