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Home
Authors
Kenneth Branagh
Irish
Actor
About the author
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,
Irish
Actor
#People
#Actors
In the hands of a great poet, words have ways of affecting us in ways we don't understand.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Words
If you've done a brilliant version it becomes something else.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
If it's good art, it's good.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Art
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,
Irish
Actor
#Life
#Supernatural
#Night
#Dream
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.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#People
#Work
#Talent
#Dying
Friendship is one of the most tangible things in a world which offers fewer and fewer supports.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#World
#Friendship
I don't think Hamlet is mad, nor is he predisposed to be a gloomy or tragic figure.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
My definition of success is control.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Success
#Control
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,
Irish
Actor
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.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Kids
#People
#Actors
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,
Irish
Actor
#Shakespeare
#Careers
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.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Want
#Film
#Will
#Word
#Cinema
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,
Irish
Actor
#Now
#Will
#Play
#Actors
The elasticity of Shakespeare is extraordinary.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Shakespeare
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,
Irish
Actor
#People
#Self
#Extremes
There is some mysterious thing that goes on whereby, in the process of playing Shakespeare continuously, actors are surprised by the way the language actually acts on them.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Language
#Shakespeare
#Actors
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,
Irish
Actor
#Play
#Actors
It's very strange that the people you love are often the people you're most cruel to.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Love
#People
The glory of 70mm is the sharpness of the image it offers.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Glory
It's quite hard for people to just accept that they're very contradictory.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#People
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,
Irish
Actor
#Ability
#Quality
#Actors
So many plays with magic in them that would be a terrific invitation to an imaginative animation team.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Magic
#Animation
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,
Irish
Actor
#Shakespeare
#Personality
#Courage
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,
Irish
Actor
#Want
#Words
#People
#Experience
#Language
#Music
#Meaning
#Actors
I certainly have been guilty of trying to sweep things under the carpet.
Kenneth Branagh,
Irish
Actor
#Trying