It happens about two-thirds of the way into Quartet, a wryly funny and often touching late-life aria about aged opera singers at a British retirement home that premiered last week at the just-ended Toronto International Film Festival.
Smith's nerve-racked diva is being pressured by her fellow residents to perform at their annual birthday salute to Verdi, and she has had enough of their goading. She prefaces her remark with the words, "I'm going to say something very rude," and then proceeds to let loose with a two-word utterance that begins with an F and ends with "you."
Fans of her imperiously proper Dowager Countess of Grantham on the TV sensation Downton Abbey, a role that might garner her another Emmy when the awards are announced Sunday, will have to wait to revel in that gasp-worthy moment until Quartet reaches theaters Dec. 28.
Has the 77-year-old dame ever employed that phrase before in a storied film career that includes two Oscar wins -- as the lead in 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and a supporting turn in 1978's California Suite?
"Onscreen, never." She pauses. "But frequently in real life."
That the notoriously press-averse legend is seated here at an upscale eatery while waiting on a Cobb salad and sipping sauvignon blanc is a bit of a miracle.
Blame her reluctance on a "ghastly" male reporter who made her cry during her very first interview when she was starting out in the late '50s. Her friend and collaborator, Kenneth Williams, advised, "Don't do it anymore." And save for the occasional taped Charlie Rose appearance, Smith has mostly been able to avoid such grilling without any ill effect.
"The thing is, often press people ask questions that are so personal that even your nearest and dearest wouldn't ask them," she explains.
What sorts of questions? "Well," she replies. "THAT'S quite personal." She continues: "You know what I mean, things about past marriages." Given that her first of two nuptials caused a minor scandal when she had an affair with the married actor Robert Stephens and gave birth to the first of their two sons 10 days before they wed in 1967, her reluctance is somewhat understandable.
READ MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/story/2012/09/16/maggie-smith-of-thee-we-sing/57790798/1
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