“Two Sides of a Coin: Helen Mirren’s Dual Roles in ‘MobLand’ and ‘1923’”

Helen Mirren, the acclaimed actress known for her extensive and diverse career, once again captivates audiences with her portrayal of two contrasting characters in “MobLand” and “1923”. In “MobLand”, Mirren plays Maeve, a strong woman with a seemingly cold exterior, hiding deep emotional secrets. In contrast, her role in Taylor Sheridan’s “1923” showcases her as a tough matriarch, a family pillar unafraid to confront adversity. The stark differences between these roles not only highlight Mirren’s versatile acting skills but also pose an intriguing question: do we all possess dual sides like these characters? Mirren’s stories in these films promise to touch viewers’ hearts, sparking curiosity and reflection on the contrasting facets within ourselves.

Helen Mirren has played her fair share of iconic women — queens, empresses, outlaws, and at least one criminal grandmother who livestreams murder via iPhone. But few performances could be more tonally opposed than her turns as Cara Dutton in 1923 and Maeve Harrigan in MobLand. Still, Mirren sees more of a connection between the two than meets the eye, as she told TVLine in a post-mortem for the most recent, bloody episode of Guy Ritchie‘s crime saga.

“Polar opposites, as you say,” she agrees when the comparison is brought up. “But two sides of a coin, you know? Everything that’s good on one side, and everything that’s bad on the other side. Loyal, truthful, decent. Disloyal, lying, absolutely immoral. And they just both just happen to be Irish.”

The two leading roles have made Mirren one of the faces of Paramount+, and it’s a neat bit of symmetry — two women from vastly different moral universes who share a core of strength, resilience, and defiance, as well as being pillars for the powerful men in their lives. In 1923, Mirren’s Cara was the heart of the Dutton homestead, protecting her family at all costs through violence, frontier politics, and personal heartbreak. Maeve, meanwhile, has clawed her way to the top of the MobLand underworld and seems hellbent on dragging everyone down with her. But there’s one trait Mirren says unites them: fearlessness — albeit they’re different kinds of fearlessness.

“No, no, absolutely right. That is the one thing that the two have: courage and fearlessness. Or rather, Maeve is fearless. Cara is aware of danger and fearful of danger, prepared to face it and deal with it, but I would not say she was without fear. She’s more sensible than that, really. Maeve is not sensible at all. She’s a complete, you know, ‘bats–t,’ as you say.”

Did Helen Mirren Survive in ‘1923’?

While Maeve might not survive the final episode of MobLand Season 1, Mirren was relieved to see both Cara and Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) make it out of 1923 intact. “Yes, it was great, wasn’t it?” she said. “And neither Harrison nor I were — because when you do these things, you don’t know, really, where they’re going to go. So, I loved that the sort of unexpected characters survive, and the ones you’d expect are going to survive, don’t.”

As for life after the final frame of 1923, Mirren imagines a rocky road ahead for Cara with Jacob home all the time. “Oh my god, I know,” she laughs. “Oh, yes, it’s going to be very tough for Cara. ‘Get out of my living room! What are you doing?!’”