IRELAND
Irish Independent
BENJI WILSON – 30 OCTOBER 2013
As one of Britain’s acting greats, Judi Dench is probably best known for playing Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown or ‘M’, head of M16, in the Bond films.
But the classically trained actress had no problem switching on an earthy Dublin accent for her latest movie, Philomena, the true story of Philomena Lee who was banished to a convent, for the ‘sin’ of having a child out of wedlock in 1952.
Then again, Judi has been studying the lilt from a young age. “[Philomena] is older than me but not much, so I can identify with her past and I can identify with Ireland.
“My Ma and her family were from Dublin.”
Based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith, the film, out on Friday, tells the story of Philomena’s 50-year search for her son, Anthony, who was bundled into the back of a car aged three-and-a-half and never came back.
With the help of journalist Sixsmith (played by Steve Coogan in the film), she finally discovered her child, renamed Michael, had been adopted by a middle-class Catholic couple from St Louis, Missouri.
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