Helen Mirren hails women’s part in modern war at Eye In The Sky premiere

Dame Helen Mirren says she could not have played a senior military officer 15 years ago and her new film highlights the growing role of women in war.

The Oscar-winner plays a colonel in military thriller Eye In The Sky, which deals with the moral issues of drone warfare.

Speaking at the premiere in Mayfair last night she revealed her part had originally been written for a man but was changed by director Gavin Hood.

Dame Helen, 70, said: “It stopped it being a macho movie about men in war. It is about modern warfare and women are — and will be in future — more and more a part of modern warfare.

“It’s wonderful to play a woman in the military, and 10, 15 years ago I wouldn’t have been able to play that role because there probably wouldn’t have been women of that level in the military — and now there are. So there is a logic to it being a woman.

“The world of the military, and what the military have to do, is a very potent and important world, so it’s great to have that available dramatically for us.”

The film follows intelligence personnel who use drones to hone in on terrorists in a safe house in Nairobi, Kenya.

Out on Friday, the movie features and an appearance by Alan Rickman, who died from cancer in January aged 69. It is produced by Colin Firth.

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