Helen Mirren says Maureen Lipman was right to criticise her casting as Jewish Golda Meir

Helen Mirren has responded to Maureen Lipman’s “utterly legitimate” complaint about her accepting the role of Golda Meir.

Non-Jewish Mirren is playing the former Israeli prime minister in a new biopic, in a casting decision that was criticised by Lipman.

In an open letter posted earlier this month, she stated: “I’m sure she will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn’t even go there.”

Lipman later clarified her comments by saying: “I have nothing against Helen playing it. My query is, should the casting directors have looked first, and maybe they did, at Bette Midler or [Barbra] Streisand or Jennifer Connelly or Scarlett Johansson… or Tracey Ullman?”

It turns out Mirren agrees with Lipman and had raised these queries with director Guy Nattiv ahead of accepting the role.

Speaking to Mail Online on Friday, she said: “It was certainly a question that I had, before I accepted the role.

“I said, ‘Look Guy, I’m not Jewish, and if you want to think about that, and decide to go in a different direction, no hard feelings. I will absolutely understand. But he very much wanted me to play the role, and off we went.”

Mirren acknowledged the “terrible unfairness” that can occur when it comes to casting, but said she believes it has a knock-on effect.

“You know, if someone who’s not Jewish can’t play Jewish, does someone who’s Jewish play someone who’s not Jewish?” she asked.

Golda, written by Nicholas Martin, is currently in post-production.