Israeli director Guy Nattiv has come to Helen Mirren’s defense, saying that it was the right decision to cast the non-Jewish actress as Golda Meir in his new film “Golda" which is premiering at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
In the film, Mirren portrays Meir as she leads Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
Her casting sparked a fierce discussion in the UK about whether it was appropriate to cast a non-Jewish actress in a Jewish role role, with Jewish actress Maureen Lipman and other Jews in the British entertainment industry voicing their opinion that the role should have gone to someone Jewish.
Mirren previously played a Mossad agent in "The Debt" and an elderly Holocaust survivor in "Woman in Gold."
“From my point of view as a director, when I met Helen in my house, I felt like I was meeting a family member, like an aunt,” Nattiv said, according to ScreenDaily. “I felt that I was meeting a Jewish person. For me, she’s got the Jewish chops to portray Golda. We spoke about Golda for four hours, she told me every nook and cranny and everything about the character.”
He added: “For me, other than the fact that I adore Helen, I think she’s one of the best actresses in the world, I just found her very authentic… One of the terms in directing this movie was to surround her with [an] Israeli cast, to bring in an Israeli editor and to bring more people from Israel, to make it feel like an Israeli movie.”
In February 2022, Mirren responded to the controversy surrounding her portrayal of Meir in Golda, after Lipman, a Jewish actress notable for appearing with the UK National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and on British television, told the Jewish Chronicle the month before that the role should have been given to a Jewish actress.
"The Jewishness of the character is so integral,” Lipman said. "I'm sure she will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn't even go there."
Mirren told The Daily Mail that she was initially worried about accepting the role.
Calling Meir “very important person in Israeli history,” Mirren explained that she had spoken to Nattiv about her uncertainty over the portrayal.
“I said, 'Look Guy, I'm not Jewish, and if you want to think about that, and decide to go in a different direction, no hard feelings. I will absolutely understand.’”
“But he very much wanted me to play the role, and off we went,” the 77-year old actress said.
Mirren said she wasn’t upset about Lipman’s statements that the role should have gone to a Jewish actress.
"I do believe it is a discussion that has to be had – it's utterly legitimate," she added.