Helen Mirren says she couldn’t say no to playing Ellen DeGeneres’s love interest but would find Leo DiCaprio a distraction

Helen Mirren sure seems like someone comfortable in her own skin. That’s why I love reading or watching interviews with the Oscar winning star of The Queen who has been nominated again this year for The Station Agent.

Here are some excerpts from her conversation with The Advocate’s Brandon Voss:

If you do play a lesbian … whom would you pick to play your love interest?
I would just want a wonderful actress, gay or straight, but I certainly wouldn’t say no to Ellen DeGeneres. I’m such a huge fan of hers and I’ve loved her from a distance for such a long time, so it was quite a moment for me this year to do her show, stand on her set, and see her right there in front of me.

Out of the many actors you’ve worked with, which one have you found the most distractingly handsome?
Well, Liam Neeson in Excalibur was a big one. He was pretty distracting, but it worked out, luckily, because I subsequently dated him for four years. And if I were to work with Leonardo DiCaprio, I think I would find him quite distracting as well.

In her acceptance speech at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Mariah rambled on about meeting you that night. Have you ever had one too many before accepting an award?
Oh, yes, I have, and it’s a terrible mistake! [Laughs] But I thought she was so sweet and lovely—and blasted, yes, but why not? It was her night to celebrate. It wasn’t officially televised, so she should’ve been free to be whatever she wanted to be, but the trouble nowadays with YouTube is that everyone records everything. I thought she accepted her award with great charm.

You and Dame Judi Dench, with whom you’ve only appeared in 1968’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both got Oscars for playing Queen Elizabeths. When you won for The Queen, you beat Dame Judi, who was nominated for Notes on a Scandal. Forgive my gay propensity for celebrity feuds, but is there any rivalry between you two?
No, I wouldn’t say so. Like her, I work in film, television, and theater—which is a very British attitude—but she came ahead of me, so I’ve always been following in her footsteps in many ways. Certainly, I’m an incredible admirer of hers, and I aspire to work the way she works. So no, Brandon, we don’t arm-wrestle.