MSN Chat Transcript
June 3 1999
Interview with 'Celebrity' star Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh joined fans online
to chat about his latest film "Celebrity", which is
written and directed by another famous "auteur", Woody
Allen. A unique Celebrity cinema poster signed by Kenneth Branagh
went to Paula Collins for the best question.
Celebrity is a contemporary comedy
that takes place in New York City and revolves around the romantic
and professional aspirations of a dynamic group of individuals.
It goes on release nationwide on June 18th 1999. It also stars,
Hank Azaria, Judy Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith,
Famke Janssen, Michael Lerner, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and
Winona Ryder.
Set within the glamorous worlds
of filmmaking, book publishing, fashion and television, the movie
takes a wry look at the ways in which love can be lost and found
and how, much as we like to think that we can control our heart's
fate, in fact we can't. Mr Allen turns his highly perceptive
eye and camera on the phenomenon of celebrity, the pursuit of
which for many is equal to the quest for love.
John_MSN : Welcome to our
chat with Kenneth Branagh. We have had over 900 questions in
advance - many from Ken's friends - hi guys :o) [Ken-Friends, not
"Ken's friends" :) -ngoc]
John_MSN : Sorry for the wait
we can now start asking Kenneth some of the question...he is
right here at the hotel with us.
Kenneth Branagh says: Hi everyone...it's
great to be here.
John_MSN : We have had hundreds
questions in advance. Here comes the first ...
nick_name3 asks: What was
it like to work with Woody Allen?
Kenneth Branagh says: It was
a lifetime ambition to work with someone whose films I had seen
all of and a big thrill to be asked and not to have to audition
for him :o)
John_MSN : You have said that
you copied his mannerisms for the role in Celebrity. Was that
a strange experience?
Kenneth Branagh says: The part
was very much written in his comic voice. Lots of stuttering,
lots of nervous energy, anxiety and neurosis :o) Watching his
films over the years gave me the preparation for that in life.
His is a nervous man.
John_MSN : Are there any similarities
between Woody Allen's wordy more literate screenplays and Shakespeare's
classics.
Kenneth Branagh says: Woody Allen
liked you to say what he had written. He didn't like improvising
'content' jokes. Anthing that interfered with what he was saying
as an author, in that regard fidelity was as important as in
the films of Shakespeare that we had made.
The difficulty which he meets
all the time, l like with Shakespeare, is trying to find a fusion
between a language based source material and putting it into
a medium which is visually led.
John_MSN : I've written a
film script and you'd be perfect for the lead! Where can I send
it so you could get a look?
Kenneth Branagh says: The place
to send scripts is to Shepperton Studios in England :o)
John_MSN : Did you work much
with Leonardo Di Caprio what's he like as an actor and a person?
Kenneth Branagh says: I thought
Leo was a nice fellow who is making the adjustment to instense
fame very impressively. In fact I saw him in the post Titanic
explosion and he seemed very well adjusted. He is an excellent
actor and has made many films long before Titanic, for all his
youth he has experience of what it is like to handle all that
and to be a big star.
John_MSN: Will we ever see
you on the English stage again? If so, what role would you like
to take on? We also have a question in about if you'd work on
the Broadway Stage?
Return to the theatre is something
I am considering not in the short term but I would like to work
in the theatre again. The part I would like to play is Shakespeare's
Richard III quite where I don't know
LJ asks: What's your favourite
movie?
Kenneth Branagh says: That's
impossible to answer. Favourites include, Brief Encounter, Manhattan,
Black Narcissus and Napoleon...
John_MSN : Wow, the big 3
day long black and white epic?
Kenneth Branagh says: Yep, one
of the few films longer than our Hamlet It made our Hamlet look
short
Paula Collins says: The film
"Celebrity" is a commentary on America's sometimes
obsessive fascination with stars and stardom. In your experience,
is there a big difference in the culture of fame in America as
opposed to other parts of the world? Ireland and England, for
example?
Kenneth Branagh says: Fame seems
more instantaneously possible in America. Though, the fall from
grace and return to favour happens with equal swiftness. In Ireland
and England there is always some healthy carping all along. You
never get canonised fully over here and that is a good thing
... that's the advantage of the tall poppy syndrome
Paula Collins says: Through
your character, Lee Simon, you had the opportunity to play a
member of the media as opposed to your often real-life experience
as interviewee - What experiences of celebrity and the media
did you bring to the role?
Kenneth Branagh says: I understood
how difficult it can be to get a script to a big star which my
character experiences with Leo's character who is surrounded
by people who make that difficult I also understand the other
side of it .
Paula C_says: Mr. Allen is
known for his anti-rehearsal directorial style, along with often
sending "incomplete scripts" to most of the cast. That
must have been a unique if not slightly terrifying experience.
As a writer, director and actor, what are some of the insights
that you will take away from the process of making this Woody
Allen film?
Kenneth Branagh says: The anti-rehearsal
thing I think for him captures spontanaity. He worries about
losing if actors are over prepared or they fix their performances
too rigidly. A certain amount of freedom was interesting to experience
, to have given that he has produced fantastic work under those
conditions for many years now.
Peter_M says: What do you
think of Liam Neeson's decision to retire?
Kenneth Branagh says: Well...I
have since read that Liam is not returning to films and that
he had been misquoted or the remarks taken out of context...I
don't know about actors being treated as puppets by directors...Undeniably
film is a director's medium but that being the case I have found
myself enjoying giving myself over to the director's vision.
In the end you have to do that and my experience has been a positive
one.
John_MSN : I've heard you
speak of both being an actor in a film, and being a director...
if you could chose one, which would it be and why?
Kenneth Branagh says: If I had
to choose I would be a director because you have a chance to
have a more significant influence on the atmosphere and on the
whole the atmosphere of our films has been happy.
Emma_inderby says: Here's
a rose for the most talented and incredibly sexiest man alive
@-{ my favourite films are much ado about nothing and hamlet
,whats your favourite film that you've starred in and would you
like to direct, produce another film?
John_MSN : I don't like making
choices like that ...
Kenneth Branagh says: Me neither..
lol [laugh out loud]...
I have a soft spot for 'Much
Ado About Nothing' because it puts a smile on the face
Jude_ Tessel says: You have
spoken of your habit to collect souvenirs from your movies, such
as Henry V's throne and Theory of Flight's airplane...what are
the souvenirs you've kept from other movies?
Kenneth Branagh thinks: Woody
Allen's corduroy jacket complete with arm patches.
John_MSN : Does he know? :o)
Kenneth Branagh says: No, [laughing]
I sneaked that one through customs so to speak. :o)
Jude_ Tessel says: Are you
aware that the 360 degree, traveling camera shot that appears
in movies you've directed has been dubbed the "BranaghCam"?
Kenneth Branagh says: No...I
am surprised they have dubbed it that and not the 'irritatingly
flashy shot' .
Patrick_Krause says: Hamlet
was such a beautifully shot film, are there any plans to release
it on DVD?
Kenneth Branagh says: I am not
aware of that at present. That's question would be best asked
of the people at Castle Rock Entertainment.
Isabel says: My question is:
"Hi Kenneth, Isabel Ortiz from Spain here. "The Betty
Schimmel Story". Are you finally going to do it? Thanks
from a Ken-friend!!!"
Kenneth Branagh says: At present
the project is on a back burner while the script is worked on.
John_MSN : Being a director
yourself, did you have any problems working with Woody Allen?
Kenneth Branagh says: As an actor,
I didn't feel any conflict with a director. I am always greatful
for the load being lightened ... I found the experience enjoyable
because there was no rehearsal and a very swift shooting style.
Working with lots of different actors and the scenes having different
characteristics is very stimulating.
John_MSN : Several people
have asked this - Would you consider doing an action picture
next.
Kenneth Branagh says: Wild Wild
West is an action adventure but I haven't been asked much to
do a conventional action picture. There are great action picture
and there are terrible ones. I think Wild Wild West would be
called a comedy adventure.
John_MSN : Do you use the
Internet, is this your first time online?
Kenneth Branagh says: This is
not my first time online. I did an interview with Entertainment
Asylum in America and I am getting more into it and I am getting
to be more computer literate but not a net surfer.
Larry2 says: Hi Ken, Whats
the next big project ?
Kenneth Branagh says: I am finishing
off a film of Love's Labour's Lost, a musical version of this
play which will hit the screens at the end of November or December
this year and beyond that I hope to take a holiday
John_MSN : finally to date
what has been your most satisfying experience as director or
actor.
Kenneth Branagh says: The most
challenging was making our film of Hamlet. It was the most taxing
thing to do and as something it was satisfying to try and create
an artistic everest.
John_MSN : It has been ten
years since you made Henry V...what is the most important thing
you have learned about acting and directing movies?
Kenneth Branagh says: Keep practising
.
Host John_MSN says: Kenneth...thank
you very much for joining us tonight it has been a real pleasure...thank
you also to our audience...
(((((all of you)))))...
Kenneth Branagh says: and thank
you all very much, it has been a pleasure.
Host John_MSN says: Good Luck
with the opening of Celebrity and best wishes with all your future
projects.
KENNETH BRANAGH (Lee Simon) was
born in Belfast, Ireland and raised in Reading, England. He studied
at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and, in 1982, shortly after
leaving RADA, he made his West End theatre debut in Julian Mitchell
s Another Country for which he won the Society of West End Theatre
s Award for the Most Promising Newcomer . His other notable theatre
performances during that time include: Tennyson s Maude in The
Madness and Julian Mitchell s Francis as well as performances
for the RSC: Henry V , Love s Labours Lost , Hamlet.
In 1987, Branagh and actor David
Parfitt founded the Renaissance Theatre Company, for which he
wrote and starred in Public Enemy and directed Twelfth Night
, The Night of Napoleon , and Napoleon, the American Story .
Other productions from Renaissance during this period include:
Much Ado About Nothing , As You Like It , Look Back in Anger
, King Lear , and A Midsummer Night s Dream .
Kenneth Branagh took the international
film community by surprise in 1988 with his debut as a film director
on Henry V , which he also adapted in addition to playing the
title role. Branagh was subsequently invited to Hollywood to
direct his next film, Dead Again in which he co-starred with
Emma Thompson and where he played the dual roles of a gumshoe
detective in contemporary Los Angeles and a European Composer
in the 1940s.
Branagh next went on to co-produce,
direct and star in the ensemble film Peter s Friends which won
the Evening Standard Peter Sellers Award for Comedy in 1992.
That same year, he co-produced, directed and starred in Much
Ado About Nothing together with Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton,
Keanu Reeves and Emma Thompson, which went on to become the most
profitable Shakespeare adaptation in over two decades.
In 1994, Branagh directed Robert
DeNiro in mary Shelley s Frankenstein and the following year
he wrote and directed another ensemble piece, In The Bleak Midwinter
(A Midwinter s Tale) with Joan Collins, John Sessions, Richard
Briers and Celia Imrie amongst others. Kenneth Branagh s other
film work includes: Oliver Parker s Othello , A Month In The
Country , High Season , Swing Kids , Hamlet (which he also directed,
produced, wrote and starred in), The Gingerbread Man , and The
Proposition . He will next be seen starring in Danny Boyle s
Alien Love Triangle and Theory of Flight .
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