Kenneth Branagh
If it's good art, it's good.
I think A Midsummer Night's Dream would be terrific because of the transformations that occur. Or The Tempest, things like that. Extraordinary larger than life or supernatural element.
I only really cast people who are desperate to be in it - who were dying to be in it, whose talent I believed in and were dead ready to do the work that was necessary.
I like to cast actors I admire, one's that are talented. Each one will bring something new to the part. This play has been done thousands of times and now certain characters are too familiar.
I don't think Hamlet is mad, nor is he predisposed to be a gloomy or tragic figure.
I don't know that there is too far, actually. I think there's only too bad. If it's bad you've gone too far.
I do think that, for instance, we've been very lucky to have theatrical careers and be associated with Shakespeare which sometimes gives you a kind of bogus kudos.
I did not make this a long film for its own sake. I wanted to make an entertaining film and offer it out there for those who want to see it. If word of mouth suggests there is an audience out there, hopefully their cinema will show it.
I certainly have been guilty of trying to sweep things under the carpet.
Actors are the best and the worst of people. They're like kids. When they're good, they're very very good. When they're bad they're very very naughty.
Variety is very, very good. Going from medium to medium, if you get the chance to do it, from theater to television to film, which are all distinctly different, keeps me sharp. What works in one doesn't work in the other, and you have to be looking for the truth of the performance, whatever way that medium might demand.
I started being interested in acting when I heard the voices of Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud and Sir Alec Guinness. I've had the great privilege of working with Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Anthony Hopkins. These are people who inspire the work that I do.
There are some amazing stories from all over this country, where people's work and contribution has been acknowledged. To be part of that is an absolutely fantastic feeling.
I don't find myself so exercised by a desperation to be new.
I choose to be inspired by things that have been done well in the past. So, I don't worry about being compared, because I think that does paralyze you.
I remember the first book I bought, when I was about 11... Dad said, 'What have you got that for? What are libraries for?'
My dad, for the first 15 years of my career, on every visit he made to a play or a film set, would find the oldest person on set and say, 'Do you think my son has a future?'
My parents are the reason I wanted to make Shakespeare available to ordinary people.
I did not expect to be allowed to be an actor, to be allowed to eventually direct things.
I only got 'War and Peace' on the third attempt.
I have a pathetic urge at some stage in my life to be able to pull out my wallet and pull out a little card on which it would say, 'Kenneth Branagh, artistic director.'
A brother who is unhappy is a dangerous relative to have.
I'm by no means an opera buff.
Mozart had a tremendously fertile and creative ear for a catchy tune.
I'm very conscious of the fact the directing career has taken some odd turns. Maybe there's enough bulk where I'm now pigeonholed in the 'eclectic box.'
I think in the wake of the domination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everyone is now looking for a grand plan.
The idea of accumulating ambitions or achievements didn't get much further than wanting to do the next exciting thing. I really haven't set out with any list of achievements.
Hamlet and Victor Frankenstein are each obsessed with death. Hamlet's whole story is a philosophical preparation for death; Victor's is an intellectual refusal to accept it.Collection: Philosophical
It doesn't mean old or younger. I've learned a lot from people much younger than me as well as people much older than me. So I think it's about honesty and generosity.Collection: Honesty
I come from the theatre, my bones are in the theatre; it’s as natural as breathing to want to be in the theatreCollection: Breathing
Adults are just children who earn money.Collection: Family
As soon as someone I don’t respect tells me I can’t do something, it just makes me want to do it even more.Collection: Want
Aging is the diminishing of early fearlessness.Collection: Aging
Don’t stand up when you can sit down and don’t sit down when you can lie down.Collection: Lying
For all the cynicism that the world contains, people are a little more open to those things that maybe are to do with returning you to some kind of simpler, happier state.Collection: People
I think that a lot of exciting elements are finding a place where a film is happily, truly about something.Collection: Thinking
The ferocity of passion that is engendered by people when they don't like what you've done is really tremendous. It's intense.Collection: Passion
When I'm acting, I'm in the director's hands. I'm very happy to be. I like to be focused on what I'm doing.Collection: Hands
I'm just a foul-mouthed Brit.Collection: Foul
Truth is like most opinions - best unexpressed.Collection: Truth
I don't feel one could even remotely touch the idea of intimidating others, but because I've understood the other side of the experience, I will occasionally, if I smell that could even be in the air for a few minutes, say to the director, "Please, you must tell me anything you want. Please say all the things you think might be terribly hurtful like, 'That was boring.'"Collection: Thinking
I started being interested in acting when I heard the voices of Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud and Sir Alec Guinness. Ive had the great privilege of working with Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Anthony Hopkins. These are people who inspire the work that I do.Collection: Voice
Even if people are all from the same place, there can be very, very different approaches. It's one of the things I'm fascinated by. It's why I like directing. I like to see how different people approach trying to be truthful, on camera or in the theater, and whether you can make them match up.Collection: People
Actually I think 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' could sit very very perfectly in the middle of a Disney world I think.Collection: Dream
After Frankenstein, I feel as if I want to make a film about somebody having a nice cup of tea.Collection: Nice
Frankenstein feels like an ancient tale, the kind of traditional story that appears in many other forms. It appeals to something very primal, but it's also about profound things, the very nature of life and death and birth - about, essentially, a man who is resisting the most irresistible fact of all, that we will be shuffling off this mortal coil.Collection: Men
Two billion people watched the royal wedding. Clearly, they're interested in that - the outside of what appears to be lives that have a certain amount of privilege. They have gifts, they have history, they have a sort of unusual and separate position, which maybe involves paying a price.Collection: Two
Even when a film is finished, when I direct a film, sometimes it's a dark profession, but it requires a peculiar form of courage that I admire.Collection: Dark
Somehow I know there was something so right about my doing Frankenstein and taking so long over it that I've probably been laying some ghost inside myself. It was a very necessary job for me to do, but it'll take some time to recover from it.Collection: Jobs