Judi Dench says she "can't see on a film set anymore"

Judi Dench is refusing to let her declining eyesight keep her out of the limelight. Despite dealing with age-related macular degeneration for the past decade, the 88-year-old actor says she still wants to work “as much as I can”—even if that means relying on friends to help her navigate sets and learn lines (per Sunday Mirror).

While the Skyfall actor previously spoke about the ways her condition affected her ability to read scripts, she has now revealed that her poor eyesight has made it extremely challenging to navigate a shoot as well.

“I mean I can’t see on a film set any more,” Dench told Sunday Mirror. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But you know you just deal with it. Get on. 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 also mentioned her photographic memory when originally speaking about losing the ability to read her lines. “I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page,” the actor said during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show (per People). “I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now.”

“It’s the most terrible shock to the system,” she also told the British publication. “Ghastly. It’s terrible to be so dependent on people.”

Still, despite her challenges, Dench has stayed busy over the past few years. Just since 2020, the actor has appeared in seven (!) films, including 2022's Allelujah and 2021's Belfast, for which she scored a Best Supporting Actress nod as the Academy Awards.