Actor talks the joy of seeing elderly life experiences in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’
Actor Helen Mirren, one of the stars of The Thursday Murder Club, a movie about a group of retirees who enjoy cracking unresolved murder cases, said it’s great to see older people’s life experiences celebrated on screen on Thursday.
Eighty-year-old Mirren plays former spy Elizabeth Best in the new Netflix mystery, who along with her other impressive retired friends – played by Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie – find themselves with a real murder to solve.
“We underestimate older people. I did it when I was 25,” Mirren said at the film’s premiere in London. “It’s absolutely right that young people feel as if the world is theirs and nobody’s ever done what they’re doing before, you know, but the reality is, of course, every generation has done everything that they’re doing.”
Directed by Chris Columbus, the film is based on Richard Osman’s 2020 best-selling novel by the same name. “I don’t plot at all,” Osman said of his writing process. “I literally have a rough idea of what might happen. I have a little twist somewhere, but I literally write a chapter at a time and see what happens,” he said.
Describing the movie, one of the screenplay writers, Katy Brand, said it mixes “serious, heartfelt warmth” and moments of silliness, humour and satire.
“This whole sort of genre that we have in this country of the sort of Sunday night crime drama … where amateur sleuthing goes on but it’s also got mischief to it,” said Osman.
As for the future, with three more novels in the series already out and a fifth instalment from Osman planned for autumn, he hopes there will be more films. “Certainly if it does well,” he said. “I think the cast had such an amazing time last summer filming this. So I think they’d like to spend next summer filming another one as well. Fingers crossed.” Osman said.
Netflix NFLX.O will begin streaming The Thursday Murder Club on August 28.
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