Dame Helen Mirren hits out over nude scenes

The Oscar-winning actress has disrobed in films over the years, from 1979’s Caligula to Calendar Girls and The Roman Spring Of Mrs Stone.

But the 72-year-old said the privacy of stars on set was no longer respected.

Dame Helen told the i newspaper: “There used to be an understanding of privacy. There is no understanding of privacy now.  Privacy is completely gone.

“Random people taking photos, emails being hacked, people doing screen grabs…”

The Queen star added: “It used to be if you did a nude scene, for example, closed set, no photography.

“Now they (take) a screenshot from the movie and put it on the internet for everybody to see.”

She also said media giants such as Netflix had been “devastating” for film-makers like her husband, Taylor Hackford, who want their movies to be a “communal” experience.

“It’s devastating for people like my husband, film directors, because they want their movies to be watched in a cinema with a group of people,” she said.

“So it’s a communal thing.”

Dame Helen, who lives in the US and the UK, also criticised Brexit, saying. “It’s very hard to see where (it) is going to take us.

“The Brits themselves … It was an idea, and, rather like Trump’s America, it was a rather nostalgic idea.

“Let’s go back to how it used to be, with cricket and tea on the lawn and people being nice to each other. None of these horrible problems (of today).”

She also spoke about accepting death, saying: “We are all headed in that direction … so one might as well confront it, and what better time to confront it than the latter part of your life?

“As you travel through life, you do realise that you lose friends and colleagues and death becomes a part of your life, and that happens at every age, it’s not just what happens to older people.”

The full interview is available to read in this Friday’s issue of the i newspaper.