We Foldies love Helen Mirren for her talent and her beauty, but also for her aesthetic-erotic daring. So why not pause to enjoy her latest press coups too. First, appearing on a beach in a bikini and making it all look good at age 62:

And, more recently, giving an interview in which she asserted that she doesn’t think Mike Tyson was guilty of rape, that she used to enjoy cocaine, and that she thinks prostitution should be legalized.

Here’s a nice recent opening-night pic of Dame Helen:

THE FOLD’s own Joan of Arc, Julie Atlas Muz, is appearing through the end of August at the eye-popping burlesque circus Absinthe 08 at the Spiegeltent in NYC’s South Street Seaport. Don’t miss the show that the New York Times is calling “Cirque du Soleil as channeled through ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ …A blend of skill, erotic innuendo and zaniness.”

SEE! …the fabulous Miz Muz disrobe inside a giant latex balloon and molest herself with a disembodied hand!

SEE! …Ukrainian acrobats peforming feats of daring in little tiny briefs!

SEE! …deathproof roller-skating couple, The Willers!

BUY! …your tickets now!

FOLD co-writer and co-producer POLLY FROST talks to actor FRANCESCO PALADINO, who plays BRENT ASHWOOD, an ambitious, yet vulnerably kinky geek about what it was like to work on THE FOLD.

POLLY FROST writes: I’ve worked with Francesco for several years. He was a more than an important part of our SEX SCENES evenings in Manhattan. Let me put it this way: Francesco was the go-to guy whenever we wrote a really bizarre, completely insane character that we also needed an actor to make hot.

That’s Francesco’s specialty — the psycho-stud. I don’t know how he does it. I’d rather not inquire into his process, actually. It’d be too scary.

I asked Francesco what it was like to work with us on THE FOLD. It was … well, the term “low budget” doesn’t begin to apply to what the shoot was like.

POLLY FROST: How do you see your character, BRENT ASHWOOD, in THE FOLD?

FRANCESCO PALADINO: He is a fatter and less stylish version of me, but gets laid so much more. Actually, he is that guy that you stumble upon at the random “X-Files” convention, or in an adult theater in midtown buying midget porn. A mastermind nerd who wears polyester and has chair sex … What else can I say?!?

POLLY: What was the experience of working on THE FOLD like? I.e., filming in winter, working with Matt, working on a sci fi movie. Be kind, Francesco, be very kind.

FRANCESCO: Matt Lambert is the spawn of Matthew Barney and John Waters, with better facial hair and less Vaseline. He has such precision, and he keeps everyone honest. He has no time for divas unless they’re giving him head. My most memorable moment was filming on the coldest day in February outside in Poughkeepsie. I only do that for Matt, Ray, and of course Polly!

POLLY: Thanks for remembering me. What are your current projects?

FRANCESCO: I have been working on “The F Word,” a show that takes a look at America’s obsession with celebrities and how it cuts across cultural and socioeconomic lines. Future episodes include obsessions with plastic surgery and sex. (Ms. Polly Frost can expect a call.) It airs on my website twice a month and is presented in short segments with a music video flair. This has been a project I have been trying to inject into the planet somehow — and now that a production company is behind it nobody cares about America’s next top model!

Treat yourself to more of the uniqueness that is FRANCESCO PALADINO by visiting his website — and, of course, by returning here to watch Francesco as Brent Ashwood in THE FOLD.