Helen Mirren Says 'Nobody Had Heard of Me' When She First Worked with Harrison Ford

Trevor Leighton; Anthony Harvey/Getty

Helen Mirren says her working relationship with 1923 costar Harrison Ford was "obviously very, very different" when they first worked together in 1986.

"The relationship was obviously very, very different then because Harrison was already an enormous movie star and I was a theatre actress out of London and nobody had heard of me," Mirren, 77, told the U.K.'s The Times in an interview published Thursday of acting with Ford, 80, in the 1986 movie The Mosquito Coast.

"Now our relationship is very different because I've sort of caught up with him," the Academy Award-winning actress told the publication. "Well, I'll never catch up with him completely but I'm a little bit closer than I was."

Asked whether Mirren may still be "intimidated" by working with him decades later, Ford simply told The Times: "No, I think she's over that."

Decades after The Mosquito Coast, Ford and Mirren find themselves starring together again in Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone prequel series 1923. Ford told the outlet the two are "havin' a good time" working together.

RELATED: 1923 Review: Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren Head to Yellowstone Country

"She's not precious at all — a member of the acting troupe," the Indiana Jones star told The Times of Mirren. "She throws herself into everything without any hesitation."

James Minchin III/Paramount+ Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren in '1923'

Asked how different Mirren remembers Ford in the 1980s compared to working with him today, the actress said he was "quite different" back in the day.

"He had that carapace which is essential for people who have reached that level of popular stardom," she said of Ford. "It's so full-on, you have to develop some sort of defensive armor. He was always lovely to kids; grown-ups, not so much."

Mirren went on to recall an incident in Belize while filming The Mosquito Coast in which Ford dealt with a rude person at a party "with great grace."

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James Minchin III/Paramount+ Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton in '1923'

"We went to this party and this woman put her face in his face and said, 'I'm sure you think I know who you are, well I don't,' " she told the outlet. "It was just so rude and thoughtless and horrible, and that's the sort of thing he had to deal with. He dealt with it with great grace, I have to say. He was just like, 'Well, OK.' "

RELATED: Harrison Ford Talks Starring in Yellowstone Spin-Off 1923 at Age 80: 'I Just Want to Work'

In working with Ford on the new series, Mirren complimented the actor's sense of professionalism to this day.

"It's rather British actually — don't make a fuss, just get on with it," she told The Times. "He never disappears into his trailer, the set is never waiting for him. I think he loves the whole business of film-making."

1923 airs Sunday evenings on Paramount+ and Paramount Network.