Judi Dench can’t say no to a big bouquet of flowers, especially if they’re kayak-sized and come from Vin Diesel.
“He came to see me at the Haymarket Theatre to ask if I’d be in ‘The Chronicles of Riddick,’” Dench wrote in her new memoir, “Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?” “Before he arrived, he sent me such a massive bunch of flowers. They couldn’t get them up the stairs to my dressing room, so they had to leave them at the stage door. They were easily the length of a kayak. And as wide.”
“You can’t say no to a man like that, can you?” she joked, adding, “I’m cheap as chips, me. Far too easily wooed.”
Convinced by the gesture, Dench went on to play Aereon in the 2004 film, the elemental ambassador who guides Riddick (Diesel) through his tumultuous travels to rescue his old allies and confront the head of the Necromonger empire.
This wasn’t the first time gifts wooed the 91-year-old actress into a role. She also revealed Kenneth Branagh gave her “the most wonderful embroidered handkerchief when he asked me to be in ‘[Murder on the] Orient Express’ — with the character’s initials on it.”
“He must’ve known that’d make me say yes; he’s so sneaky. But then I’d do anything for Ken. If he said, ‘Will you play a mat on the floor in Three Sisters?’ I’d say, ‘When do I start?’” she said. “Then, of course, little by little, I found out who else was involved in ‘Orient Express’: Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz, Johnny Depp, Derek Jacobi … How could I resist?”
Dench played Princess Natalia Dragomiroff in the 2017 mystery-drama but said she had mixed feelings about the character.
“Don’t ask me anything about her. She was some old broad who sat around with a lot of jewelry and a couple of Shih Tzus — one black, one white,” Dench said.