Continuing our coverage in the lead up to this Friday’s UK release of Victoria & Abdul, we have another interview for you – this time with the film’s director, Stephen Frears.
Frears, who has made such films as High Fidelity, Florence Foster Jenkins, and The Queen, reunites with Judi Dench after the two worked together on 2013’s Philomena. As with those films, the director was drawn to the story of Queen Victoria and her “munshee” Abdul because of its humour, an aspect which might surprise audiences. Frears said:
“I read the script and it was very funny and very well written and then this story of tolerance and a story I certainly didn’t know of before this, so it had everything that I like. Good jokes!”
Of course, the role of Queen Victoria isn’t foreign to Oscar Winner Dench, who portrayed the character almost twenty years ago in Mrs. Brown opposite Billy Connolly. When he first was approached for the film, Frears said that he would only do the film with Judi – and thankfully, he got his wish, saying:
“I said I would only make it with Judi. There’s nothing mysterious about why she is perfect – she has the authority of playing the most powerful woman in the world as well as such wonderful human qualities.”
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While the story has a lot of humour and drama throughout, it’s perhaps a timely story for 2017 with its underlying themes of tolerance and racism that will be cause for much debate. And while Frears hopes people have a fun time at the cinema, he is hopeful that people will take heed from some of what the film is saying – especially President Trump, concluding:
“I just hope people have a great time. I don’t know if it will make the world a better place, I hope it will. When Donald Trump sees it he might change. I don’t think he will watch it but he should.”
Victoria & Abdul opens in UK cinemas on September 15th.
