Branagh Kenneth Quotes & Sayings

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.' — Kenneth Branagh

Don't stand up when you can sit down and don't sit down when you can lie down. — Kenneth Branagh

I started to watch 'Play for Today' and plays like 'Cathy Come Home,' and Kenneth Branagh's 'Billy' trilogy in the 1980s, which took us into the world of the Belfast family. As a kid in Luton, how was I ever going to know that world otherwise? — Colin Salmon

Sir Derek Jacobi has been an inspiration to so many actors and audiences throughout his brilliant career. To see him in Shakespeare is an event in itself. — Kenneth Branagh

I don't find myself so exercised by a desperation to be new. — Kenneth Branagh

My experience of great storytelling, working with classics, is just finding a way to present it simply but let the story do its own work, or be an invite to the audience's imagination. — Kenneth Branagh

I love thrillers, and I always have. — Kenneth Branagh

I went to a comprehensive school and didn't go to university. — Kenneth Branagh

The elasticity of Shakespeare is extraordinary. — Kenneth Branagh

You go to the airport and look at the bookstand, and you feel the titles are similar, the covers are similar, and you wonder how they can be different. — Kenneth Branagh

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?' — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I think television goes through phases, like other creative arts, where suddenly a group of people are producing exciting work all at once. — Kenneth Branagh

In Northern Ireland, I truly, effortlessly, knew who I was. I knew where I belonged. I felt completely and utterly secure. — Kenneth Branagh

If you've done a brilliant version it becomes something else. — Kenneth Branagh

The best actors, I think, have a childlike quality. They have a sort of an ability to lose themselves. There's still some silliness. — Kenneth Branagh

Certainly, I'm excited by epic subjects. It doesn't particularly frighten me. — Kenneth Branagh

For a nanosecond in the pre-Internet pre-digital age, I was a hot young actor, in the sense of popular, and then it passed. — Kenneth Branagh

I suppose that was my first bit of acting, the acquisition of an English accent. It was really just an attempt to be understood. — Kenneth Branagh

'Frankenstein' feels like an ancient tale, the kind of traditional story that appears in many other forms. — Kenneth Branagh

What happens is that with difficult processes on a film, they get very intensely compressed because a clock is ticking. — Kenneth Branagh

The glory of 70mm is the sharpness of the image it offers. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I think the best actors are the most generous, the kindest, the greatest people and at their worst they are vain, greedy and insecure. — Kenneth Branagh

I live in the English countryside, so I'm surrounded by magpies. — Kenneth Branagh

When you cast someone like Natalie Portman, the character can't just be the love interest. — Kenneth Branagh

Across all Cinderella versions it was clear that the 21st century was not very much in evidence, particularly in the character of Cinderella so it seemed, it felt actually as though it hadn't been done for quite some time, not with the kind of lushness that we could do it with, with an absolute removal of the passivity of Cinderella and finding an amusing way, a lighthearted but significant way of making her proactive and not a girl who's life is about waiting for a bloke. — Kenneth Branagh

The BAFTA is both absolutely fantastic and sort of meaningless at the same time. — Kenneth Branagh

In the course of my lifetime, that world went from violence to a kind of peace. — Kenneth Branagh

I'm always interested in contemporary fiction. — Kenneth Branagh

He [Kenneth Branagh] is the nicest guy. He is absolutely fantastic. Hes really down to earth, really friendly, and he has a great sense of humor. I really liked working with him. Hes a fantastic actor as well. Theres such a presence about him. — Emma Watson

The director needs to be in command on set because everything crumbles if that's not the case. — Kenneth Branagh

A creative and artistic home is what I've been looking for in the theatre. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I had a friend who introduced me to a meditation practice which involves a couple of half-hours a day of meditation, where essentially you try to achieve a stillness that allows you to just be there in the moment. — Kenneth Branagh

For what it's worth, I enjoy 'Dexter,' 'Modern Family,' 'True Blood' and 'Breaking Bad.' I've enjoyed the wonderful 'The Pacific.' — Kenneth Branagh

The ferocity of passion that is engendered by people when they don't like what you've done is really tremendous. It's intense. — Kenneth Branagh

Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual meaning is less important than the words themselves. — Kenneth Branagh

Carrying a movie is both a great privilege, it's a great opportunity, but it can be a great pressure, and sometimes that can make people behave very oddly. — Kenneth Branagh

I've always loved pure, silly slapstick comedy. It always makes me laugh. — Kenneth Branagh

With people in corsets you need, an hour and a half in you have to give somebody something, you have to have those trays with a little bit of fruit going around or something because you get that blood sugar [dropping] thing, so it's curious because that's in your mind at the same time as you're about to say, 'I think it's about the humanity and the depth of feeling and we need to feel [Cinderella] soul expand and by the way, more cheese for the people in the back.' — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I was a big admirer of F.D.R. He saved Britain. — Kenneth Branagh

Adults are just children who earn money. — Kenneth Branagh

I liked the fact that 'My Week With Marilyn' wasn't a biopic. — Kenneth Branagh

I'm interested in creating new work. — Kenneth Branagh

I am very much looking forward to new adventures - including, I hope, Broadway - sooner rather than later. — Kenneth Branagh

It's very strange that the people you love are often the people you're most cruel to. — Kenneth Branagh

I am a long-time hide-behind-the-sofa-in-the-early-Doctor Who-in-the-1960s fan. — Kenneth Branagh

I come from the theatre; my bones are in the theatre. It's as natural as breathing to want to be in the theatre. — Kenneth Branagh

I'm involved in Northern Ireland Screen and have been for a long time, so I keep my eyes open and ears to the ground. — Kenneth Branagh

A brother who is unhappy is a dangerous relative to have. — Kenneth Branagh

I've always loved the Bond films. — Kenneth Branagh

To look out of a car in Scania, you see a painting on the horizontal - one windmill, one tiny farmhouse, acres of beet or grass. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I certainly have been guilty of trying to sweep things under the carpet. — Kenneth Branagh

I think what you're always looking for as artists is to be honest and to continue to be honestly driven by that which you are passionately engaged with. It should need not be forced. — Kenneth Branagh

Life is surreal and beautiful. — Kenneth Branagh

We're self obsessed and mad and stupid - not that other people can't be the same way - but the extremes are kind of honest in some mad way. Anyway, I like them. — Kenneth Branagh

Doing Shakespeare on stage with Kenneth Branagh, I don't think it gets better than that. — Richard Madden

I've heard from quite a few people, you sense that there is an ownership of the [ Cinderella], it was so personal for so many people, so I was interested in trying to work out why that was. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

So many plays with magic in them that would be a terrific invitation to an imaginative animation team. — Kenneth Branagh

I was stuck in a wheelchair playing this deranged villain. I felt this mass amount of rage at being so confined. I thought, 'What can I do that is the direct opposite of this situation?' The only thing I could think of was that I could sing and dance. — Kenneth Branagh

One of the things that makes Hamlet unique among Shakespeare's characters is his courage to face up to the darker elements of his personality. — Kenneth Branagh

It's funny to be in rooms where you were originally referred to as 'The Shakespeare Guy' and to suddenly be in the position where you're 'The Blockbuster Guy.' That's a pretty unusual turnabout, I must say. — Kenneth Branagh

There's always something to think about in terms of problems that are dark and important and immediate and scary. — Kenneth Branagh

I fondly remember good times working on 'Thor.' — Kenneth Branagh

I only got 'War and Peace' on the third attempt. — Kenneth Branagh

Shakespeare is rhythmic; he is musical in the sense that he likes poetry, and he's musical because he constantly refers to settings where there's singing and dancing. — Kenneth Branagh

I think in the wake of the domination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everyone is now looking for a grand plan. — Kenneth Branagh

Probably 90 percent of the stuff I make has inevitably been done before ... Whether it's playing Hamlet, which has been on the go for 400 years, or pieces from the cinematic world that also have been essayed before, I feel released by that. — Kenneth Branagh

My parents are the reason I wanted to make Shakespeare available to ordinary people. — Kenneth Branagh

I remember the first book I bought, when I was about 11 ... Dad said, 'What have you got that for? What are libraries for?' — Kenneth Branagh

People talk a lot about, 'You're a Disney princess! You're Cinderella!' and this and that. But for me, it's all about the fact that I worked with Cate Blanchett and was directed by Kenneth Branagh. That's the 'Cinderella' story for me. — Lily James

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I'm basically quite a cheerful person. — Kenneth Branagh

I think we love the escapism of something like 'Cinderella,' and I think we do with 'Thor.' — Kenneth Branagh

I feel more Irish than English. I feel freer than British, more visceral, with a love of language. Shot through with fire in some way. That's why I resist being appropriated as the current repository of Shakespeare on the planet. That would mean I'm part of the English cultural elite, and I am utterly ill-fitted to be. — Kenneth Branagh

Truth is like most opinions - best unexpressed. — Kenneth Branagh

I've lived a lot of my life in London, so I often feel that I am a Londoner. — Kenneth Branagh

I wanted to have a place and a space, and a building, in which to create a season of work I am here because the idea of a theatrical home is very appealing to me — Kenneth Branagh

A good part of why I never went back to England was part of that, I didn't want to be in those sort of flowery films. But I think it's a nice change of pace-I don't know how long it'll go for. There will always be the Merchant-Ivory/Kenneth Branagh movies, but there's something else now-really, it's always been there but the Americans getting to see it makes all the difference. — Tim Roth

I think that short films often contain an originality, a creative freedom, an energy and an invention that is inspiring and entertaining. I think they are, as Shakespeare put it, a good deed in a naughty world. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

I'm a devotee of Stephen Sondheim. I think he's a genius. — Kenneth Branagh

It's no accident that Cinderella has been in the culture for thousands of years, and in cross cultures. I've traveled a bit recently, and in Russia, they completely believe they own this tale. And in Italy, they feel it absolutely is part of who they are. There is a timeless web to it. — Kenneth Branagh

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. — Kenneth Branagh

Everything is important, but there is a weight to these big or expected things and then there is the logistics of them and it's trying to find, while you worry about for instance the ballroom scene, how do you get 500 people to go to the loo in corsets and don't cost you an hour and how do you remember while you're organizing all that to take a breath and say, 'Well the scene is about all of that and it's about [Prince] hand on the small of [Cinderella] back as well' and we need time to do that properly as well. — Kenneth Branagh

In the case of 'Jack Ryan,' it was a huge collaboration, and I enjoyed it very much, and most of all, I want the audience to enjoy it, too. I want them to feel immersed in this world. — Kenneth Branagh

I noted about Cate Blanchett was her very positive lack of concern for how she turns out in [Cinderella]. She is happy to be a villainess and very pleased to be encouraged as I did with her to reveal this backstory and feel as though this was very human, that this broken heart of hers, if you might regard it that way, would be visible, but she never played for sympathy and I really admired that about her, so she's just there, she just is and uncompromisingly. — Kenneth Branagh

Helena Bonham-Carter and I sat down to talk about [Cinderella movie] and she said, 'I really want to do it but only one thing I insist on and that's wings.' She had to have wings and [costume designer] Sandy Powell didn't want wings to begin with but had to be talked around, but that was fun. — Kenneth Branagh

I suppose, at 50, you value things in a different way. So you value connections, you value your friendships, you value your health, and you are much more aware of time passing. — Kenneth Branagh

I think that Shakespeare himself raided fairy tales and chronicle writers, and he always looked to people who worked in the mythic genres, whether it was folk tales or popular novels. — Kenneth Branagh

A lot of the films I've done have links to other movies that I've directed in the past. — Kenneth Branagh

The long version of the play is actually an easier version to follow. In all of the cut versions the intense speeches are cut too close together for the audience and the actors. — Kenneth Branagh

Mozart had a tremendously fertile and creative ear for a catchy tune. — Kenneth Branagh

British people might wonder 'What the hell is Kenneth Branagh doing directing 'Thor?' but the person asking that the most was Kenneth Branagh. I think he was more surprised than anyone else to find himself doing this kind of film. — Tadanobu Asano

One of the problems with Shakespeare is that you can never give him a ring. — Kenneth Branagh