Kenneth Branagh On Making Events Like ‘Dunkirk’, Mysteries Of His ‘Orient Express’ & How Michelle Pfeiffer Got Freaked Out – Behind The Lens

My new Deadline video series Behind The Lens goes on location this week to the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, home of the first Oscars and so much movie lore. It is entirely appropriate, since my guest for this session is actor/director/writer/ and Knight, Sir Kenneth Branagh, who shows in all his films a deep love and knowledge of the things that made movies great.

Branagh is one of the very few who has been Oscar-nominated in as many as five different categories. As we discuss his latest starring/directorial effort Murder On The Orient Express, as well as Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk in which he has a key role, we talk a lot about the return of the big cinema screen for presentation, even if our electronic devices threaten to change the way we see movies. Both of these movies have had the increasingly rare honor of being shot in 65MM and projected on some screens in 70MM film, representing a style of moviemaking that is no longer the norm.

Branagh discusses his memories as a child being immersed in event movies, working in the scope format and shooting all his directing efforts on film, talking about his Shakespearean movies  such as his four-hour 70MM Hamlet, how he achieved all those remarkable tracking shots in Orient Express, as well as what freaked out co-star Michelle Pfeiffer when she walked into the London premiere of the film. He also talks about his true first love of acting, and its importance to the whole process of making movies.

Watch our conversation above.