Movie Casting News: Judi Dench joins 'My Week with Marilyn' and 'Marigold Hotel'

Judi Dench has two new movies she reportedly signed on, My Week with Marilyn and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Collider.com has the following info for both of these new films...

Judi Dench has signed on to star opposite Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh in My Week With Marilyn, one of two Marilyn Monroe biopics in development.  This one takes place on the contentious set of 1957’s The Prince and the Showgirl, in which Monroe (Williams) sought respectability by working with lauded actor/director Laurence Olivier (Branagh); unfortunately Olivier came to loathe the blonde bombshell and treat her like “a naughty schoolgirl.” Dench will play fellow dame Sybil Thorndike, one of the stars of Prince.

According to The Daily Mail, Dench will start shooting her scenes on September 20th, two weeks prior to the primary filming schedule.  The accommodation resulted from Dench’s commitment to James Madden’s adaptation of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Read more here...

Speaking of Judi Dench...I just noticed tonight on the live telecast of The 62nd Emmy Awards (hosted by Jimmy Fallon) that her recent miniseries that aired earlier this year (last January) on PBS' Masterpiece, Return to Cranford with former P&P co-star Claudie Blakley (Charlotte Lucas) is nominated with 7 (including an Outstanding Lead Actress nomination for Judi Dench, but she lost to Claire Danes for Temple Grandin) Emmy Awards (winning 2 out of 7). Check out the list of categories that Return to Cranford was nominated for (after the cut)...


Return to Cranford's 2010 Emmy Nominations

• Outstanding Miniseries
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie - Judi Dench
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie - Jonathan Pryce
• *Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie - Ben Smithard (*won at the Creative Emmy Awards held last Week!)
• Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie - Karen Hartley
• Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie - Donal Woods (production designer)
  Mark Kebby (art director)
  Trisha Edwards (set decorator)  
• *Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special - Jenny Beavan (costume designer)
  Alison Beard (costume supervisor) (*won at the Creative Emmy Awards held last Week!) 

In 2008, Judi Dench and Cranford Miniseries grab 8 Emmy Award Nomination. Judi Dench lost here too. Cranford two Emmys also for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Eileen Atkins and Outstanding Hairstyling - Alison Elliot.