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Beckinsale Turns Her Back On Sexy Roles
28 March 2008 (WENN)
British actress Kate Beckinsale has vowed not to take any more glamorous movie roles - declaring her time as a "sex-bomb" is over. The 34-year-old star began her acting career in Kenneth Branagh's 1993 version of Much Ado About Nothing but graduated to action-packed adventures including Underworld and Van Helsing. But Beckinsale is now determined to turn her career around and prove herself as a serious actress. She says, "The sex-bomb thing is totally fun but you want to take the red shoes off sometimes. I've been wanting to do something more dramatic. I don't regret any of my movies but I do have a certain embarrassment about one or two of them."

Dench Leads Tributes To Late Actor Scofield
24 March 2008 (WENN)
Dame Judi Dench has led the tributes to late Oscar-winning actor Paul Scofield who died on Thursday. The British star of screen and stage - who won an Academy-Award in 1966 for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons - died after a long battle with leukemia. He was 86. Dench - who starred with Scofield in Kenneth Branagh's 1989 Oscar-winning film Henry V - was shocked to hear the news, stating, "He was a great friend and a great man." Revered British actor Simon Callow has described Schofield as "one of the greatest actors in the world." He adds, "He had a charisma, a hypnotism, a kind of spell that he cast on an audience, which was an extraordinary thing to negotiate as a young actor. He was an absolutely towering actor." Famed for his distinctive voice, Scofield rejected the offer of a knighthood on three occasions, but was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of The British Empire) in 1956 and became a Companion of Honor in 2001.

Actor Paul Scofield Dies at 86
20 March 2008 (IMDb News Flash)
Paul Scofield, the imperious British actor of stage and screen who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, died Wednesday; he was 86. Scofield, who passed away at a hospital near his home in southern England, had been suffering from leukemia. Scofield began his acting career onstage, where it would always be centered, and he found his first successes in taking on a variety of Shakespearean roles during and after World War II. His towering presence and amazing performances quickly drew comparison to fellow thespian Laurence Olivier. While continuing his theater work, Scofield began appearing in a handful of films in the 1950s and early 1960s, most notably the John Frankenheimer thriller The Train. In fact, he had only three films to his credit when he was asked to reprise his celebrated role as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film adaptation of A Man for All Seasons, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Fred Zinnemann. The story of King Henry VIII's Chancellor of England, who refused to go along with the monarch's break from the Roman Catholic Church and was executed for it, the film was a sumptuous adaptation of the Robert Bolt play and a critical and commercial success, winning six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director and Actor for Scofield.

Despite his acclaimed Oscar success, the actor continued to work mainly in the theater, with occasional forays into cinema, primarily in stage-to-film adaptations; notable films in the 1970s included Peter Brook's version of King Lear and Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance opposite Katharine Hepburn. Scofield found the second role of a lifetime in the stage production of Amadeus, where he played the tortured and envious composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham would win an Oscar for the role in the 1984 film). Considered reclusive, a trait he would deny in many interviews, he hand-picked his film roles very carefully, appearing in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V and Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet, and he received a second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor, for Robert Redford's Quiz Show. His last major film role was in 1996's The Crucible, which won him his third BAFTA award. Scofield is survived by his wife, the actress Joy Parker, whom he married in 1943, and their two children, Martin and Sarah. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff

Branagh, Caine & Law Team Up for 'Sleuth' Remake
15 January 2007 (WENN)
Kenneth Branagh will direct Michael Caine and Jude Law in the remake of classic movie Sleuth. Caine, who played Milo Tindle in the 1972 thriller will play co-star Laurence Olivier's part in the remake - adapted from Anthony Shaffer's play by Harold Pinter - while Law will take on Caine's original role. It's the first time Law, who is also co-producing the remake with Branagh, and Caine have worked together, although both British actors have played love rat Alfie on the big screen. Production on the film will begin later this month at Twickenham Studios in London. Sleuth tells the story of a wealthy author and his efforts to outwit an out-of-work actor (Law) who is having an affair with the writer's wife in the rooms and corridors of his exquisitely modernized Georgian manor.

Deneuve To Preside at Venice Film Festival
15 June 2006 (StudioBriefing)
Veteran actress Catherine Deneuve (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Belle de Jour, Indochine) has been named to head the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival. In a statement, Venice artistic director Marco Mueller and Biennale president Davide Croff remarked, "Her magical charisma and her knowledge of cinema will give serenity and balance to the jury." The festival organizers also announced that the festival, which runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 9, will host the world premiere on Sept. 7 of Kenneth Branagh's English-language adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Washington To Tread the Boards
16 November 2004 (WENN)
Actor Denzel Washington is putting his big screen career on hold to star in a Broadway, New York, production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The play will be directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan and will open for its run at the Belasco Theatre in April. Julius Caesar will be Washington's second foray into The Bard's works - he starred alongside Kenneth Branagh and Keanu Reeves in 1993 film Much Ado About Nothing. No other cast details have been announced yet.

Cruise Seeks a New 'Mission' Director
20 July 2004 (WENN)
Superstar actor Tom Cruise needs a new director for Mission Impossible 3 following film-maker Joe Carnahan's dramatic decision to quit. The Jerry Maguire star - who is reprising his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt for the third time - is now hunting for a replacement. Carnahan cited "creative differences" as his reason for leaving the project. Studio Paramount have already delayed the film's release date until June 2005 but filming is scheduled to begin next month in Berlin, Germany. Mission Impossible 3 boasts an impressive cast including Scarlett Johansson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kenneth Branagh and Ving Rhames.

Sexy Scarlett's New Mission
29 April 2004 (WENN)
Sexy Lost In Translation star Scarlett Johansson is teaming up with Tom Cruise for Mission: Impossible 3. The blonde beauty will join Carrie-Anne Moss, Ving Rhames and Kenneth Branagh in the blockbuster, which starts shooting this summer. The movie is scheduled to hit cinemas next summer.

Branagh Auctions His Acting Tips
22 April 2004 (WENN)
British thespian Kenneth Branagh is giving aspiring actors the chance to learn from the best - by auctioning a master class with him for charity. The Much Ado About Nothing actor, 43, is an acclaimed performer on- stage and on the silver screen, and has offered a two-hour intense session on any William Shakespeare scene to the highest bidder. All proceeds will go to the Paul Bevan Cancer Foundation, which is building an information and support center for patients suffering from the disease and their families. A spokesperson for the foundation says, "The winner will get a two-hour one-to- one lesson with him. They will discuss and act a scene from a Shakespeare play of their choice - either a soliloquy or a two-hander with Kenneth. He'll then explain what makes the scene work and how one can get the most out of the writing."

Emma Thompson Weds Long-Term Boyfriend
31 July 2003 (WENN)
Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson has wed her long-term actor boyfriend Greg Wise in a ceremony at their Scottish home. The Remains Of The Day star - who is the ex-wife of Kenneth Branagh - married Greg at the couple's converted barn in Argyll on Tuesday. Their three-year-old daughter Gaia dressed as a flower girl while Emma, 44, wore a white gown and 37-year-old Greg donned a traditional kilt. Guests included Emma's actress sister Sophie Thompson and actor Sir Derek Jacobi. Titanic star Kate Winslet and her director husband Sam Mendes had to pull out of attending at the last minute. Emma said, "This for me is heaven. It's been a wonderful day." The pair met while filming hit movie Sense And Sensibility and have been living together since 1997.

Actor Branagh Weds for Second Time
28 May 2003 (WENN)
British screen star Kenneth Branagh has secretly wed girlfriend Lindsay Brunnock. The couple exchanged vows at a "small, private" ceremony at the weekend, according to the Much Ado About Nothing star's publicist. He and his new bride are now enjoying their honeymoon at an undisclosed location. Branagh started dating art director Brunnock two years ago on the set of the Shackleton - a drama for British TV network Channel 4. It is the second marriage for Branagh - his first, to actress Emma Thompson, ended in 1996. He then had a long romance with his Frankenstein co-star Helena Bonham Carter, but they split in 1999.

Movie Reviews: 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'
15 November 2002 (StudioBriefing)
First things first: The critics generally agree that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is better than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone outside the U.S.). They disagree about the degree of improvement. It's "a little better," writes A.O. Scott in the New York Times, while complaining that "the movie's scenes feel cut to uniform length and arranged in plodding, unvarying rhythm." "This new Harry Potter has its flaws, but it's better, as well as darker, than the first," writes Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal and, while also faulting some of Chris Columbus's direction, concludes that the film "will be magical enough for its audience and lucrative enough for its producers." Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls Chamber of Secrets "darker, scarier and somewhat better than Sorcerer's Stone, " and says that what makes it better principally, is a funny performance by Kenneth Branagh in the role of "a vain, boastful charlatan of a professor." Eleanor Ringel Gillespie in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution begins her review by remarking, "He's back, and he's better. Much better." She, too, praises Branagh's performance as "shamelessly funny" and calls him a "welcome addition." To Steven Rosen of the Denver Post, the movie "shows a quantum leap -- make that a Quidditch leap -- in improvement from the first in the series." Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News says that the Potter sequel is to the original as The Empire Strikes Back was to the original Star Wars: "In short, it's bigger and better." Dominic Mohan in the London Sun (the film opens simultaneously in the U.K.) concludes that the second movie based on the novels by J.K. Rowling "does a much better job than the first of unlocking the magic from her wizard prose." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times calls Chamber of Secrets "a glorious movie," and he foresees the development of "one of the most important franchises in movie history, a series of films that consolidate all of the advances in computer-aided animation, linked to the extraordinary creative work of J.K. Rowling." Not so enchanted by it all is Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, who did not much like the original, either. "The film's scary moments are too monstrous and its happy times have too much idiotic beaming, making the film feel like the illegitimate offspring of Alien and The Absent-Minded Professor," he writes. Barbara Ellen in the London Times acknowledges that she "factored in a snooze" during the movie, then concludes, "Like its predecessor, The Chamber of Secrets lacks the kind of delicacy and intensity that will ensure its ultimate memorability." And Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post tosses this film into the chamber pot, calling it "big, dull and empty. ... It's just a bunch of happenings that ape the progress of a story but never quite reach the threshold of narrative."

Bonham Carter and Burton Planning To Wed?
16 September 2002 (WENN)
Helena Bonham Carter is so smitten with director lover Tim Burton even work commitments on different sides of the world can keep them apart. The actress - who counts Kenneth Branagh amongst her former flames - began dating the Batman movie maker after they met on the set of 2001 flick Planet Of The Apes. And - even though their busy schedules mean they are forced to spend time apart - Helena insists the romance is still going strong, and even hints of a wedding before long. Speaking before the premiere of her new movie, she says, "He's in America working at the moment so he can't here but we are still very much together." But the actress was adamant if she and Burton do plan to make their relationship legally binding - the press won't be the first to find out. Helena adds, "If anything is happening on that front, I'll tell my friends first."

Potter Mania Hits the Web
12 June 2002 (WENN)
Harry Potter fans are freezing up the Internet as they try to download sneak images from the new film. The second installment of the wizard tale, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will not bow until later this year, but exclusive photos have been posted on America Online, causing a surge in downloads. The movie stills show Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, in the Chamber of Secrets, along with new characters including Lucius Malfoy (British actor Jason Isaacs), the father of Potter's nemesis Draco, and Gilderoy Lockhart, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, played by Kenneth Branagh. The first film scored a huge hit at the box office and studio bosses are fueling more Potter fever when they release the full length movie trailer this Friday with Scooby-Doo.

Miramax Boss Angers Australian Politicians
23 May 2002 (WENN)
Miramax movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has riled Australian politicians with the new film he is promoting at the Cannes Film Festival. Weinstein is in the south of France launching the ad campaign for upcoming Kenneth Branagh flick Rabbit-Proof Fence. The movie - made by Aussie director Philip Noyce - is set in 1930s Australia, and tells the tale of Aboriginal children taken from their tribe to be raised by 'civilized' whites. Miramax are promoting the film with posters saying, "What if the Government kidnapped your daughter?" But politicians Down Under are fuming about the Hollywood interpretation of their history. One Australian member of parliament told gossip site Pagesix, "It wrongly infers that Australians are racist."

Kenneth Branagh Returns To Stage
21 March 2002 (WENN)
British actor Kenneth Branagh has returned to the stage for the first time in ten years. The thespian is performing in William Shakespeare's Richard III at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, north England. All performances are sold out, forcing the company to extend its run by four days. A theatre spokesman says, "It has been the fastest-selling show in the Crucible's 30 year history." The 41-year-old last trod the boards as Hamlet in a 1992 Royal Shakespeare Company production, and is being paid the same as the rest of the cast - just above the $417 a-week minimum demanded by the actors' union Equity. Branagh has will also play Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in the film adaptation of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

Isaacs Gets Pottered
4 March 2002 (WENN)
Actor Jason Isaacs, who played Mel Gibson's nemesis in The Patriot, has signed on to play another slimy character - Lucius Malfoy, father of Harry Potter's antagonistic schoolmate Draco Malfoy. Variety reported the casting of Isaacs in the upcoming Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets on Sunday, along with the casting of Miriam Margolyes as Professor Sprout and Gemma Jones as Madam Pomfrey. As previously reported, Kenneth Branagh will play the dashing Gilderoy Lockhart.

U.K. Ratings On Hold
4 January 2002 (StudioBriefing)
A revamp of the U.K.'s audience-measurement service has caused a delay in the release of ratings for all television shows that could last as long as a week, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported today (Friday). As a result, the newspaper said, commercial Channel 4 had been unable to learn how many viewers tuned into Shackleton, a film about the 1914 South Pole expedition starring Kenneth Branagh that was the most expensive drama the station has ever commissioned. The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, which administers the ratings system in Britain, said that it was necessary to complete "relevant diagnostic checks" of the new system, which has added 600 new homes to the 4,800 that have normally been providing data over the past 10 years.

The Top Winners
5 November 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Among the top Emmy award winners: Comedy series: Sex and the City, HBO; Drama series: The West Wing, NBC; Miniseries: Anne Frank, ABC; Movie: Wit, HBO; Actor, comedy series: Eric McCormack, Will & Grace, NBC; Actor, drama series: James Gandolfini, The Sopranos, HBO; Actor, miniseries or movie: Kenneth Branagh, Conspiracy, HBO; Actress, comedy series: Patricia Heaton, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Actress, drama series: Edie Falco, The Sopranos, HBO; Actress, miniseries or movie: Judy Davis, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, ABC; Supporting actor, comedy series: Peter MacNicol, Ally McBeal, Fox; Supporting actor, drama series: Bradley Whitford, The West Wing, NBC; Supporting actor, miniseries or movie: Brian Cox, Nuremberg, TNT; Supporting actress, comedy series: Doris Roberts, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Supporting actress, drama series: Allison Janney, The West Wing, NBC; Supporting actress, miniseries or movie: Tammy Blanchard, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, ABC; Performance in a variety or music program: Barbra Streisand, Barbra Streisand: Timeless, Fox; Writing, Comedy series: Alex Reid, Malcolm in the Middle ("Bowling"), Fox; Drama series: Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, The Sopranos ("Employee of the Month"), HBO.

Hugh's Out, Branagh's In On Potter Sequel
26 October 2001 (WENN)
Looks like September's report in Britain's The Daily Mail - that Hugh Grant would take on the role of Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets - was premature. Variety reported Thursday that the role of the handsome, self-promoting wizard who teaches a class in defense against dark magic has gone to noted Shakespearian actor Kenneth Branagh. The sequel will start production in mid-November, just as the first film is hitting theaters. (This item was compiled by IMDb staff)

Helena And Tim: It's Official
26 October 2001 (WENN)
Actress Helena Bonham Carter is officially dating her Planet Of The Apes director Tim Burton. The English rose has been linked to the movie maker since his high-profile split from his fiancee of eight years, actress and model Lisa Marie. A representative for Helena says, "She has been seeing him for the last two 1/2 weeks. It is a baby relationship. They're taking baby steps." But the spokesperson is keen to emphasise that the affair didn't started during filming - when Helena was dressed head to toe as an ape. Yet jilted Lisa is still bitter, according a friend of the blonde actress. The pal explains, "He was a real a**e. They went out for years. They went to the Planet premiere together. Shortly afterward, he called to tell her it was over." Citing Bonham Carter's role in the break up of Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson's marriage, the pal snides, "Doesn't Helena Bonham Carter break everyone up?"

Branagh Awarded Shakespearean Honor
3 September 2001 (WENN)
Actor Kenneth Branagh has been awarded an honorary degree for helping to popularize William Shakespeare's work. The British star, 40, has brought Shakespeare's plays to mainstream audiences with a series of film adaptations, while his 1989 version of Henry V won him Best Actor and Best Director Oscars. And to add to the accolades, University Of Birmingham vice professor Maxwell Irvine yesterday honored Branagh with a Doctor of Letters to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the educational establishment's Shakespeare Institute in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire in England. A delighted Branagh gushes, "I am delighted to be associated with an institute that has done so much to further cooperation between the theatre and academic life." Branagh joined the world-renowned British Royal Shakespeare Company in the early 1980s and performed in Henry V and Romeo And Juliet before leaving to set up the Renaissance Theatre Company. After the success of his Henry V, Branagh directed and starred in Much Ado About Nothing with Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves. He then went on to direct and play the Prince Of Denmark in Hamlet in 1996.

Explorer Shackleton Turning Up Everywhere
6 June 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Although it is playing on only five IMAX screens, George Butler's Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure has grossed more than $2 million since its release in February, USA Today observed today (Tuesday). It is being followed by numerous other films, TV programs, and books about Polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition. Among them, the newspaper said, is a planned movie by director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm) for Sony/Columbia, currently being written by Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List, Mission: Impossible, Hannibal). Petersen told USA Today that he is hoping to star Mel Gibson or Russell Crowe as Shackleton. Also in the works is a film about the expedition being produced by Britain's FilmFour, starring Kenneth Branagh.

Branagh Repelled By Nazi Holocaust Planner
17 May 2001 (WENN)
Actor Kenneth Branagh's most difficult role was playing Adolf Hitler's "soulless" henchman Reinhard Heydrich in the new TV movie Conspiracy. Heydrich was the mastermind behind a 1942 meeting of top Nazis, which sealed the fate of the European Jewish population. This pivotal meeting is the subject of the new Home Box Office movie, which also stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. And Branagh admits that Heydrich was a real challenge for him and ultimately one of his most disturbing acting experiences. He says, "Heydrich was unique for the ferocity and the cruelty of what he did, and the ruthless efficiency with which he did. In my preparation I thoroughly researched him, but I found that when it came to playing him, the inner man seemed invisible. Our scriptwriter, Loring Mandel, tried to do a psychological profile of Heydrich, looking for elements of behavior that may not appeal but perhaps lend to understanding his character, whether it be hatred of parents, a childhood trauma, some physical or mental disability, something that might illuminate his motives. Nothing seemed to make conventional psychological sense. His utter lack of compassion, lack of pity, revealed a man who has a buried conscience. There is something purely evil about him that is absolutely repellent and I'll be very happy not to wear his uniform to play him ever again."

Emma And Greg Have Piles Of Love
10 April 2001 (WENN)
Emma Thompson doesn't worry waste over the fact she's older than her boyfriend Greg Wise - because he's had piles. Emma, 41, doesn't feel like the old one in the relationship because Wise, 35 next month, is suffering from all kinds of old age problems. She says, "He's very mature. Plus he's got lots of grey hair, and he once had piles which was a great comfort to me. I enjoy the fact that he's younger than me, keeps you on your toes." Despite the obvious success of the couple's relationship, Thompson insists there are no plans whatsoever to marry. She says, "I'm not the marrying kind. It was never a thing for me. I've always been intrigued by the whole notion of marriage, and why anyone would want to do it, anyway. And now we have a child, there's nothing more of a commitment than that." Thompson explains her first marriage - to actor Kenneth Branagh - was all his idea. She adds, "Ken was very insistent. I'm not curious anymore, I know it doesn't make any difference really."

Branagh's Labours Shelved
31 January 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Stung by the failure of his Love's Labour's Lost last year, Kenneth Branagh has shelved plans for two other movies based on Shakespeare plays, the London Independent reported today (Wednesday). A spokesman for Branagh told the newspaper: "Love's Labour's Lost was a brave attempt to do something different, and the audience just didn't get it. I think probably he is not hurrying to make the other two Shakespeare movies because he is concentrating on other things. These things go in cycles." Branagh was reportedly planning to film a version of Macbeth, in which the title character would have been represented as a Wall Street Broker, and a version of As You Like It set in a Japanese tea garden.

Kenneth Branagh's Back Down Under
31 August 2000 (WENN)
Kenneth Branagh's going back to Australia - and it didn't take a huge paycheck to lure him to the other side of the world. The actor spent months in Australia last year, filming the musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost (2000) with Alicia Silverstone. But now he's heading back to antipodean soils - this time to star in low budget historical drama Rabbit-Proof Fence, set to start production next month in Adelaide. The story follows the real-life plight of three Aboriginal girls who escaped from Western Australian authorities after being forcibly taken from their families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants. Branagh will play the English born A.O. Nelville, Western Australia's "chief protector of Aborigines" who devised and administered the scheme for controlling the state's indigenous population.

Toronto Film Festival Grows Even Bigger
23 August 2000 (StudioBriefing)
The Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 7-18) said Tuesday that it will be screening a record 329 films from 56 countries this year. Festival director Piers Handling said that Michael Kalesniko's How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000) will be the prestigious closing-night entry. It stars Kenneth Branagh and Robin Wright-Penn.

Helena Bonham Carter Finds Love With Steve Martin
31 July 2000 (WENN)
An unlikely romance is blooming between English rose Helena Bonham Carter and writer/actor/director Steve Martin. Helena, 34, has been working with the 55-year-old funnyman on new movie Novocaine (2000). Sources say they got together while filming and are continuing to date - although they're taking things slowly. Helena only recently split with Kenneth Branagh after five years, while Martin was wary of getting involved in a relationship since ex-lover Anne Heche left him and came out as a lesbian. But the pair are said to be very fond of each other - and a friend of Martin adds, "It's early and they are taking things very slowly. It was really the last thing Helena was expecting but she is very happy with Steve. They are great together."

Branagh Poles His Way Back On To Screens
21 July 2000 (WENN)
British big-screen actor Kenneth Branagh is to return to television - starring in a drama about the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton The actor - best known for his big-screen adaptations of Shakespeare's plays - will take the leading role in a $9.6 million re-creation of one of the great adventure stories of the 20th century - the 1914 expedition to the South Pole led by Shackleton - for Britain's Channel 4.

Kenneth Branagh Chooses Perfect Role
23 June 2000 (WENN)
Kenneth Branagh is going back to his roots for his next on-screen role. The Love's Labour's Lost (2000) actor is starring in a black comedy about a English writer in early midlife crisis in Los Angeles. With his tongue firmly in his cheek, the 39-year-old British actor says, "It was a real stretch for me." And he admits he took the role because, "It was a little more me. I felt very much at home with the part. "There was sort of a natural feel to it that I liked very much. There's quite a lot of romance in the film and it's quite touching. I have high hopes that it'll be very interesting. " Lynn Redgrave and Robin Wright Penn will also star in the flick.

Kenneth Branagh Explains WHY Band Stays Private
8 June 2000 (WENN)
Kenneth Branagh's band THE FISHMONGERS refuse to play in public - because the actor insists their lyrics are too embarrassing to be heard. Branagh has been playing with his band for nearly a decade but the group remain anonymous and are never heard by anyone except close family and friends because no-one in the band can write. Branagh explains, "We don't play in public because in the middle of passion we come up with such terrible lyrics... I have written some truly terrible stuff. Our lyrics are like, 'I really love you, I really love you.' I have never worked 'babe' into it because I don't want it to get too complicated. When relationships break up we end up with, 'I used to really love you but now it is over.'"

Branagh Not Always A Hit With The Ladies
6 June 2000 (WENN)
Love's Labour's Lost (2000) star Kenneth Branagh hasn't always been a hit with the ladies - he once lay waiting for a woman in a dustbin. Branagh who has been romantically linked with Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson in the past, tried to hide in the bin as the object of his desire walked past. His attempt to impress the lady in question failed miserably as the dustbin rolled over as he tried to make a quick exit. Branagh says, "It sort of underlines how stupid one can be... It just seemed like a good place to hide."

Movie Reviews: The Road To El Dorado
31 March 2000 (StudioBriefing)
Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh are Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the first "road" movie since 1962's Road to Hong Kong The fact that they merely provide the voices for a couple of bickering con men in the animated Road to El Dorado, The (2000) is almost beside the point; critics are responding to this movie in virtually the same fashion that they once did to the Hope-Crosby films -- that is, not very well. "It's reasonably diverting, writes Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times, "but don't count on it lingering in your memory." Stephen Holden comments in the New York Times that the film "in its nicey-nice way, is so eager simply to entertain that unlike other mainstream animated films, this one has no moral lesson up its sleeve. Well, yes, maybe one: human sacrifice is evil." "The Road to El Dorado, The (2000) is pretty much a road to nowhere, " writes Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News. Desmond Ryan in the Philadelphia Inquirer comments, "It has a few imaginative sequences, but technically ... the animation is as unprepossessing as the story is routine." Susan Wloszczyna in USA Today says that there are some scenes in the film that give the impression that "someone wanted to move El Dorado beyond the boundaries of the kiddy safety zone but then had a change of heart. This is one Road whose gold apparently got paved over."

Branagh Shrugs Off Star Wars Role
31 March 2000 (WENN)
Kenneth Branagh has denied that he was up for the role of OBI WAN KENOBI in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). In an interview with British EMPIRE magazine he says he was never really interested in the position that EWAN McGREGOR was eventually to fill. The Love's Labour's Lost (2000) director says the media picked it up when an Australian suggested he would be good for the part. He says, "When people were starved of information for the new film [this artist] suggested that I would make a good young Alec Guinness. And that was it - there was never a glimmer of interest from LUCASFILM. I endlessly explained to people that there was absolutely no truth in the rumour at all, but it happened around the time of the real intensification of the Internet, and was an example to me of how a story like that can travel around the world in 24 hours."

Branagh Forms The Shakespeare Film Company
22 November 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Kenneth Branagh is forming a film company devoted to making movies based on Shakespearian classics, the London Sunday Express reported. Each film will reportedly be budgeted at about $16 million. The newspaper quoted Branagh as saying: "The Shakespeare Film Company was created to formalize a passionate commitment to producing Shakespeare on film. ... It aims to present movie versions of Shakespeare's plays in the most compelling and exciting ways. It also aims to continue to serve the burgeoning audience for such films by stressing the contemporary relevance of the stories." The first release, Love's Labour's Lost (1999), starring Branagh and Alicia Silverstone, due for release in March, is set in the '30s and features songs by Cole Porter and Irving Berlin

BBC To Premiere Dino Doc On Oct. 4
22 September 1999 (StudioBriefing)
The BBC has set Oct. 4 for the debut of its $9.6-million, six-part documentary series, Walking With Dinosaurs, that employs computer animation and recent scientific discoveries to recreate the Earth as it was 65 million years ago. In a news report appearing on its Web site <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/default.htm> (which offers a 2-1/2-minute clip from the documentary's opening sequence), the BBC said Tuesday the documentary is its most expensive ever. It is narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

Hugh Grant Catches Woody Allen's Worry Virus
23 August 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Hugh Grant has indicated that although there was no secrecy clause in his contract with Woody Allen's company for the as-yet-unnamed film in which he stars with Allen and Tracey Ullman, he's not about to discuss his role. Although he has indicated that the character that he portrays will be "dark, " he told the London Sunday Express, "I'm terrified of telling you anything because Woody is very secretive and he might reshoot all my scenes with Kenneth Branagh taking my place." Besides, Grant suggested, Allen behaved as if he were George Lucas filming a Star Wars prequel, allowing him to see only the pages of the script where he has lines. "I got some information about the rest of it out of the make-up people, " he added.

Shakespeare As A Broadway Musical?
12 October 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Kenneth Branagh is planning to mount Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost as "a 1950s-style Cole Porter or Irving Berlin musical, " syndicated columnist Liz Smith reported today (Monday). Smith quotes Branagh as saying that the film will be his "most sexy, entertaining, and accessible" take on Shakespeare to date.

New Films: The Verdicts Are Mixed
23 January 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Recognizing that the arrival of Robert Altman's Gingerbread Man, The (1998) was preceded by numerous horror stories about poor preview screenings and wrangling over the film's final cut, New York Times critic Janet Maslin today (Friday) offers readers this "important maxim: Never trust buzz." Maslin praises Altman's "brooding, richly atmospheric style" in the film and remarks that Kenneth Branagh, starring as a Southern lawyer, "rises so expertly to this cultural challenge that it becomes easy to forget his Shakespearean side." Michael Medved in the New York Post agrees: "The biggest surprise about The Gingerbread Man is how well this bizarre Altman-Grisham combination works on screen." Medved readily provides an ad quote: "Run, run as fast as you can, to catch The Gingerbread Man." But Susan Wloszczyna, writing in USA Today, calls the film a "misbegotten merger" between Altman and Grisham. "Heard of The Big Sleep?" she writes, "The Gingerbread Man is the big yawn." Jack Mathews, writing the Newsday/Los Angeles Times review, faults Grisham's story, commenting that the first half of the movie "is compelling groundwork for a story that eventually turns on deadly clichés."