Speaking of Helen Mirren, that Jet Ski may come in handy for her new movie. In “The Leisure Seeker,” she hits the road in an RV headed to the Florida Keys with Donald Sutherland. Deco’s chief recreational vehicle correspondent Chris Van Vliet chatted with her and joins us with more.
I have a confession to make — I’ve been inside an RV before, but I’ve never slept in or ridden in one. Quite the opposite for Helen Mirren. She and co-star Donald Sutherland are road warriors in this movie.
Donald Sutherland (John Spencer): “Where are we? We’re not home!”
Helen Mirren (as Ella Spencer): “No hun, this is Pennsylvania.”
Donald Sutherland (John Spencer): “What the Dickens are we doin’ in Pennsylvania?”
In “The Leisure Seeker,” Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland star as husband and wife embarking on a road trip before his Alzheimer’s and her cancer battle catch up with them.
Helen Mirren: “These are people sort of seeking to do their final bucket list, their final trip to finally seek rest.”
The duo hop in an RV and head south from Boston all the way to Ernest Hemingway’s house in the Florida Keys.
Helen Mirren: “It was a great experience to be in those old RVs. We had two of them. They’re both from the ’60s, so they were very rackety.”
This isn’t the first time Helen’s shared the big screen with Donald Sutherland.
They co-starred in the 1990s drama “Bethune: The Making of a Hero.”
Helen says the first time, she was nervous and shy to be around Sutherland.
But this time around…
Helen Mirren: “I wasn’t so nervous, you know. I’ve won an Oscar, so I was a bit more like, ‘Oh,’ you know, ‘I’m up there with you, Donald.'”
Oh, she sure is!
But all jokes aside…
Helen Mirren: “What you see on the screen was really the truth of our relationship between him and I.”
And since this movie is about a road trip, the actress told us about her two real life road trip experiences.
One was on a train from San Francisco to Detroit.
The other was with her husband and their dog in a van across the southern states.
Helen Mirren: “Everything that to me was quintessentially American came from the southern states — Kentucky Fried Chicken came from the southern states, you know, collard greens came from the southern states.”
Now back to the movie.
They actually did film at Ernest Hemingway’s house.
And Helen says the best part about the Keys is the people.
Helen Mirren: “There’s nothing like them anywhere in the world … They’ve got history there, there’s a culture there, so they’re fascinating.”
Even though Helen posed with the Jet Ski during the Oscars, she told us she actually hates Jet Skis and has never been on one.
“The Leisure Seeker” is currently playing in theaters.
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