Surprise recent Brit hit THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is getting a sequel and screenwriter Ol Parker has confirmed that it is more than merely likely that multi-award-winning acting icon Maggie Smith will return in her role of Muriel Donnelly for the next chapter.
"[W]e're getting the old team back together. The very old team," Parker amusingly told Vulture in a new interview. "They were all genuinely up for it, which was really cool. Even Maggie, and that's a scary call to make!"
Why so? Well, he hilariously comments before letting out a laugh, "Because she's f*cking terrifying!"
Speaking of his relationship with the recent DOWNTON ABBEY Golden Globe winner, Parker said: "She's a good friend, but she's ruthlessly unsentimental. There was a moment on set where we were talking and she said, 'Can I ask you something? Who did you really want to have play my part?' I was like, 'Are you kidding, Mags? Of course it was you! That was the f*cking dream, obviously.' And there was a long pause, and she said, 'Why didn't you write me a better f*cking part, then?'"
The living legend retorted in deadpan in regards to a MARIGOLD sequel when Parker made the nervous call to guage her interest in appearing.
Parker offers, "She said, 'Well, we'll all be dead by then. Call it MARIGOLD HOSPICE.'"
That's our sassy Dame Maggie!
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL was directed by John Madden and stars Smith alongside Judi Dench, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson. No production date has been set yet for the forthcoming sequel.
Read the entire Vulture article here.