Mirren slams Tinker, Tailor

Dame Helen criticises film for lack of female roles...

11:37 26 September 2011

Dame Helen Mirren has criticised new film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for its lack of actresses.

Mirren laid into the male-dominated cast of Cold War-based movie, complaining that the few female roles in the film didn't reflect the amount of women working in espionage.

Gimme Gimme Gimme's Kathy Burke is the only female star in the movie, which also features Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Dame Helen, who plays a Mossad agent in her latest film The Debt, spoke to The Times, saying:

"The secret service always had a huge number of women working for them, and they played major roles in real life. But they were ignored for this film!

"How many women were in that? I mean, come on. There weren't any women in the 70s?!"

The veteran actress also spoke of her love of action films, admitting:

"I'm dying to be a full-time action movie heroine. Because the great thing about action is that you don't have to act."

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, based on the novel by John Le Carr, topped the UK Box Office charts last week, knocking The Inbetweeners off the top spot.