Vin Diesel Sent Judi Dench a Kayak-Sized Flower Bouquet to Land Riddick Role

Judi Dench has revealed she's susceptible to a grand romantic gesture, especially when it comes from Vin Diesel with a role offer. In her new memoir, per Variety, the actress recounts how Diesel sent a floral arrangement 'the length of a kayak' to her dressing room before asking her to join 'The Chronicles of Riddick.'

The bouquet was so large it couldn't be brought upstairs and had to be left at the stage door. Dench joked in the book that such a display made refusal impossible, calling herself 'far too easily wooed' and 'cheap as chips.'

She ultimately accepted the part, playing the elemental Aereon in the 2004 sci-fi film. Dench also shared that director Kenneth Branagh secured her for 'Murder on the Orient Express' by gifting her a personalized, embroidered handkerchief.

The actress had a blunt assessment of her 'Orient Express' character, Princess Natalia Dragomiroff. She described the role as merely an elderly woman adorned with jewels and accompanied by two small dogs.