'Golda' depicts a key moment in Israeli history. Its director sees parallels to today

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."There's been some debate over the movie's casting
Much of the conversation ahead of the film's release has centered around its casting of Mirren, who is not Jewish and relied on considerable makeup and prosthetics to embody Meir.

The ongoing debate over Jewish representation in movies has resurfaced in recent weeks, stirred by Bradley Cooper's controversial upcoming turn as Leonard Bernstein, wearing what many have criticized as an unnecessarily large prosthetic nose.

Mirren told the Daily Mail this week that criticism of her decision to play Meir, because she is not Jewish, is "utterly legitimate" and that she herself had raised the question to filmmakers before accepting the role.

Nattiv says it was actually Meir's grandson, Gideon, who had the idea for Mirren to join the project.

"He said 'I see my grandma when I see Helen, I just see her,'" he says, adding that those casting the movie clearly agreed. He does too, calling her "phenomenal."

Mirren spent three-and-a-half hours in the makeup trailer every day to become Meir, he says. And he says she embodied the former prime minister physically as well as mentally, adopting mannerisms like walking and talking slowly.

"I didn't see Helen for 45 days. I saw Golda," he adds. "Because when I got to the set, she was already Golda. When we went home she took all the prosthetics off of her face and the suits and everything. So I basically did not remember [what] Helen Mirren looked like."...