Judi Dench Finds Love Online

By Brodie Lancaster / October 6th, 2011 in Film / England / 1029 views

Anyone who’s observed their parents attempting to clumsily navigate the web knows the comedic potential such a situation contains. Put a Macbook in front of your grandmother and the farce increases exponentially. When that grandmother is Dame Judi Dench and she’s using that laptop to woo the local choirmaster, all bets are off.

This is the premise of Friend Request Pending, a new short film from writer/producer Chris Croucher, director Chris Foggin and editor Chris Ranson. One of the shorts in the Official Selection of the 55th BFI London Film Festival, Friend Request Pending is a story about social networking and friendship for the retirement crowd.

“We were keen to make a film that was heart-warming and charming that’s not seen often,” Foggin told us. “[It's] a story that’s rarely been told with such an established British cast. You see a performance from Judi that’s never been seen before and it’s a film that will hopefully make you feel warm and happy at the end of it.”

While any film with this premise is enticing and fun, it’s Dench’s appearance that makes us the most excited. “I have developed a great working relationship with Judi over the last few years as an assistant director in film and television,” Foggin—who has worked behind the scenes on My Week With Marilyn, Cranford and Jane Eyre with Dench—told us. “It was during one of these projects that I asked her if she’d be in one of my own films one day. She agreed, and this is our first film together in that capacity.”
“It’s like a dream come true,” says Croucher, of working with the Dame. “There was an amazing moment when we were first rehearsing and she was first saying my lines, I was giddy! She brings so much weight to the character and is so natural. It’s like watching my mum on Facebook.”

The inherent comedy in his film’s premise—and the phrases and actions that seem natural for Generations X and Y—were a little challenging for Dench, a compulsive texter and stranger to Facebook, to embrace, Foggin tells us.

“We thought, ‘what better way than to shoot a script [than to have] everything from dialogue to stage directions of no comfort for her’. I was very keen to direct Judi in something that was alien to her. Having never used a computer or seen Facebook before we had a giggle during rehearsals of navigating ourselves through this world.”

Unable to resist to coincidence of encountering a filmmaking team comprised of three people with the same name—and eager to not ask entirely Judi-centric questions—we asked the trio what Spice Girls-esque aliases they would give themselves were they in a boy band called The Chrises. Croucher deemed himself “Upper Middle Class Spice”, while Ranson labelled him “‘I wouldn’t be seen dead in East London’ Spice.” Foggin decided his editor would be ”Handsome Spice” (“He would eventually leave the band to go solo, and would be a tabloid favourite each week”) and received the label of “Chicken Katsu Curry Spice” from Ranson, because of his shares in the Wagamama franchise.

And just one more word on the Dame for good measure? “She is hilarious and incredibly fun to be around,” Foggin told us. “For me personally it was a dream come true. I’ve been brought up on Judi’s work and to find myself in a house in Ealing, discussing the delivery of LOL and OMG was a surreal experience.”