Judi Dench Says Vin Diesel Sent Her Kayak-Sized Flowers and She Agreed to ‘Riddick’ Without Reading the Script

Vin Diesel once sent Judi Dench a bouquet of flowers so enormous that theater staff couldn't carry it upstairs to her dressing room. The gift was part of his attempt to persuade the Oscar-winning actress to appear alongside him in the 2004 science-fiction film The Chronicles of Riddick. Dench, now 91, revisits the encounter in her new memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, published November 3rd. She remembers Diesel visiting her at London's Haymarket Theatre, where she was performing onstage, and presenting her with an unexpected invitation to join his movie. The flowers never made it to her dressing room. They were left at the stage door because the arrangement was too large for the staircase. Dench estimated that the bouquet was roughly the length and width of a kayak. She accepted the role, although she later admitted she had never watched the finished movie. The story isn't entirely new: Dench previously told it during a 2015 conversation with Prince Edward. Her memoir adds details about the flowers, the costumes she wore on set and another actor-director who found an equally personal way to recruit her. Vin Diesel Sent Judi Dench Flowers That Couldn't Fit Up the Stairs Dench was performing at the Haymarket Theatre in London when Diesel approached her about joining The Chronicles of Riddick. The actor had already established himself as an action star through The Fast and the Furious and Pitch Black, but his next project required an actress who could bring something different to the science-fiction sequel. In a passage from her memoir published by Entertainment Weekly on November 4th, Dench recalls Diesel visiting her at the theater after sending the oversized bouquet. The flowers were so large that the staff left them downstairs rather than attempt to squeeze them through the staircase. Dench remembered the arrangement as both exceptionally long and remarkably wide. Her friend and coauthor Brendan O'Hea asked whether the gesture had persuaded her to accept the part. Dench joked that she was easily won over, even as O'Hea teased her about whether she should have been more selective. The story had already surfaced publicly in June 2015, when Dench appeared at St. James's Palace for a charity event hosted by Prince Edward. During their conversation, the prince asked about some of her more unusual film choices. Dench immediately brought up The Chronicles of Riddick, joking about its reception before recounting Diesel's visit. As The Guardian reported at the time, she said the flowers had been too long to carry upstairs and admitted she had never seen the movie. Her remarks came during a conversation about films she had made but rarely watched. Dench explained that she often found it uncomfortable to see herself onscreen because, unlike in the theater, she couldn't return the following night and change her performance. Dench Wasn't Happy With Her First 'Chronicles of Riddick' Wig Dench played Aereon, an ethereal figure who helps guide Diesel's Richard B. Riddick through a universe threatened by the Necromongers. Her appearance was a considerable departure from the historical dramas and James Bond films for which she was already famous. Her costume fittings initially went well. The production team gave her very long white hair and bright blue contact lenses, creating the unusual appearance required for Aereon. But when she arrived for her first day of filming, the original wig had been replaced with something shorter and considerably fuller. In her memoir, Dench compares the unexpected look to Dustin Hoffman's appearance in the 1982 comedy Tootsie. She eventually received the original long-haired wig, although the bright blue contact lenses disappeared from her costume. Dench jokingly suggested that Diesel might have taken them. Director David Twohy has also discussed the unusual circumstances surrounding Dench's casting. In a 2004 interview about the film, Twohy said recruiting her had been Diesel's idea. Twohy explained that the role could have been played by either a man or a woman. While Diesel sent flowers, the director visited Dench's theatrical performances in London. Their combined efforts eventually brought her into the production. Kenneth Branagh Used an Embroidered Handkerchief to Recruit Her Diesel wasn't the only actor to approach Dench with a carefully chosen gift. Kenneth Branagh later used a different gesture when he wanted her to appear in his 2017 adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Branagh, who directed the film and played detective Hercule Poirot, gave Dench a handkerchief embroidered with the initials of her character. She was being asked to portray Princess Natalia Dragomiroff, one of the passengers aboard the train. Judi Dench
Image Credit: Fred Duval / Shutterstock.
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Vin Diesel wanted Judi Dench for The Chronicles of Riddick, so he sent flowers ahead of his visit to her London theater. In Dench’s telling, the bouquet made it as far as the stage door. Staff couldn’t carry it up the stairs to her dressing room.

Dench was appearing opposite Maggie Smith in David Hare’s two-person play The Breath of Life at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Diesel had flown to London to see them perform. The role he had in mind for Dench was Aereon, an ambassador who can glide through the air, in his 2004 sequel to Pitch Black.

She agreed to do the film without reading the script. In an interview published by The Spokesman-Review when the movie came out, Dench said she was still getting over the fact that he’d come all that way to ask her.

Now 91, Dench revisits the offer in Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, published in the U.S. on November 3 by St. Martin’s Press. The book grew out of conversations with her friend Brendan O’Hea, who gives her a hard time about how readily she said yes.

Dench Remembers a Bouquet the Length and Width of a Kayak

 

“They were easily the length of a kayak. And as wide,” Dench says of the flowers in a passage quoted by Entertainment Weekly. When O’Hea pointed out that she could have turned Diesel down, Dench admitted she was “far too easily wooed.”

Diesel had an ally in director David Twohy, who said Aereon could have been played by a man or a woman. It was Diesel who suggested Dench. Twohy told Phase9 that he made a point of catching her play whenever he was in London.

Years later, Prince Edward asked Dench about some of her more unusual film choices at a Films Without Borders event at St. James’s Palace. “Flops, you mean?” she replied, before bringing up Riddick herself. As The Guardian reported in June 2015, she still hadn’t watched it. She explained that seeing herself onscreen often made her want another go at a scene. Onstage, she could come back the next night and try it a different way.

Aereon’s Wig Changed Between Dench’s Fitting and Her First Day on Set

Dench spent four weeks filming in Vancouver. At her costume fitting, she’d been delighted with Aereon’s long white hair and bright blue contact lenses. By her first day on set, someone had swapped in a shorter, puffier wig. She thought she resembled Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.

She got the long wig back, but the blue contacts disappeared from the costume. In the memoir, Dench jokes that Diesel might have helped himself to them.

There was one more addition to her look that audiences never saw. Twohy told Blackfilm that the crew put small blue dots on Dench’s face so the visual effects artists could track her movements in three dimensions. Once somebody explained what the dots were for, he said, she was happy to wear them.

Kenneth Branagh Put His Offer for ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ in a Box

Kenneth Branagh also went backstage in the West End to offer Dench a part. For his 2017 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, he brought a box bearing the name of one of Hercule Poirot’s fellow passengers. Inside were a silk handkerchief and a note asking Dench to play Princess Dragomiroff. Dench remembers the princess’s initials embroidered on the fabric.

Branagh remembered her answer as “Yes, yes, yes!” when he told Parade the story. The two had worked together with their roles reversed. In 1988, Dench directed Branagh as Benedick in a stage production of Much Ado About Nothing.

In Dench’s telling, Branagh could have dispensed with the gift. If he’d asked her to play a mat on the floor in Chekhov’s Three Sisters, she told O’Hea, her only question would have been, “When do I start?”

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