VIDEO : Dame Judi Dench Praised By Sir Kenneth Branagh

For his remake of "Murder on the Orient Express," Sir Kenneth Branagh said Dame Judi Dench was a "critical component." The 82-year-old actress was the first person he cast in the film, before Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, and others made the cut. Branagh told the Mirror newspaper, "Judi is a talismanic figure. She has trouble seeing, but she never complains." He also said that before he could even finish asking her the question of whether she would be in the film, she answered yes.