Its a strong film too, that finally makes it to the UK this week.
And ahead of its release, he spared us some time for a natter about it…
I think Ive worked out what youre up to.
Ive worked out your ruse.
You doThor,CinderellaandJack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
This is all about selling DVDs ofPeters Friends, isnt it?
[Laughs] That would be a lovely by-product.
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Were you consciously looking for different audience subsets, though?
Well, having an audience is a big consideration.
Then we did MozartsThe Magic Flute.
And then Harold Pinter did the screenplay forSleuth.
For me, they were all very exciting, adventurous pieces of work.
But very low audiences, and frustrating not to be able to get that work out to larger audiences.
Now it might just be that the films essentially didnt work for larger groups of people.
So I think I was just a little frustrated.
And also to be part of a landscape of what I was watching.
I go to the cinema a lot.
That was a motivation behind switching into some of this kind of work.
I think you see it a lot in animation.
A really interesting thought.
It was a big factor in what drew me to thisscript.
I think that its an example of how life lessons and moral reflection is available in these stories.
That audiences may be being introduced to these issues for the first time.
I was very conscious of that.
Or how personal happiness can bereclaimedin the face of profound loss, and the loss can still be experienced.
Not denied or avoided, but experienced, and in a way, understood and accepted.
That seemed to be an enormously important part of why I wanted to make the film.
Its a film with significant deaths in, but faced by a character with a relentless positivity.
I find that quite rare in a big movie.
To have a central character so lacking in cynicism, who has such a core of goodness about them.
Yet your film is quite light.
There are other ways you clearly could have gone there, not least in the current blockbuster climate.
I think I didnt want to step outside the genre and sort of poke fun at it.
I wanted to see how lightness of heart and lightness of spirit dominates the film.
Its Paul Scofield playing Sir Thomas More.
Not stepping out and winking at the audience.
That was key for me.
It was something that seems so natural.
I said right at the beginning, I believe in having courage and being kind.
I think its very difficult.
Its easy to say and hard to do.
And it need not render you naive, unsophisticated, silly or stupid.
I wanted to make a film that laid that out.
It isnt even tubthumping its way, and ramming it down peoples throats.
I wanted to take away saintliness, and self-righteousness, and priggishness from [Cinderella].
And also to have her character be evolving.
This is a character thats not fully formed at the beginning of the movie.
None of them are, they all go through some kind of development.
Usually through profound shock, as all human development usually takes place in the receipt of.
So it seemed to be that there was quite a lot to do there.
It would have been an example of nerves and fear to step out and poke fun.
Because in a sense, we had that in the centre of the movie anyway.
There are three representatives in the film doing it all the day, sneering and making fun of Cinderella.
With snarky, often quite funny remarks.
I didnt want us to join that group.
Whenever I look to classic adaptations, I always come back toA Christmas Carol.
[Laughs]
Such is the familiarity of the story!
Can you take us into your edit a little?
How do you combat that sort of thing, and double-check you always had our attention?
Of mother and father.
And so the issue became how is it going to happen next.
It sounds paradoxical, but theres a three dimensional simplicity to what youve done with this film.
Mostly to allow other transformations to happen inside a human individual rather than through a supernatural agent.
I loveMuch Ado, and loved how it ate up the Tuscany landscape.
The sense that people had been allowed to run around in the garden and have fun with it.
I got that sense here too.
But were you consciously going outdoors as much?
Was that important to you?
Yeah it was, actually.
It was to give initially the breath of a summers day.
But also to feel sunshine, to bring sunshine into the movie.
To be part of therefore a visual landscape that was in very strong contrasts.
Darkness of character versus lightness.
We werent also trying to rely entirely on the visual impact of the ball.
But early on the construction of a summers day was valuable.
That was equally glamorous, attractive and magnificent.
That you clearly wanted to flesh the character out, but not at the expense of the sinister edge.
Well Cate had a great physical and energetic arrival onto the set and into the movie.
She had great relish for playing it.
I thought that was wonderful.
And she reveals this backstory, and this history, and this loss.
Or maybe just disappointment.
But I knew I wanted it to be as felt as she brings to the scene.
But she shouldnt plead for sympathy.
We were very clear about that.
And because its human, its more dangerous.
At the same time as coming into the movie like Bette Davis!
So if its okay with you, I want to talk about Patrick Doyle and Jason Statham.
Patrick Doyles score toMuch Ado About Nothingis one of my favourites.
It got me through a lot of exam revision.
[Laughs] [A lot].
So how did you approach this?
How did you work with Patrick Doyle on it?
That was the key.
Thats different to most.
Theres usually a year of work between us before he gets anywhere near a recording stage.
But here, we also had to come up with the music for the waltz really early on.
Then how is it going to be arranged.
It was part of saying this is the movie now, this is the movie appearing before our ears.
Hes the master of the great melody and the great tune.
That discrete, subtle, poignant, tender, restrained romanticism… but still it is there.
And I suppose compassion.
I feel the voice of compassion in the music, and inclusiveness.
But also when required, a great sense of fun.
Its very indicative of Patricks character.
Aside from the tunes, there is always an additional factor which is the live playing.
That vibration underneath Patricks score is also particular.
[Words here cant do much justice to how enthused Mr Branagh got talking about the music.
Last time I interviewed you, I got into trouble for not asking you this question.
But we ask most of our interviewees this: whats your favourite Jason Statham movie?
Er…
Ive never asked this question to British royalty before.
Although I dont get the vision of you sitting there at night with a Jason Statham boxset in truth.
I want to say…
I hope Ive got this right…The Transporter.
There are three arent there?
You have chosen wisely.
Sir Kenneth Branagh, thank you very much!
Cinderellais released in UK cinemas this Friday.
