(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Dame Helen Mirren thinks it is idiotic that people care so much about cursing.

The actress was at the Academy Awards last weekend, where best supporting actress winner Melissa Leo accidentally let slip an expletive during her acceptance speech. Helen was shocked by the uproar the utterance caused, and thinks people put far too much stock in rude words.

The whole drama of swearing is so overblown. It's idiotic that it's made into such a big deal, she said.

I think [Melissa] was totally over-excited. She was trying to show how rough and raw she is and it was a terrible mistake. I do think the fuss is completely out of order.

Helen also finds it astounding that swear words are occasionally removed from movies. She isnt claiming films should be stuffed full of expletives, but doesnt see the harm in the occasional crass comment.

The ludicrousness is when you have to loop [redub] swear words for your film to be shown on an aeroplane or on television, she told the BBC.

I did a film where we had to loop the words 'venereal disease'. How idiotic is that.

Helen is currently promoting her new movie The Tempest, based on the play by William Shakespeare. She plays Prospera, a part originally written for a man, which she finds intriguing. In Shakespeares time women did not tread the boards, and she has found herself wondering how different things would have been if that wasnt the case.

I wish to God he had had access to actresses. I wonder how different his canon of work would have been if he'd been able to write for women, she mused. And I wonder whether he would have written The Tempest with a woman in mind, because to my mind it fits so incredibly well.

Apart from one vowel, not a word of The Tempest had to change. I can't think of any other Shakespeare play where that's the case. (C) Cover Media