Celia Imrie is mounting an assault on Hollywood in her seventh decade following the global success of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies.
The 62-year-old actor, who stars as man-eating Madge in the films about a group of British expats staying at a dilapidated Indian hotel, recently decamped to Los Angeles for several months to secure an agent. Now she hopes that the success of 2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and buzz around the release of the upcoming sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will lead to a new stage of her career.
“I’m 62, although frankly I’m not happy about it; in fact I feel a bit baffled by this abstract number that has somehow been attached to me, when I’m actually 26,” Imrie told the Daily Mail’s You Magazine. “Inside, at any rate. The truth of the matter is, and without wishing to seem morbid, I have about 20 years left on this Earth and I have lots that I want to do. L-O-T-S. I want to write more books and make a late entry into Hollywood.”
Imrie, who has just published her debut novel Not Quite Nice, added: “I wish I had done it years ago ... But I’m hoping that the buzz surrounding Marigold can create the possibility of a late entry into Hollywood, although the movie could never have been made there, as nobody has wrinkles.”
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel hits UK cinemas on 26 February, and is due to arrive in the US on 6 March. Once again starring Imrie alongside Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy, the sequel will see ambitious young hotelier Sonny (Dev Patel) attempting to expand his empire with the help of his elderly guests. Richard Gere and Tamsin Greig play two new arrivals at the hotel.
The first instalment in the series made an impressive $136.8m (£88.9m) at the global box office, with $46.4m coming from US cinemas.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion