Click here to read the full article.
Judi Dench has never been one to mince words. And in her new memoir“Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?”, out Nov. 3 from St. Martin’s Press, the Oscar-winning icon of stage and screen opens up about the highs and lows
of her storied career via a wide-ranging conversation with actor and director Brendan O’Hea.
In this exclusive excerpt from Dench’s memoir, the 91-year-old actress gets candid about her time playing M, James Bond’s MI5 boss, in eight Bond films beginning with 1995’s “GoldenEye” and ending in 2012’s “Skyfall,” where her character was killed off (she then had a very brief cameo in “Spectre.”)
I presume the decision to have a female M was inspired by Stella Rimington becoming head of MI5 in 1992.
Oh, no doubt. The producers wanted to reflect the times, and quite right, too. But I wasn’t trying to be Stella Rimington, although I’m sure people will have drawn that comparison. (I only met her once – briefly in 2023. She and I were meant to have dinner together a few months before she died, but sadly we never managed it.)
I loved playing M because it was great to be able to tell all those men where to get off; put them in their place. “You’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur,” she says to Pierce Brosnan at their first meeting. I was drunk with power. I also got to wear some very nice suits and pretend I knew what I was talking about; and to muck about with gadgets when, in real life, I can’t even work the ironing board.
Listen to Judi Dench narrating the section here:
How did you approach playing someone like M, because she’s ostensibly a functionary, isn’t she?
Yes, she’s there to give Bond the mission and the audience the story, and to run the joint – or to look like she runs the joint. But I approached her as I would any part – by filling in what I imagined her past might have been. The audience don’t need to know any of that backstory, but it gives you a foundation and the confidence to step out in front of the camera.
There are certain things we do know about her: she’s operating in a man’s world and must’ve overcome a lot of barriers and worked very hard to get to where she is. She’s tough, direct, no-nonsense. She’s respected by a lot of people and she’s comfortable in authority.
Over the course of eight films – and as dictated by the various plots – I learnt more about her. She studied law at Oxford, has two daughters, enjoys a glass of whisky. In “Casino Royale”I suddenly discovered I was married, because there’s a scene where I’m lying in bed next to my husband. By the time we reach “Skyfall” I’m a widow, and have found out my late husband was a man who loved poetry.
When M dies, Bond is handed a box she has bequeathed to him. Underneath it there’s a label, which reads: “Olivia Mansfield.” I love the fact that her actual name isn’t revealed until the final moments in the film. My middle name is Olivia – I wonder if that’s where they got the idea from.
What was it like playing a recurring character in a big franchise?
Well, for a start, this particular franchise is a family affair – literally – because the producers, Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [G. Wilson], are siblings. They really know how to look after you and are so kind to everyone, which makes you want to do the absolute best for them. They’re also very good at retaining the same crew, so it feels like a company. You arrive on set for each new film to find a lot of familiar faces – like Naomi Dunne who did my make-up. And then you see some of the same actors, like Pierce and Daniel.
My enjoyment tended to depend on the script – especially if there was a chance to show another side to the character.
And it also relied on the director. I adored working with Michael Apted and Martin Campbell. By contrast, I found my time on “Tomorrow Never Dies”more challenging – too many rewrites. Making a film is nerve-racking enough – at least it is for me – and to be presented with a load of rewrites last minute is very destabilizing: there are whole new chunks of information to take in – not to mention new lines to learn – that you haven’t had the time to examine.
Every day we’d be presented with new scenes. On one occasion I arrived home at ten o’clock at night only to be greeted by a motorcycle courier with a dozen new pages to be learnt before my pick-up at five a.m. the following morning. I mean, when the hell would I have a chance to learn all that?
It’s not unusual to have rewrites on a film, but the script for “Tomorrow Never Dies” seemed to be in a permanent state of flux. That may not be entirely the director’s fault – it could be to do with schedules and deadlines – but there seemed to be a general air of chaos. And it’s not as if it was easy to learn. A lot of what I had to say as M was very technical, and at times I just didn’t understand what I was talking about.
Who’s your favorite Bond?
That’s impossible to answer. I’ll always have a soft spot for Sean [Connery] because he was the original, but what’s lovely is that both Pierce and Daniel really made it their own. They each have a great sense of humor and can be self-deprecating, which I find very attractive in life, and which I think is an essential quality for Bond.
What I like is the way the character molds around the actor – so much so that I can’t then imagine anybody else playing the part. When I first played M, Bond was suave and elegant. He’d order his martinis and pass through fights almost effortlessly, emerging with hardly a scratch on his face or a mark on his Savile Row suit. Then gradually – over the course of the eight films I did – Bond became dirtier, more realistic, less of a fantasy figure, I suppose. I don’t think the scripts are as witty as they once were, which is perhaps a shame, but then the character moves on – Bond reflects the times.
And then in 2012 we saw you for the final time as M in “Skyfall.”
Not quite – I also did a tiny cameo on the follow-up film, “Spectre,” where I had to appear on a television screen, which took me no more than an hour to shoot. But because they killed me off, I’m still sulking and so I’ve never seen the film. [Laughs.]
When did you find out you were being replaced as M?
I was taken to the Wolseley restaurant by Barbara, Michael and Sam [Mendes, the director] – I don’t think Daniel Craig was there – and they outlined the plot and told me they were going to bump me off. My own fault, I suppose. Ever since “Goldeneye,” when the entire film unit went off to Monte Carlo and St. Petersburg and I only had three days in Watford, I’d been begging them to let me out from behind my desk. Well, they did finally let me out from behind my desk . . . and they shot me. [Laughs.] Apparently, it was Daniel’s idea to have me killed. But first I had to suffer the indignity of being sacked by Ralph Fiennes. Arsehole. [Laughs.]
It was reported in the press that I’d cried when they told me I was being replaced. Of course I didn’t cry. Why on earth would I cry after twenty glorious years and eight Bond films – which, by the way, is one more than Roger Moore, the longest-running 007 to date.
