Al Weisel
Idol Chatter: Kenneth Branagh
By Al Weisel
Premiere, December 1996, p. 60
It's hard to imagine the exuberant, 35-year-old Kenneth Branagh doing a small, dark, depressing Hamlet. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that his version of the classic, due this month, is bright and big. Using the unabridged text, the film takes almost four hours to unfold (though Branagh says he may also release a shorter version) and stars such unlikely Shakespearean actors as Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, Julie Christie, Jack Lemmon, and Billy Crystal. After the failure of his Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (and the breakup of his marriage to Emma Thompson), Hamlet marks Branagh's return to terra firma.
How is this a '90s Hamlet?
It's nongothic, nongloomy. The film is bright and full of—wherever it can be—hope. I do not feel these are people who are melancholic. These are vibrant, positive, alive people. People in crisis, certainly, but who are not self-indulgent. I'd say that we are less tolerant of self-indulgence now.
Did it give you any insights into your own life?
I certainly have been guilty of trying to sweep things under the carpet. 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.
What are the darker elements of your personality?
That's a five-hour conversation. They're all the usual ones. Often to do with worrying what other people's perceptions of you are. . It's quite hard for people to just accept that they're very contradictory. It's very strange that the people you love are often the people you're most cruel to.
Was Julie Christie someone you had admired when you were younger?
Admired and lusted after. She's still as beautiful as ever, and intelligent. Very nervous about doing this, very intimidated by Shakespeare. Still strangely frightened on
a film set. You'd say, "Julie, why don't you move a bit to your right." "Oh, where's the camera?" "What do you mean? It's over here." "Oh. I hadn't noticed it. I've been doing this for 30 years and I still can t act it right."
Casting all these Shakespeare novices must have given you, one up on them.
I wish it did. The intimidation just works in different ways. You look at Charlton Heston. who has worked with everybody and was full of stories about Orson Welles. Jack Lemmon came up to me and asked, "Did you ever work with Pappy Ford, kid?" "Pappy Ford? Oh, you mean John Ford. Of course I haven't. I wasn't even born." "Oh yeah, I forget you're so fucking young." Every time when I said, "Action," Jack would mutter under his breath, "Magic time," as a little mantra to himself.
Keanu Reeves talked to you before he did Hamlet onstage in Canada. What advice did you give him?
The first advice was to do it. He had wondered if it would end up being a circus. He came to see me play Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company and we had a long conversation. He was very gracious—the production was wonderful, it was great. And then we had a drink or two. He started to tell me what was wrong with it, and about three hours later, I realized he hated the entire thing. "Well you've got to do Hamlet, Keanu, because you obviously know how to do it—so off you go." I love him. He's a bright lad, much brighter than people think.
What didn't he like?
I think it was the attitude of the production. He wanted it to be a little more physical. I think hell be a bit happier with the film.
What do you make of Charles and Di's divorce?
Well, I wish they didn't have to deal with what I'm sure are painful personal problems in the glare of publicity. I feel sorry for them on that level.
Did the glare of publicity have anything to do with your divorce?
I think relationships are hard anyway, and the public-life element is an irritant, but it's not the reason why. It's hard for any relationship, full stop. I wouldn't blame media intrusion.
What with that and Frankenstein, it must have been an annus horribilis for you.
Yeah, rough year. I wouldn't recommend it.
Would you work with Emma Thompson again?
I think we'd both love to. We are all friends.
Have you, like Hamlet, ever seen a ghost?
I talked to people who say they have, and I've had some ooh-y, ooh-y experiences. I went to Bhutan, a Himalayan mountain kingdom. I was 16,000 feet up, I think with a severe case of altitude sickness, but I had a very strong sense of my grandmother being there. I found myself talking to her. This was not a prelude to finding out she had died or anything, because she was fine when I got back. We're pretty close and at 93 I'm one of the few things she recognizes.■
Al Weisel is the co-author, with Larry Frascella, of Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause, being published in October 2005.