The Playlist

SFIFF: Kenneth Branagh Receives Directing Award, Says 'Macbeth' May Be His Next Shakespeare Adaptation

By Sean Gillane
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May 8, 2012 5:01 PM
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2 Comments

News

At the recently concluded San Francisco International Film Festival, Kenneth Branagh was awarded the annual Founder’s Directing Award. Preceding a screening of the director’s 1991 film “Dead Again,” Branagh spoke to Jonathan Moscone, Artistic Director of the the California Shakespeare Theater, about his career thus far. Accordingly, the plays of William Shakespeare and Branagh’s interpretations of those works became the anchor for the two men’s conversation throughout the evening.

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Kenneth Branagh Gets Jack Ryan Reboot Moving Again As He Takes The Director's Chair

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 27, 2012 5:07 PM
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0 Comments

News

Left for dead? Never count out Jack Ryan. A week after the long developing/suffering Jack Ryan reboot AKA "Moscow" lost director Jack Bender, Paramount has re-upped with a helmer who not only knows how to deliver blockbuster action on a dime, he's an Oscar nominee too.

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Kate Winslet To Star In Kenneth Branagh's Adaptation Of Best-Seller ''The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 13, 2012 8:57 AM
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4 Comments

News

After finally winning her Oscar for "The Reader" at the start of 2009, Kate Winslet's had a little break from awards-bait movies. Not that she's avoided the glitter altogether -- she won an Emmy, deservedly, for her starring role in Todd Haynes' "Mildred Pierce," and has two Golden Globe nominations this weekend, both for that and for her turn in "Carnage." But the latter is an atypical kind of role for the star, an acerbic dark comedy, and most of her other choices of late, like Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion" and a role in portmanteau comedy "Movie 43" have been designed to let her have a little fun, rather than court awards voters.

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'The Help' & 'The Artist' Lead The Field At Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 14, 2011 9:36 AM
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8 Comments

Awards

In the seventeen years that they've been running for, the annual Screen Actors' Guild Awards have proven to be a pretty reliable precursor for the acting categories at the Academy Awards. And why shouldn't they? With the actors who nominate their peers for the Oscars overwhelmingly being SAG members, there's always going to be a natural link, and certainly by the time the guild award their prizes, it's a good time to make a bet. In the last few years, they've only missed Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Marion Cotillard in "La Vie En Rose" and Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine" as winners, while the nominees tend to match up heavily -- last year, seventeen out of twenty in the acting categories were the same, while all five nominees in the Outstanding Cast category won Oscar nominations.

NYFF ‘11 Review: A Slight & Superficial 'My Week With Marilyn' Often Resembles A Lifetime Movie

By The Playlist
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October 9, 2011 8:01 AM
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7 Comments

Marked by an admirable, but certainly not spectacular performance by Michelle Williams -- in a role she's arguably not very suited for -- some wonderful costuming, set design and locations, and a stand-out supporting turn by Judi Dench, there aren't many other favorable things to say about "My Week With Marilyn," a slight drama with a reputable cast, that still feels through and through like a superficial Lifetime made for TV-movie.

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First Look At Kenneth Branagh As Laurence Olivier In 'My Week With Marilyn'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 1, 2011 2:07 AM
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3 Comments

From directing "Thor," to starring, adapting and helming various Shakespeare works to playing troubled cop Kurt Wallander, Kenneth Branagh has pretty much done it all, but surely even he must have been slightly intimidated stepping into the shoes of the legendary Laurence Olivier in the upcoming "My Week With Marilyn." Empire has the first look at the actor playing the iconic thesp and he's certainly nailed down the imposing gravitas Olivier carried with him.

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Kenneth Branagh To Direct Adaptation Of 'The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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August 4, 2011 10:56 AM
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4 Comments

Yeah, They're Gonna Have To Change That TitleWith Kenneth Branagh delivering a hammer-sized hit with "Thor" this spring, it appears he's proved whatever he needed to with the comic franchise, turning down the chance to work on "Thor 2." He's spent the last little while attaching himself to a variety of potential projects including an adaptation of Henning Mankell's "Italian Shoes" in addition to a film about the 1936 U.S. Olympic crew team. Well, he's adding one more to his plate, and no, it has nothing to do with Shakespeare.

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Five Directors Who Could Replace Kenneth Branagh On 'Thor 2'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 30, 2011 11:52 AM
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7 Comments

So, Marvel are done with Kenneth Branagh, or possibly Kenneth Branagh is done with Marvel: if you missed it earlier, "Thor 2" has been officially announced for a July 26, 2013 release date, with star Chris Hemsworth returning (which people seem to think is news: like all the superhero leads, the Australian actor signed an expansive multi-film contract that makes him Marvel's bitch for the next decade or so), but Branagh not sitting in the director's chair, although he may stay on a producing role of some kind.

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'Thor 2' Will Drop Its Hammer On July 26, 2013; Chris Hemsworth Is Back, Kenneth Branagh Is Not

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 30, 2011 9:09 AM
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9 Comments

Say what you will about "Thor" -- and we definitely had a lot to say about the uneven movie -- but audiences seemed to love it. In fact, it's one of the only movies this summer season to come in first at the box office two weeks in a row, which in this age of big weekends followed by quick drop-offs, is quite a feat. Well, with the movie now tallying up over $430 million in ticket sales, a sequel is confirmed to be on the way.

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