Rosamund Pike calls Judi Dench a ‘mischief maker’ and names her the best actress she’s worked with
Rosamund Pike, 47, said Dame Judi Dench is the best actress she has ever worked with and described her as a “mischief maker” during an interview with comedian Romesh Ranganathan on Radio 2 — remarks Pike made as she prepares to open in the West End run of Inter Alia from 19 March until 20 June at Wyndham’s Theatre.
Rosamund Pike praises Judi Dench on Radio 2
“The best actress I’ve ever worked with is Judi Dench, who’s such a mischief maker, ” Pike said on Radio 2, calling her “so delightful” and “so, so good. ” Pike urged listeners to “find one on YouTube” of Dench reading a Shakespeare sonnet, saying the short clip “will move you to tears — you’ll just think that is how English should be spoken. ” She added that Dench can switch instantly into character: off stage she is “laughing, playing a practical joke, ” and then “she walks on and it’s all there. ”
Stage and screen collaborations that shaped Pike’s view
Pike referenced a string of collaborations with Dench across stage and screen. The two worked together in a 2009 London production of Madame de Sade and on the James Bond film Die Another Day, and they also appeared in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Pike is best known for roles in Gone Girl and Saltburn, credits she cited while discussing colleagues.
Examples of Dame Judi Dench’s off-stage mischief
Pike’s portrait of Dench as playful fits other anecdotes: Dench has been said to have surprised a James Bond co-star with an accidental naked FaceTime, marked her 81st birthday by getting her first tattoo, and once made Lesley Manville laugh so hard she admitted to wetting herself while Dench tried to make her laugh from the wings of the stage — moments that have fed stories of the Oscar winner’s off-stage naughtiness.
On Christian Bale, method acting and Pike’s own approach
Pike also named Christian Bale as the best male actor she has worked with, recalling their time on the 2017 film Hostiles. “He’s another level, ” she said, adding that she didn’t feel she really met Bale the person while filming because “he’s quite method. He’s very method. ” Pike praised his “level of truth, the level of commitment, integrity, truth, ” saying he “does the work” and “shuts out all the noise, ” and described his performances as “just astounding. ” Reflecting on craft, Pike said, “I’ve seen both ways of total excellence, and I think I can go quite up to the last minute being silly and then switch on. ”
What’s next for Pike
Pike’s Radio 2 comments come ahead of her West End engagement: she is set to appear in Inter Alia at Wyndham’s Theatre, which runs from 19 March until 20 June. That run is the next confirmed event tied to the interview and the context in which she discussed her co-stars.
