See Helen Mirren's Academy Award-Winning Best Actress Performance in the Queen

Melizzy
Melizzy, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Mar 14, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Miramax Home Entertainment announces that The Queen, one of the most highly-acclaimed films of the year, will grace us with her presence on DVD and Blu-Ray April 24th.

Bringing to the big screen Helen Mirren's Academy Award© Winning performance for Best Actress, and the Academy Award© Nominated Best Picture is director Stephen Frears. Frears was also Academy Award© Nominated for Best Director.

The critics have all been buzzing about The Queen, a revealing look at the private world of the British Royal Monarchy in the wake of the tragic death of Princess Diana. Starring as Queen Elizabeth is Dame Helen Mirren, in what is arguably her best and most taxing role to date.

Mirren's portrayal of the usually stoic Queen Elizabeth garnered not only an Oscar for Best Actress, but also a Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild Award for Best Actress as well.

The role of Queen Elizabeth required her to say very little and convey everything through her facial expressions. Mirren pulled this off seamlessly and viewers never believed they were watching someone play the queen; they were watching Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen's royal court of bonus features includes a "Making of The Queen" featurette, plus feature-length commentary from director Stephen Frears, writer Peter Morgan, and British historian/Royal Expert and author of Majesty, Robert Lacey.

Director Stephen Frears, who also directed Dangerous Liaisons, pulls back the curtain on the intimate lives of the royal family in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death in 1997. The Queen focuses on the days following the death of Diana and her seemingly inability to grasp the magnitude of grief Londoners and the world felt. The contained, traditional world of the Queen of England (Helen Mirren) is brought into conflict with the public, modern Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), and a nation looking to its leaders for guidance in dark times. Dramatic and revealing, the story of The Queen was drawn from extensive interviews, research, discreet sources and informed imagination.

The Queen's court includes Helen Mirren (Gosford Park, The Madness of King George), rising British star Michael Sheen (Kingdom of Heaven, Laws of Attraction, Mary Reilly) and James Cromwell (Babe, The Green Mile, L.A. Confidential).

Available on April 24, 2007, The Queen is priced at U.S. $29.99 (SRP) from Miramax Home Entertainment. The Queen will also be available on Blu-Ray as well as standard DVD.

STREET DATE: April 24, 2007

Rated: U.S. PG-13.

Bonus materials not rated and subject to change.

Feature run time: Approximately 103 minutes

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Languages: English, Spanish audio. Spanish subtitles. Close captioned.

Published by Melizzy

I've just returned from a six year stint on the Left Coast where I worked as an entertainment journalist and published a book of creative non-fiction.  View profile

  • Queen Elizabeth II was maligned in the days following Princess Diana's death for a lack of grief.
  • Helen Mirren had the task of playing the most enigmatic woman in history while she's still alive.
Helen Mirren regularly reviewed film and video footage of Elizabeth and kept photographs in her trailer during production.

During her Oscar (R) acceptance speech, Mirren thanked Queen Elizabeth II.

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