It seems that 2014 is the year of foodie films, and that’s totally OK by me. In Disney’s The Hundred Foot Journey (directed by Lasse Hallström), the latest in book to film adaptations, the beauty and complexity of food, particularly French and Indian cuisine, couples with the relationship of a young man named Hassan (Manish Dayal), his Papa (Om Puri), love interest/competition Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) and their very French neighbor and Michelin Star rated restaurant owner, Madame Mallory (Dame Helen Mirren). A few weeks ago, I got a chance to sit down with some of the cast and learned some fun tibits about the making of the film like Helen Mirren’s longing to be a French Actress.

Read on for more.

Manish Dayal had to learn the how to navigate in two different kitchens.

“I had to learn how to navigate in a French kitchen vs an Indian kitchen. In an Indian kitchen, you’re just trying to get the job done. You move wherever you need to move to get the dish cooked. In a French Kitchen, there is a very specific hierarchy. There are rules. You have to know where your skills are, by knowing your skills you know where you are in the kitchen physically. No one crosses each other in a french kitchen, there is a place to stand… a way to stand, to be out of the next person’s way, so everyone functions like a puzzle.” – Manish Dayal

The Omelette is Manish Dayal’s Father’s recipe…and the chefs freaked.
“It has to be Hassan’s omelette. It can’t be a French omelette, that’s why I changed the recipe, I felt it needed it. Hassan wouldn’t know how to make a basic French omelette. The French cooking consultants were in horror as I was cooking it. They couldn’t believe what I was doing, they were in shock!” – Manish Dayal

One of the funniest lines in the movie is ad-libbed…in fact, many are.
Om Puri’s line “You’re up there like a queen or something” was ad-libbed. Mirren says, “Yes we ad-libbed a lot in the movie, a lot of improvisation, it was a lot of fun. Lasse (Hollstrom) very much encouraged it. He’d say why don’t you see where you can go with this.” Hollstrom is a fan of improvisation in his films, he says “most of the scenes open up the possibilities for ad-libbing and adding last minute ideas from the actors or me, whoever had a good idea. I wanted to keep it loose and improvisational to make it come alive on the screen. I think there’s a lot of wonderful life up there on the screen, if I do say so myself.”

Helen Mirren swears by her Showtime Grill.

“My great cooking secret is my Showtime Grill. I bought from watching Ron Pompeill on my TV set and said my god that looks good. It’s the most wonderful wonderful thing. My chicken is amazing…it’s my forte.” – Dame Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren has longed to be a French actress and now, she finally is…kinda.

“I wanted to do this because of the French quotient. I always always wanted to be a French actress. I just think the shiekest people in the world are French. I love French film and the way women are treated and dealt with in French film is always so complex and interesting and wonderful. I did try to become a French actress in my late 20’s. I rented a little garret in Paris. I thought I would just sit there in my garret, literally one room with a kitchen in the corner, until they make me a French actress. But it didn’t happen[…] (With Madame Mallory’s costume) Pierre Yves(-Gayraud) transformed me miraculously into a shiek French woman. He had impeccable taste.” – Dame Helen Mirren

If you smell Indian food on your flight, it may be Helen Mirren and her husband’s luggage.

“Being a British person, that’s so much a part of our world. The one food I absolutely crave if I’ve been away from home is not Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding, it’s Indian. When my husband and I come home from abroad the first place we go is an Indian food restaurant and it’s always fantastic. Sometimes, if we’re leaving early the next day, we go there and get a takeaway and put it in our suitcases. When we arrive, especially if were traveling in Europe, it’s gonna be cold in the suitcases, and we have it the next day.” – Dame Helen Mirren

The location is gorgeous, just don’t mind the pigeon- eating, monster fish.

“There’s a little river in front of the hotel, and in this river, there are these huge fishes like catfish. They ate all the other fish in the river, so now, what they do is eat pigeons…and you can see pictures of it on the internet. They really look like monsters.” – Charlotte Le Bon

The Hundred Foot Journey opens on August 8 and is rated PG.