Cinderella reuniteds director Kenneth Branagh with his former star and ex-lover Helena Bonham-Carter (in the fairy godmother role)Though Kenneth Branagh had acted in three movies in the 1980s before his international breakthrough, he arrived as a star in a quite a multihypenate way. His adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V (1989) won him instant celebrity as an actor-writer-director. Here's a fun fact -- all five of his Oscar nominations are in different categories: Actor (Henry V), Supporting Actor (My Week With Marilyn), Director (Henry V), Screenplay (Hamlet), Live-Action Short (Swan Song). People forget this now when they wonder about how easily he won a nomination for playing Oscar's beloved Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn but it was something of a inevitability and a cute narrative. Branagh had been compared to Sir Laurence Olivier right from his supernova start in 1989 since Sir Laurence Olivier was also an actor/director who thrilled modern audiences in his time with interpretations of Shakespeare plays for the movies.
Branagh's movie stardom has long since taken a backseat to his directing work -- in truth it began to dwindle as soon as his magical partnership with Emma Thompson crumbled -- but with his 14th movie, Disney's live action Cinderella (2015) opening today, let's look back at his time in the director's chair through movie posters.
How many of these 14 films have you seen?
Henry V (1989) - his muscular hit debut obviously just missed Oscar's Best Picture list (a pity since their choices that year were so out of whack). It's definitely worth seeing if you haven't and features Christian Bale fresh off of Empire of the Sun and one of Emma Thompson's first two screen performances. She married Branagh just two months before the film's debut.
Dead Again (1991) - another hit. Ken & Emma play doomed reincarnated lovers in this ridiculous and ridiculously enjoyable stylized thriller
Peter's Friends (1992) - This comedy was like a who's who of Brit stars on the rise: Stephen Fry, Imelda Staunton, Hugh Laurie, and Ken & Emma.
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Ken & Emma's second Shakespearean hit and a curveball of a kind... so light and funny and with an eclectic cast of stars. (Confession: I call this one of Emma's all time best screen performance and better than either of her two Oscar nominated turns that year, though those are great, too)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) This ambitious adaptation ended his already separated but celebrated dual star marriage; he and Emma's Howards End sister Helena Bonham Carter became a couple and the Ken & Emma divorce was finalized in 1995. It's quite a baroque film.
A Midwinter's Tale (1995) More Shakespeare. It's a comedy about a production of Hamlet. This small black and white film was his first movie not to win plenty of attention or box office success.
Hamlet (1996) received four Oscar nominations, one of them quite a curiousity. Branagh was nominated for Adapted Screenplay but the big selling point of his four hour Hamlet was that it was completed unaltered. It was a lush movie version that did the whole play. Trivia: Helena Bonham-Carter had played Ophelia in Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990) but she's not in this one even though she and Branagh were still a thing and she actually also made a Shakespeare movie this same year (Twelfth Night)
Love's Labours Lost (2000) More experimental Shakespeare, this one a musical with another eclectic cast (Alicia Silverstone, Carmen Ejogo, Alessandro Nivola, Matthew Lillard, etcetera). By this point he was no longer "a thing" with the public
As You Like It (2006) One of two films he made that year that never made it to US theaters but eventually ended up on DVD or television. This Shakespeare stars Bryce Dallas Howard back when they were trying to make her happen as a leading lady all the time.
The Magic Flute (2006) This adaptation of the opera didn't arrive in the US for seven whole years but it's available on DVD.
Sleuth (2007) It was an ingenious idea on paper to remake this two-man Oscar hit with Michael Caine graduating to the older man role and Jude Law, by some accounts the new Michael Caine (see Alfie) in the Michael Caine role) but no one seemed to like it.
Thor (2011) After a rough period for his movie work both behind and in front of the camera, Branagh returned with his biggest box office success... however qualified it may have been (not that superhero movies flop no matter who directs them)
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (2014) Remember when they were still trying to make Chris Pine happen as a leading man? Oh wait. That's still going on! This attempt to relaunch a franchise didn't.
Cinderella (2015) His directorial ability to go lush and light while retaining gravitas seems like a great match for the material sight unseen. But it won't be unseen much longer -- looks like a giant hit about to happen.
HOW MANY HAVE YOU SEEN? And which Branagh behind and in front of the camera is your favorite?