Second reign
Dench: ‘Victoria and Abdul’ ‘tells a great, great story’
Twenty years ago, Judi Dench was best known in her native Britain as a TV and theater actress who rarely if ever landed juicy film roles.
That all changed when she played Queen Victoria in “Mrs. Brown,“a dramedy about the unconventional bond that formed between the royal and a former servant of her late husband’s, John Brown (Billy Connolly).
Two decades, one Oscar win and seven nominations later, Dench is coming full circle by playing Queen Victoria once again, in a movie set four years after Brown’s passing.
Based on a true story, “Victoria and Abdul” unreels the saga of the aging monarch and her unlikely friendship with a 24-year-old Indian clerk named Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal).
Sent to work for Victoria during her Golden Jubilee, Karim quickly charms the Queen. Soon, she’s promoted him from servant to teacher. As he instructs her in Urdu and the Koran, they grow closer, which doesn’t sit very well with her advisors (Michael Gambon, Eddie Izzard), some of whom try to have her declared incompetent in hopes of ending the friendship.
“I never expected to revisit this part but I have a great affection for this character because I had no film career really to speak of before I played her in “Mrs. Brown,” thanks to [Miramax chief] Harvey Weinstein,” says the actress, 82.
“I never expected to replay Victoria later on, but I must say that this particular story of Queen Victoria, set four years after John Brown had died, seemed to me to be a kind of continuance.
“The screenplay, I thought, was wonderful. It tells a great, great, story. So that, and the combination of working with [“Philomena’ director] Stephen [Frears] again, I found an irresistible proposition.”
How exactly does Dench characterize the relationship which forms between the Queen of England and the young commoner from India? Did they fall in love with each other?
“When you say “fall in love with,” I think that’s why the story is so utterly intriguing,” says the actress. “Of course, love is among all the things here, but it’s very, very complex.
“Queen Victoria’s attitude towards Abdul is very complicated. I think there’s not just the feeling of love but a feeling of the delight of being able to be relaxed with somebody, without anybody around, without anybody giving her any ultimatum or standing on ceremony.
“She’s completely able to relax and talk with him and learn from him and be taught by him. So it was very, very complicated.”
Dench says she was well-prepared to play Victoria since, twenty years ago, she did quite a bit of reading on the woman and her long reign as England’s Queen.
Still, there were aspects of the role that challenged the great Dench.
“Everything you are presented with is complicated and difficult to play,” she says. “I haven’t yet found a part that I thought, ‘This [will be easy.] I’ll just get up and do it.’
“Every part requires an incredible amount of concentration and a lot of work. The good thing is that I had kind of done homework about the Queen before, so I felt at home.”
One of the most challenging yet ultimately rewarding aspects of the role for Dench was navigating the wardrobe. For most of the movie, the petite actress was forced to wear corsets and big, bulky costumes.
“Wearing the clothes is pretty tricky,” says Dench. “Victoria was under five foot. She was, in fact, a lot under five foot. So she was less than five feet tall and 46 inches around the waist.
“As Abdul found out, she could not stop eating. You could tell.”
The outfits were so tough for Dench to maneuver that she was forced to change her diet during the making of the movie.
“You learn not to eat or drink, to stay off of liquids as much as you can during the day,” she says with a laugh.
“But once you’re in those [costumes] and you get over the weight of the dress and the corsets, you realize that you then don’t have to worry about how Victoria walked or sat because you are conditioned by what you’re wearing.
“So the outfits wound up being really a big help.”