Dame Helen Mirren laughs with a twinkle in her eye as she reveals a secret. She knows she shouldn’t tell, but can’t quite contain herself, as she confides just how she selects the roles which have kept her at her peak after 50 years in the business.
She knows the scriptwriters might not like it, but reveals her “terrible secret” anyway, confessing: “When I read the script, I read the last page first to see if my character is on the last page. “I don’t bother reading it from the beginning.
Is my character on the last page? If it is, it’s a good sign. “And then I go back and read the script from the beginning.” But if her character is not on the last page, there has to have been a grand exit.