HELEN MIRREN TALKS ABOUT LOVE RANCH

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

Illustrious British actor HELEN MIRREN said her role as the madam of a legal brothel in the new film LOVE RANCH is right up her alley.

“Actually, much more so than The Queen in many ways,” Ms. Mirren, who won a BEST ACTRESS OSCAR for her performance in that film, said in a recent phone interview.

“I’ve always been slightly on the funky side of town, if you know what I mean.”

LOVE RANCH — which opens tomorrow in select cities — is inspired by the true story of Sally Conforte and Joe Conforte, who gained fame in the 1970s as the owners of the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada.

Their relationship hit turbulence during an alleged love triangle with heavyweight boxer Oscar Bonavena.

In the film, the brothel owners are named GRACE BONTEMPO (HELEN MIRREN) and CHARLIE BONTEMPO (JOE PESCI) and the boxer is ARMANDO BRUZA (SERGIO PERIS MENCHETA).

GINA GERSHON plays one of the brothel workers.

“It’s a woman’s movie, in a weird, perverse kind of a way,” HELEN commented.

“A brothel is run by a woman, it’s not run by a man — a legal brothel, I should say. It’s a woman’s world and only a woman can really run it.”

The film is directed and coproduced by Ms. Mirren’s husband TAYLOR HACKFORD, who won an ACADEMY AWARD for BEST SHORT FILM for 1978’s TEENAGE FATHER. In 2005, he was nominated for another OSCAR for helming RAY.

It’s their first feature collaboration since he directed her in 1985’s WHITE NIGHTS, where they first met.

For research purposes, Mr. Hackford — who is also president of THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA — insisted Ms. Mirren actually visit the real Mustang Ranch.

She had to be “dragged screaming and kicking,” she recalled.

“I just didn’t want to go, not for moralistic or puritanical reasons — well, maybe a little bit,” continued Ms. Mirren, who has also won four SAG AWARDS, four BAFTAs, three GOLDEN GLOBES and four EMMYS.

“I was thinking: Oh God, I’m going to be so embarrassed and feel so awkward. But also I didn’t want to feel prurient and voyeuristic and I didn’t want to feel people were peering at them. I hate people peering at me, if you know what I mean. I like to do my work but I hate, funnily enough, being watched while I’m working.”

She immediately felt at ease, though, when Susan Austin — co owner and madam of the Mustang Ranch — took her under her wing and showed her how the operation ran.

By the end of the evening, HELEN — who in 2003 was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order Of The British Empire — had to practically be dragged out.

“At two o’clock in the morning I was sitting at the bar, having a drink, going, ‘I don’t want to leave, Taylor, I’m fine! No, no, no, we don’t have to go yet, do we?‘” remembered HELEN, who was born in London and now lives in Los Angeles.

“These girls are called independent contractors: they’re free to leave whenever they want to, there is no coercion of any sort, they’re there because they want to be there and lots of girls come back year after year after year.”

“It’s not to say they’re not from difficult backgrounds — they very often are, so there are problems, psychological problems — but that’s about as safe an environment as they could ever have.”

JOE PESCI, who won an OSCAR in 1991 for GOODFELLAS, displays his quintessential take no prisoners side in LOVE RANCH as his philandering character grapples with issues surrounding his marriage and business.

At one point during a fight with HELEN’S character, he quips: “Who do you think you are, the Queen of fucking England?”

HELEN — who has played three British queens in different films and TV series — said the line was improvised.

“Joe and I put that in. We talked about it in the car and we put it in and then Taylor said, ‘Oh, I don’t know if we can use that,’ and I said, ‘Oh, well, see because it’s really good.‘ I’m really glad he kept it in.”

HELEN also shows a signature side of herself in the film: her sensual one, particularly in intimate scenes with Sergio Peris Mencheta, who hails from Spain.

“I was very comfortable with him. I think he’s an incredible future star. He’s got that wonderful animal quality on the screen.”