How Judi Dench was sweet-talked into her one and only sci-fi movie: “I’ve never seen it”
Dame Judi Dench is many things to many people, but one thing she has never been is a science-fiction star. She is a British national treasure, after all, having performed more Shakespeare plays than just about anybody, and has also regularly delivered stunning performances across genres, such as Iris, Notes on a Scandal, and Chocolat. To most observers, it would seem like the closest she’s come to sci-fi has been her beloved recurring role as M in the James Bond franchise, and those movies are still (mostly) grounded in the real world.
However, Dench did actually dip her toe into the world of sci-fi once in the early 2000s, and it came in the form of a film that featured one of the most unlikely screen team-ups in history. When cinephiles pictured Dench in all her prestigious glory opposite a leading man of the day, they would have cycled through hundreds of options before even considering bald, musclebound action star Vin Diesel. And yet, there Dench was, wearing a long grey wig, a floating white gown and hood, and spouting some gobbledygook about Necromongers and Air Elementals in 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick.
How did this come to pass? How did Dench, of all people, end up in the bloated sequel to Pitch Black, a low-budget sci-fi horror flick in the mould of Aliens? Well, it all goes back to the Haymarket Theatre in London, where the acclaimed star was performing on stage. Little did she know that Diesel, the star of XXX and The Fast & Furious franchise, was in the audience one particular night, watching her do what she does best and loving every minute.
“Vin sent me a bouquet of flowers that were so big they couldn’t fit up the stairs to my dressing room,” a smiling Dench remembered when speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2017. “They could not get them into the corridor!”
After wooing the Dame with his generosity and praising her work, Diesel then seized his opportunity. He asked if she would lend gravitas to his film as Aereon, an elemental who tells the anti-hero Richard B Riddick that he is part of an ancient prophecy that a son of the planet Furya will defeat the evil Necromonger leader, Lord Marshal Zhylaw. Instead of being put off by all this head-scratching lore and name vomit, which was heavily inspired by Diesel’s love of 2000s Dungeons & Dragons, Dench put her faith in the star. In fact, she was so taken by his charm offensive that she admitted, “Of course, I said yes. Why ever not?”
Soon enough, she found herself in a world she’d never experienced before: cavernous sci-fi sets built in Vancouver, Canada. These incredible feats of imagination brought Diesel and director David Twohy’s elaborate world to life, and Dench was astonished. Even better, though, when she went for her first costume fitting, she was overjoyed by the look of her character.
“They put me in a glorious, very long wig and brilliant blue contact lenses,” she recalled wistfully. By the time it came to shoot, that wig had been cut shorter, which she called “a pity”, but she still enjoyed her time on the movie. “Such a lovely town Vancouver is, and I had such a wonderful time working there,” she smiled, adding, “And all those soundstages, my goodness!”
Ultimately, the racing savant may have bitten off more than he could chew with the film, which failed to recoup its budget at the box office and was met with dismissive reviews. However, over the years, it has developed a cult following primarily comprised of fantasy/sci-fi obsessives who appreciated Diesel’s ambition with the scale of the project.
Amusingly, though, despite having such a good time making the movie and working with the “wonderful” Diesel, Dench admitted it didn’t exactly turn her into a Riddick die-hard. In fact, she mischievously confessed to Time Out, “I’ve never seen it”, although to her credit, she clarified she’d never watched any other “space film” either.
