Judi Dench calls Clint Eastwood ‘the most laidback man I have ever met’

‘At the end of the scene, he says, “Stop.” Not “cut”,’ actor recalled of being directed by Eastwood

Judi Dench has described Clint Eastwood as “the most laidback man” she’s ever met.

The British actor is a guest on a forthcoming episode of Louis Theroux Interviews… during which the presenter visited her at her Surrey home to talk through her life and career.

During one discussion, Theroux quizzed Dench about some of her most notable film roles, with the 87-year-old admitting that “there are so many films that I’ve done that I’ve never seen”.

While Dench said she had no desire to see most of her films because she’d find them “irritating”, she did share a fond memory of working with Eastwood on the 2011 biopic J Edgar, which he directed.

Dench told Theroux: “Clint Eastwood is the most laidback man I have ever met. You start at nine, you finish at four.”

Dench then put on a low American accent to impersonate the 92-year-old Eastwood telling her: “‘In your own time,’ that’s what he’d say. Then at the end of the scene, he says, ‘Stop.’ Not ‘cut’. And he didn’t shout it, either. Just that, ‘In your own time.’”

Recalling a conversation she’d had with Eastwood, she continued: “‘Mr Eastwood, could we possibly do that again?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Sorry?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Well, because we’ve just done it once. Could we have another go?’ ‘No.’”

Theroux cracked up laughing at the story, before asking Dench if she was “not curious to see it”.

“I’ll see it at some point,” she replied.

“Do you think you were good in it?” Theroux asked, with Dench responding: “I have no idea.”

Theroux and Dench (BBC/Mindhouse)

Elsewhere in the interview, Dench showed Theroux around the garden of “memorial trees” she planted throughout her grounds, with different trees dedicated to deceased actors such as Alan Rickman and Helen McCrory.

The actor also admitted that she “can’t see” as she opened up about living with eyesight condition AMD (age-related macular degeneration).

Dench explained that while she could still technically perform on stage, her photographic memory meant she struggled to remember lines without reading them first.

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“I’ve got to teach myself a new way of learning,” she said. “I’ve realised that I need to know where it is on the page. I’ll teach myself a way. I know I will, as long as I don’t trip over doing it.”

Louis Theroux Interviews… continues Tuesday 1 November at 9.15pm on BBC Two.