Dame Judi Dench felt like a "Marvel superhero" when she filmed ‘Blithe Spirit’.
The Oscar-winning actress plays clairvoyant Madame Arcati in a movie adaptation of Noel Coward’s 1941 dark comedy play.
It features Charles Condomine (Dan Stevens), a playboy novelist who invites the eccentric medium to conduct a seance that inadvertently conjures up Elvira, the writer’s first wife but the husband is the only person who can see the ghost.
Arcati fakes the ability to fly to impress Charles and for the scenes 85-year-old Dench had to be levitated via pulleys and the stun made her feel like a super-powered character from the MCU.
In an interview with the Baz Bamigboye column in the Daily Mail newspaper, she said: "The secret is, that Madame Arcati certainly believes in herself and her powers, though she exaggerates one thing [that she can fly]."
She tries to fool an audience in the theatre. She’s supposed to be levitating. I was whisked around on pulleys in Richmond Theatre. I felt like a Marvel superhero. Actually, I am a Marvel superhero."
Dench was delighted to get a role in Edward Hall’s adaptation because she was guided by Coward as she started her acting career.
She said: "Coward kind of adopted me and took me to so many first nights. To this day I have never forgotten his aftershave."
Hall admits making ‘Blithe Spirit’ has been a passion project for him and he had been trying to bring the story to the big screen for several years.
He explained: "It was like trying to get an octopus into a string bag after drinking vodka; there are so many moving pieces to put together.
"It should have the shape and feel and appearance of a tight-lipped period, British comedy, but the action of the story sort of throws a wrecking ball at it, so people find themselves doing the most ridiculous things and behaving in the most ridiculous way."
Judi Dench felt like a ‘Marvel superhero’ in Blithe Spirit
