Judi Dench is opening up about the eye condition that is making it more difficult for her on the set and read her scripts.
“I mean I can’t see on a film set anymore,” Dench told The Daily Mirror’s Notebook in an interview. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But you know you just deal with it. Get on.”
She continued, “It’s difficult for me if I have any length of a part. I haven’t yet found a way. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.”
Dench has a condition that is called age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which she was diagnosed with back in 2012. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, this condition affects the central vision but people rarely go completely blind from it.
At 88, Dench continues to work on acclaimed projects. In 2021 she was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Belfast. Her recent films include starring Richard Eyre’s Allelujah opposite Jennifer Saunders, bally Gill, Russell Tovey, David Bradley and Derek Jacobi. Dench also made a cameo in the Apple TV+ Christmas musical comedy Spirited which starred Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.
While making an appearance on The Graham Norton Show to promote Allelujah earlier this year, Dench talked about how difficult it has been for her to learn lines.
“It’s become impossible because I can’t see now, I can’t read or anything,” she said. “Normally somebody could just teach you the lines, and goodness knows that’s happened before, but now I’ve just found I have a photographic memory.”