Academy Award winner Judi Dench has revealed that the ringtone on her cell phone is theJames Bondtheme. Dench, of course, played 007’s boss M in sevenBondmovies, first appearing alongside Pierce Brosnan and later alongside Daniel Craig before her character was killed off in 2012’sSkyfalland Ralph Fiennes took her place. After her ringtone was exposed, the actor shared a hilariously embarrassing story about it from the set ofher final James Bond film.
During comedian Eddie Izzard’s 31-day virtual marathon, which ended up netting almost £300,000 for charity, Dench tuned in and Izzard called her phone so viewers could see which song she picked for her ringtone. Dench held up the phone andJohn Barry’s iconic Bond themecould be heard blasting out of it. The audience of Izzard’s marathon got a good kick out of it, but Dench recalled a less appropriate time when her ringtone blared out of her phone.
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According to Dench, “It went off once in a rehearsal forSkyfall, and I was absolutely mortified! Because I never have it on me, it’s always ringing, it’s way across the room or upstairs or something. But Javier Bardem never forgot!” Bardem played the villainous Raoul Silva in the movie. The actor was apparently so starstruck during his first scene with Dench and Craig thathe ruined a take. As a Judi Dench fanboy, Bardem was probably delighted that she loves her own movies as much as he does.
Skyfallended up being one of the most popular movies in the entire Bond franchise. It was the first Bond movie by a wide margin to crack $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It became the highest-grossing film of all time in the UK, although it was topped byStar Wars: The Force Awakensthree years later. It also became the second highest-grossing movie of 2012 and the seventh highest-grossing movie ever made. In addition to the movie’s financial achievements,Adele’s Oscar winmarked the first time that a Bond theme had received the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and there were only three previous nominations.
Most recently, Dench has appeared alongside Izzard in World War II dramaSix Minutes to Midnightand alongside Dan Stevens in the comedyBlithe Spirit. Stevens said that Dench was reeling from the box office failure ofCatsduring filming, and that her response to the movie’s underperformance was “full of expletives.” Since her version of M has been killed off, Dench won’t be appearing in Craig’s next outing as Bond,No Time to Die, which recently saw its release datedelayed yet again due to the coronavirus pandemic. As it stands, the movie is set to hit theaters on October 8, a full year and a half after its initial April 2020 release date.
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