Mirren spoke to EW about her aversion to medical care at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, where she supported her new thriller, “A Talent for Murder.”

Helen Mirren ‘totally’ avoids doctors, prefers AI: ‘I just completely ignore everything’

Mirren spoke to EW about her aversion to medical care at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, where she supported her new thriller, “A Talent for Murder.”

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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September 13, 2026 6:15 p.m. ET

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Helen Mirren in Beverly Hills, Calif. in 2026. Credit:

Christopher Polk/Penske Media via Getty

- Helen Mirren describes herself as having the “opposite of hypochondria.”

- The Academy Award winner tells EW at TIFF 2026, “I completely ignore everything... I avoid doctors,” preferring instead to consult AI.

- Mirren visited the Canadian film fest to premiere her new film *A Talent for Murder*, costarring Olivia Cooke and Alden Ehrenreich.

When Helen Mirren has a medical question, she doesn’t turn to her doctor, but her computer.

Speaking with * *at the 2026 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, Mirren and her *A Talent for Murder *costars, Alden Ehrenreich and Olivia Cooke, racked their brains about what they bonded over most on the set of the twisty thriller.

Cooke and Ehrenreich responded that they shared deep conversations as self-proclaimed hypochondriacs, prompting Mirren to declare that she ought to be diagnosed with the “opposite of hypochondria... I just completely ignore everything.”

When Ehrenreich asked if she avoids doctors, she answered in the affirmative: “Totally deny. I avoid doctors. Oh no, totally. And it’s working.”

Helen Mirren in Taormina, Italy, in 2026.

Daniele Venturelli/Getty

Ehrenreich joked that his preoccupation with everything terrible that could befall him medically makes him feel most days that if he “could just have a doctor live in my house, I would be thrilled.” Mirren helpfully noted, “Well, you do. It’s called AI.”

Ehrenreich described Mirren’s comment as an “interesting plug for AI” with a laugh, but Mirren pressed on, adding, “You know, AI is amazing. ‘It hurts, but it doesn’t hurt that much!’ Oh, it’s incredible.”

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Mirren’s embrace of artificial intelligence represents a notable departure from her stance as of 2024, when she tore an AI-generated speech to shreds at the American Cinematheque Awards.

Helen Mirren at Paris Fashion Week in 2025.

Arnold Jerocki/Getty

It isn’t, however, Mirren’s only unique stance on technology. More than once, Mirren has remarked how sad it is that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died before he got to see the rise of GPS technology.

“I always say, it’s so sad that Kurt Cobain died when he did because he never saw GPS. GPS is the most wonderful thing to watch my little blue spot walking down the street,” Mirren remarked in 2024. “I just find it completely magical and unbelievable.”

Mirren’s latest film, *A Talent for Murder*, an adaptation of Joanna Murray-Smith’s 2014 play *Switzerland*, follows famed crime novelist Patricia Highsmith (Mirren) as she is repeatedly pestered by an enigmatic young man (Ehrenreich) to pick her famed Tom Ripley series back up. The film is slated for release on Oct. 23.

*With reporting by Mike Miller*.

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