Eye In The Sky sees Helen Mirren star as a Colonel commanding a secret drone operation to capture terrorists from a safe house in Kenya.

Mirren says her latest film about a female army commander couldn't have been made 15 years ago.

The role may have initially been written for a man, but Mirren says "I don't think a single line was changed when making it a woman, and actually, this is something that could happen for more often than it does, and it would be a very easy way to bring diversity - gender diversity as well as racial diversity - into the mix. You just cast it as a woman, you don't have to change any lines."

"I've always said 'Don't worry about changing roles for women on the screen, put your energy into changing roles for women in real life', because as they change in life, so they will change on the screen."

The movie is released in cinemas today and the actress told Newstalk Breakfast it couldn't have come out any earlier.

The movie has a stellar cast featuring Aaron Paul, and the last ever performance of the late Alan Rickman, and discussing her late co-star, she says "I think he would be very proud of the film, but one of the things I love is that... that is Alan up there. It's not Alan playing one of the amazing characters that he was amazing at playing, but that is Alan with that wit and that humour."

Mirren also discusses her 'dream weekend', and celebrating an upcoming landmark birthday, and if she knew whether Queen Elizabeth II enjoyed her performance in The Queen.

You can watch the trailer for the movie here: