Helen Mirren delves into Patricia Highsmith's mind in 'A Talent for Murder'

Helen Mirren makes no secret of her admiration for writers, something reflected in her portrayal of American author Patricia Highsmith in "A Talent for Murder," the thriller that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

"It was a fascinating journey to go into her psychology," the 81-year-old British Oscar winner commented this week at a roundtable with journalists.

In "A Talent for Murder," Mirren embodies Highsmith, the author of the Tom Ripley novels, who moved in the 1980s to a small town in Switzerland, where she led an increasingly secluded life.

Directed by Anton Corbijn, the film presents a psychological duel between the renowned writer and her agent, Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich), who tries to convince her to write a new Tom Ripley novel.

"Playing Highsmith was intense," Mirren told AFP.

Although there wasn't much audiovisual material available, the actor found clues to portray the reclusive writer in interviews and videos.

In that process, Mirren discovered she had nothing in common with her character.

"I've gone in the opposite direction in my attitude to life. She became very embittered, very private, isolated," Mirren said of Highsmith. "She was not a very nice person at the end of her life at all."

Likewise, the idea that anyone is capable of committing a crime is inconceivable to Mirren.

"I've never thought of killing a person. I don't think Patricia Highsmith is right about that," she said.

And the film doesn't hide that side of her personality.

"One wants to pay respect to her genius and her brilliance," Mirren said. "But I think it would do her a disservice to try and smooth over the edges that she very much had."

Mirren said she believed that part of what isolated the author of "Strangers on a Train" was that "she fell madly, passionately in love, obsessively in love... (and) part of the energy of her writing comes from the understanding of obsession."

The British actor, who also plays the ruthless Maeve Harrigan, the fierce matriarch of the series "MobLand," reflected on the diversity of roles she has portrayed in her six-decade career and how the industry has changed for women.

"I'm so cross that I wasn't born later," she said. "Not because I would like to be younger now, but because I would like to have had the opportunity as an actress when I was in my 20s, early 30s that actresses have nowadays."

"There's so much I want to do," said Mirren, who has no plans to retire.

But she noted that dream projects don't always translate into success.

"Often it's something that comes completely from left field that you're not expecting," she said. "I would never, you know, have thought of playing Patricia Highsmith."