Judi Dench has revealed Vin Diesel sent an enormous bouquet to her dressing room to persuade her to join The Chronicles of Riddick, admitting she is “far too easily wooed”.
Dame Judi Dench has revealed Vin Diesel wooed her with “a massive bunch of flowers” to secure her for The Chronicles of Riddick.
The Oscar-winning actress, 91, recalled how the action star personally approached her about appearing in the 2004 sci-fi movie and arrived armed with flowers so big they didn’t fit through the door.
Speaking to Brendan O’Hea for her memoir Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, Dench recounted: “He came to see me at the Haymarket Theatre to ask if I’d be in The Chronicles of Riddick.
“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.”
The former James Bond star admitted the gesture made it difficult to turn down the role.
She quipped: “You can’t say no to a man like that, can you?
“I’m cheap as chips, me. Far too easily wooed.”
The actress ultimately joined Diesel, Colm Feore, Thandiwe Newton, Karl Urban and Alexa Davalos in the film, playing the mysterious alien ambassador Aereon.
Diesel wasn’t the only leading man to charm Dench into signing up for a project.
She revealed Sir Kenneth Branagh presented her with a personalised gift when he approached her about appearing in his 2017 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.
Dench said: “Kenneth Branagh gave me the most wonderful embroidered handkerchief when he asked me to be in Orient Express – with the character’s initials on it.
“He must’ve known that’d make me say yes; he’s so sneaky.”
The actress admitted her admiration for Branagh meant she would have struggled to refuse him regardless.
She said: “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?’”
Dench also became increasingly enthusiastic about the film after learning who else had signed on for the star-studded cast.
She added: “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?”
Despite appearing in the hit mystery movie as Princess Natalia Dragomiroff, Dench admitted she wasn’t all that keen on her character.
She joked: “Don’t ask me anything about her.
“She was some old broad who sat around with a lot of jewellery and a couple of Shih Tzus – one black, one white.”
Judi Dench reveals the way Vin Diesel persuaded her to act in his noughties sci-fi film
