Mirren studied photos and a few videos of Highsmith that she found online—“God bless YouTube,” she says—to get to know the character. She was especia
Mirren studied photos and a few videos of Highsmith that she found online—“God bless YouTube,” she says—to get to know the character. She was especially struck by a video from when Highsmith appeared on the late-night TV show After Dark in 1988. She was with another guest whose daughter had been murdered. “She has this very disturbing interest in this man’s backstory of a member of his family being killed, and it’s very uncomfortable,” says Mirren. “She was very much betraying herself at that moment—or maybe playing the role of Patricia Highsmith.”
But Mirren also discovered a softer side to Highsmith through her research. “She would fall absolutely, obsessively, madly, insanely in love with women,” she says. “So there was a great vulnerability in her as well.”
Mirren physically transforms for the role, donning Highsmith’s brief bob and her staple wardrobe of loose sweaters, oversized jackets, and button-down shirts. While watching the videos, Mirren noticed Highsmith’s neck. “She had this sort of slightly hunched look about her, always,” says Mirren, who had pads added into the shoulders of her costume to create the same effect. “It was brilliant. It really, really worked.”
She filmed all of her scenes in two weeks, mostly at a house in England, which she describes as “gloomy and weird.” Corbin says Mirren exceeded his high expectations, especially in the way she and Ehrenreich would face off in these battles of wit and manipulation. As the story progresses, Highsmith says she will only consider the very eager literary agent’s proposal if he helps her come up with a perfect murder.
Where the story goes from there should be left for audiences to discover on their own, but thanks to Mirren’s captivating and playful performance as Highsmith, A Talent For Murder becomes an unexpected way to honor her legacy. “We always want great artists to be a great person, and great artists are very often not great people at all,” says Mirren. “And this time it doesn’t take anything away from their greatness. If anything, maybe it adds to their greatness.”
