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Kenneth Branagh
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus two honorary awards), two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and knighted on 9 November 2012. He was made a Freeman of his native city of Belfast in January 2018. In 2020, he was listed at number 20 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Branagh has both directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, of which he is a devoted fan, including ''Henry V'' (1989), '' Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993), ''Othello'' (1995), ''Hamlet'' (1996), ''Love's Labour's Lost'' (2000), and ''As You Like It'' (2006). He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for ''Henry V'' and for Best Adapted Screenplay fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thor (film)
''Thor'' is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It was directed by Kenneth Branagh, written by the writing team of Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz along with Don Payne, and stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character alongside Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins. After reigniting a dormant war, Thor is banished from Asgard to Earth, stripped of his powers and his hammer Mjölnir. As his brother Loki (Hiddleston) plots to take the Asgardian throne, Thor must prove himself worthy. Sam Raimi first developed the concept of a film adaptation based on ''Thor'' in 1991, but soon abandoned the project, leaving it in "development hell" for several years. During this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Much Ado About Nothing (1993 Film)
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a 1993 romantic comedy film based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Kenneth Branagh, who adapted the play for the screen and directed it, also stars in the film, which features Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, Keanu Reeves, and Kate Beckinsale in her film debut. The film was released on 7 May 1993, reaching 200 U.S. screens at its widest release. It earned $22 million at the U.S. box office and $43 million worldwide, which, despite failing to reach the mark set by Franco Zeffirelli's '' Romeo and Juliet'', made it one of the most financially successful Shakespeare films. It was also entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Having just crushed an uprising by his half-brother, Don John, Don Pedro of Aragon and his noblemen visit their friend Leonato in Messina. Accompanying Don Pedro is the witty Benedick, former acquaintance of Leonato's equally sharp-tongued niece, Beatrice. Also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Wild West
''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 American steampunk Western film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock alongside Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, from a story penned by brothers Jim and John Thomas. Loosely adapted from ''The Wild Wild West'', a 1960s television series created by Michael Garrison, it is the only production since the television film ''More Wild Wild West'' (1980) to feature the characters from the original series. The film stars Will Smith (who previously collaborated with Sonnenfeld on ''Men in Black'' two years earlier) and Kevin Kline as two U.S. Secret Service agents who work together to protect U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (Kline, in a dual role) and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats during the American Old West. The film features a supporting cast consisting of Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, Ted Levine, and M. Emmet Walsh, as well as an orchestral film score by Western film scor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celebrity (1998 Film)
''Celebrity'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and features an ensemble cast. The screenplay describes the divergent paths a couple takes following their divorce. The film received lukewarm reviews from critics and was a commercial disappointment. Plot Lee Simon ( Kenneth Branagh) is an unsuccessful novelist turned travel writer who immerses himself in celebrity journalism following a midlife crisis and subsequent divorce from his insecure wife, Robin ( Judy Davis), a former English teacher, after sixteen years of marriage. As he stumbles his way through both professional encounters and sexual escapades with performers, models, and other players in the world of entertainment, Lee increasingly questions his purpose in life. He ruins numerous opportunities due to his fame-seeking, insecurities and neuroses. Meanwhile, Robin trades her many neuroses for a makeover and a job with television producer Tony Gardella (Joe Mantegna) that l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallander (British TV Series)
''Wallander'' is a British television series adapted from the Swedish novelist Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels and starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector. It was the first time the ''Wallander'' novels have been adapted into an English-language production. Yellow Bird, a production company formed by Mankell, began negotiations with British companies to produce the adaptations in 2006. In 2007, Branagh met Mankell to discuss playing the role. Contracts were signed and work began on the films, adapted from the novels '' Sidetracked'', ''Firewall'' and '' One Step Behind'', in January 2008. Emmy-award-winning director Philip Martin was hired as lead director. Martin worked with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle to establish a visual style for the series. The first three-episode series, produced by Yellow Bird, Left Bank Pictures and TKBC for BBC Scotland, was broadcast on BBC One from November to December 2008. The second series was filmed from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shackleton (TV Serial)
''Shackleton'' is a 2002 British television miniseries. It was written and directed by Charles Sturridge and starring Kenneth Branagh as explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The film tells the true story of Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition on the ship ''Endurance''. The cast includes Kevin McNally, Lorcan Cranitch, Embeth Davidtz, Danny Webb, Matt Day and Phoebe Nicholls (also the director's wife) as Lady Shackleton. It was filmed in the UK, Iceland and Greenland. The film used first-hand accounts by the men on the expedition to retell the story. Shackleton biographer Roland Huntford was a production advisor. ''Shackleton'' was first broadcast in two parts by Channel 4 in January 2002. In North America the film was first broadcast by the A&E Network in April 2002. The film was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, six BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. Plot The films tells the true story of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (Kenneth Branagh) and his 1914 Antarctic expedi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortunes Of War (TV Series)
''Fortunes of War'' is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels '' Fortunes of War''. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson met filming the TV series and married in real life. Other cast members included Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Philip Madoc and Rupert Graves. Cast * Emma Thompson as Harriet Pringle * Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle * Charles Kay as Dobson * Mark Drewry as Dubedat * Ronald Pickup as Prince Yakimov * Alan Bennett as Lord Pinkrose * Harry Burton as Sasha Drucker * Rupert Graves as Simon Boulderstone * James Villiers as Inchcape * Robert Stephens as Castlebar * Esmond Knight as Liversage * Michael Cochrane as Clifford Episodes The Balkans: September 1939 Newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle arrive in Bucharest, as does the impoverished Prince Yakimov, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award For Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay Film adaptation, adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, musicals, short stories, TV series, and even other films and film characters. All sequels are also considered adaptations by this standard (based on the story and characters set forth in the original film). Prior to its current name, this award had been known as the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium. See also the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the corresponding award for scripts with original stories. Superlatives The first person to win twice in this category was Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who won the award in two consecutive years, 1949 and 1950. Others to win twice in this category include: George Seaton, Robert Bolt (who also won in consecutive years), Francis Ford Coppola, Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award For Best Director
The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Director winner. The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929 with the award being split into "Dramatic" and "Comedy" categories; Frank Borzage and Lewis Milestone won for '' 7th Heaven'' and ''Two Arabian Knights'', respectively. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies. Nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award For Best Actor
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actress winner. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 with Emil Jannings receiving the award for his roles in '' The Last Command'' (1928) and '' The Way of All Flesh'' (1927). Currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. In the first three years of the awards, actors were nominated as the best in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award. During the third ceremony in 1930, only one of those films was cited in each win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry worldwide. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette, depicting a knight rendered in the Art Deco style, was originally sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley from a design sketch by art director Cedric Gibbons. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 at a private dinner hosted by Douglas Fairbanks in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Academy Awards cere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
As You Like It (2006 Film)
''As You Like It'' is a 2006 romance film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The film stars Romola Garai, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kevin Kline, Adrian Lester, Janet McTeer, Alfred Molina, David Oyelowo and Brian Blessed in a dual role. Transferring the play's setting to a late 19th-century European colony in Japan after the Meiji Restoration, filming took place at Shepperton Film Studios and at the never-before-filmed gardens of Wakehurst Place. Produced by The Shakespeare Film Company and financed by HBO Films and BBC Films, it is the fifth and to date, the most recent Shakespeare adaptation by Branagh, and the only one not to feature Branagh himself in the cast, though he has a vocal cameo towards the end of the film. The film premiered in Italy on 1 September 2006 before being released by Picturehouse in the United States on 21 August 2007 and by Lionsgate in the United Kingdom on 21 September 2007. It received mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
