“I’m just going to sit back and watch it all happen in front of me,” Mirren tells PEOPLE of her costar tackling his biggest scenes
Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+ (2)
NEED TO KNOW
- Helen Mirren compares Pierce Brosnan’s intense acting moments to a “volcano” about to erupt on set
- The pair play a married couple navigating a dangerous criminal underworld in season 2 of MobLand
- “Watching Helen play Maeve, it’s just so exhilarating,” Brosnan tells PEOPLE
Helen Mirren knows when Pierce Brosnan is about to bring the heat.
The Oscar winner, 81, tells PEOPLE that after working alongside Brosnan, 73, on MobLand, she’s learned to recognize when her costar is preparing to tackle an especially demanding scene — and compares watching him work to waiting for a “volcano” to erupt.
While speaking with PEOPLE ahead of the season 2 premiere of the crime drama, Mirren recalls reading the scripts and immediately knowing when Brosnan had a major moment ahead of him.
“I see the scenes that are coming up, and I see, ‘Oh my God, Pierce has got a big scene today. That’s a big scene. He’s got to go somewhere,’” she says.
Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+; Jason Bell/Paramount+
“And it’s always great, Pierce, because I can feel it coming with you,” she tells her costar. “I know you’ve prepared. You’ve thought about it. And it’s coming, and it’s coming and it’s coming.”
“It’s like this volcano is about to erupt,” Mirren adds. “I always feel it when you walk on set where you’ve got that sort of scene coming up. It’s always very exciting.”
For Mirren, those moments sometimes mean there is little left to do except enjoy Brosnan’s performance. “I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I’m just going to sit back and watch it all happen in front of me. It’s going to be great,’” she says.
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The admiration is mutual. Brosnan says he feels the same excitement watching Mirren transform into Maeve Harrigan, the matriarch she plays opposite his Conrad Harrigan on the series. “Watching Helen play Maeve, it’s just so exhilarating,” he says. “And the costumes and her just panache, and she comes on like an empress.”
“In rollers,” Mirren quickly interjects, prompting Brosnan to add, “Whatever it is.”
“It’s great. It’s outrageous flair,” he continues. “So there’s a theatricality to it, which is great fun, and you’re supported by wonderful text and fellow actors.”
MobLand follows the powerful Harrigan crime family as they navigate a dangerous criminal underworld. Season 2 also ups the action for Mirren and Brosnan, although he admits that pinpointing the most physically challenging moment isn’t easy months after filming wrapped.
Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+
MobLand isn’t the first project to bring the two veteran actors together. Before playing husband and wife on the crime drama, Mirren and Brosnan worked together on the 2024 film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club. Their onscreen partnership has since turned into one filled with mutual admiration, with Mirren previously joking to Hello! that she “would pay a lot of money to work with Pierce Brosnan for the rest of my life.”
Season 2 of MobLand is now streaming on Paramount+.
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