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Monday, November 17, 2008

BACK IN THE DAYS WITH DAME JUDI DENCH

Dame Judi Dench has been one of England's most celebrated actors for decades, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in the early 1960's and kicking much thespic ass ever since, but she's perhaps best known to us Joe Sixpack's as James Bond's boss, M, a role she's played to great effect six times — even if the particular Bond flick isn't all that — starting with 1995's GOLDENEYE. I dig Dame Judi a hell of a lot, thoroughly enjoying her keen acting chops and striking features (my God, those piercing blue eyes!), so I'm dying to see her back in the days of her time with the RSC as Titania, queen of the fairies in William Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

I mean, what's not to like about a stunningly elegant Dench in Elizabethan gear, a fetching hairdo and pointed ears? Perhaps the only way to beat that would be to have the character redesigned a la a Brian Froud-ish organic/nature spirit line and have Dench play her more or less nekkid and slathered in green makeup from head to toe...

Oh, wait! They did that in 1968 and it's available on DVD, so as soon as I can get my hands on it I'll get back to you with a review.

4 comments:

John Bligh said...

Someone needed to hose off that unfortunately placed mud covering up her knockers.

:(

Anonymous said...

Um, is that a real shot, or a Photoshop?

Damn, I miss the '60s, where thespicanic nudity was considered a rebellious artistic statement and not a paycheck bonus and potential Internet scandal!

Bunche (pop culture ronin) said...

No, it ain't Photoshop. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSDQjEJTPzg to see what I'm talking about.

Anonymous said...

Um... that was both weirdly hot and curiously disturbing.

Did you notice just how COLD it was when they were shooting that? Each actor's breath condensed in the air as the words were spoken. Brrrr... No wonder the kids looked less than thrilled with the whole affair! Dame Judy was a total pro - she must have been freezing that lovely ass off in so little, yet you'd never know it to watch her performance.

Thanks!