Helen Mirren Reveals What Hobby She Shares With Costar Pierce Brosnan

Helen Mirren found a common interest with her Thursday Murder Club costar Pierce Brosnan.

“I like to garden a lot. I like to swim in the sea,” the actress, 80, exclusively told Us Weekly of her go-to hobbies at the New York City premiere for The Thursday Murder Club on Thursday, August 14. “I like to paint a little bit, like my costar Pierce.”

While both Mirren and Brosnan, 72, have an affinity for being artistic, she confessed they’ve “never” taken the time to actually paint together.

Mirren and Brosnan star in the film adaptation of the 2020 Richard Osman novel alongside Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie. The comedy follows four seniors as they become amateur sleuths who attempt to solve a murder. Mirren plays a retired spy, Brosnan is a retired union leader, Kingsley is a retired psychiatrist and Imrie is a retired nurse.

The cast also includes David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Richard E. Grant, Tom Ellis and more.

Mirren gushed about how the movie has “great characters” that elevate the plot.

“The story obviously has to hold together and be intriguing for the audience, but without really good characters, it really is meaningless,” she explained.

Brosnan echoed similar sentiments.

“Well, I love it all, really,” he exclusively told Us on Thursday. “If the writing is good and if it jumps off the page at you, if you feel it emotionally and it has some soul and context of drama or humor, and you’re in the company of a director like Chris Columbus and the company of actors like Dame Helen, Sir Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, then you can go play. I mean, this is what I’ve done all my life as an actor.”

Before The Thursday Murder Club was even in production, director Chris Columbus teased that all four of his stars were at the top of his wish list.

“When I did Harry Potter, I wrote a list of all of the actors I wanted to play the roles — and they all said yes. That hasn’t happened in 20-some years. And then it happened again with Thursday Murder Club,” Columbus told Us. “I wrote down Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, and they all said yes. So it was a match made in heaven.”

Columbus added that getting those big names was only part of the puzzle to ensuring his artistic vision came to life.

“You’ve got great actors, great cinematography and music and great production design,” he explained. “All of that comes together, and we pay great attention to detail. That’s one of our philosophies. Every small detail counts.”

The Thursday Murder Club will be in select theaters on August 22 before streaming on Netflix August 28.