Dame Helen Mirren has labelled British actors 'lazy', saying they are less hard-working and take longer to learn their lines than American performers。

　　Dame Helen, 64, described British actors as "struggling", saying rehearsals had to be cut short so that they could learn the script。

　　Her comments related to a 1994 London production of A Month In The Country, in which she starred along with Joseph Fiennes and John Hurt, although she made no mention of individual members of the cast。

　　The Oscar winner, speaking in Los Angeles at the Brit Week Film & TV Summit last week, said there had been no such problem with the American ensemble when the play moved to New York several months later。

　　She said: "They were two wonderful casts and great productions. But in England, at the first rehearsal a lot of the cast were still not on top of their lines。

　　"We used to finish at two in the afternoon so everyone could learn lines. In America, by the second week the whole cast had their lines down。

　　"And they did a full day's rehearsal, which we didn't do in England. There were no complaints, they just took that as being what you do. I've always loved American actors for their work ethic, their absolute commitment."

　　In July Dame Helen will team up with British comedian Russell Brand to begin filming a new version of the 1981 comedy Arthur, which originally starred Dudley Moore and John Gielgud。

　　Dame Helen and Brand have also finished filming a new version of The Tempest, which is to be released in the autumn, the Mail on Sunday reported。

　　海伦•米伦女爵士日前大呼英国演员“懒惰”，说他们不如美国演员用功，且要花很长的时间来记台词。

　　64岁的海伦爵士称英国演员记台词“十分费劲”，在拍戏时，为了让大家背台词，不得不缩短排练时间。

　　海伦爵士这里所说的是她1994年排练伦敦出品的戏剧《乡间一月》时的情况，她与男演员约瑟夫•费恩斯和约翰•赫特共同担纲该剧主演。但海伦没有指明具体是哪些演员。

　　这位奥斯卡影后于上周在洛杉矶召开的英国影视周峰会上说，这部剧在几个月后转战纽约，美国演员就不存在这样的问题。

　　她说：“这两组演员阵容都很强大，制作也很棒。但是在英国，第一次排练时很多演员都还没记住他们的台词。”

　　“于是我们一般在下午两点就结束排练，好让大家去记台词。而在美国，在第二周之前所有演员都把台词背下来了。”

　　“而且他们用了一整天的时间来排练，而在英国我们则没能做到这一点。没有人抱怨，大家都觉得是自己应该做的。我一直都很欣赏美国演员的职业精神，他们都非常兢业。”

　　今年七月，海伦爵士将与英国喜剧演员拉塞尔•布兰德开始合作重拍1981年的喜剧电影《亚瑟》，原剧的主演是达德利•穆尔和约翰•吉尔古德。

　　据英国《每日邮报》周日报道，海伦爵士和布兰德已结束新版(莎翁名作)《暴风雨》的拍摄，该片将于今年秋季上映。