Dame Judi thanks Branagh’s film crew for keeping her safe
Star (86), who has just received vaccine, tells of Covid precautions on Belfast movie
DAME Judi Dench has praised the cast and crew of Sir Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast for the care they took during filming to keep her safe from coronavirus.
She also said she has had her first Covid-19 jab recently, calling it a “great start”.
The Oscar winner had the vaccination recently, following in the footsteps of fellow stars like Sir David Attenborough and Sir Tom Jones.
She told BBC News: “I had one a week ago.
“I think my next is in something like 11 weeks time. That’s a great start.”
Dame Judi (86) also spoke about the prospect of theatres reopening one day.
“Theatres ought to have people in them,” the veteran stage and screen actress said.
“Anyone who’s ever gone in to an empty theatre knows it’s a very, very curious feeling, the fact that they’re standing empty.”
And she added: “During the lockdown suddenly one realises you just need social contact with people.
“Just the thing of sitting next to somebody in a theatre, or in a cinema, or at supper even, or at lunch, those are things you suddenly realise that you take for granted.”
She added: “It’s appalling and it’s terrible for all that community of people in theatres, not just the actors, but all the crews, the stage doormen, and everybody who looks after the theatre, the cleaners. They’re not doing anything.”
Dame Judi also said she was grateful to have been able to work, making Sir Kenneth’s film Belfast, while the cast and crew took “every precaution”.
It was a “huge relief to do something, otherwise you wake up and you think, what is the thing I’ll do today?
“It’s very difficult if you’ve not got a work discipline to get yourself started in the morning really. It’s terribly easy to just sit and do nothing.”
Award-winning Branagh, who spent his early years in Tigers Bay, has said the semi-autobiographical movie — “my most personal film” — would pay tribute to Belfast and its people.
Speaking previously to Sunday Life about the project he said it is “a very personal movie about a place and people I love”.
It is set in Northern Ireland and England, where some of the story unfolds and was filmed last September, and also features Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds and newcomer Jude Hill.
Sir Kenneth was born in Belfast in 1960, but his family moved to England when he was nine years old.
Other stars to have had the jab include actor Sir Ian Mckellen, Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, entertainer Lionel Blair and actor Brian Blessed, who are all in their eighties.
Dame Joan Collins (87) received the “painless and seamless” vaccination on Saturday.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh received their first dose of the jab over the weekend. The Prince of Wales has said he will “absolutely” get the vaccine but warned of future pandemics unless global warming gets under control.
‘It was a huge relief to be asked to do the film’