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Tag: kenneth branagh

  • Gal Gadot & Armie Hammer join a star-studded cast in the ‘Death on the Nile’ trailer

    Gal Gadot & Armie Hammer join a star-studded cast in the ‘Death on the Nile’ trailer

    This fall, Kenneth Branagh returns as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in the latest adaptation of Agatha Christie’s iconic mystery ‘Death on the Nile.’ And in case you were wondering, yes, Branagh has also returned to direct this film after havign directed 2017’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express.’

    And like Branagh’s first outing as Poirot, this new film has no shortage of stars in various roles, including Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, and Letitia Wright, just to name a few.

    Here’s the official synopsis:

    Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this tale of unbridled passion and incapacitating jealousy features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers, and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement. “Death on the Nile” reunites the filmmaking team behind 2017’s global hit “Murder on the Orient Express,” and stars five-time Academy Award® nominee Kenneth Branagh as the iconic detective Hercule Poirot. He is joined by an all-star cast of suspects, including: Tom Bateman, four-time Oscar® nominee Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright.

    ‘Death on the Nile’ will open in theaters on October 23.

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  • Annette Bening in Talks for ‘Death On the Nile’

    Annette Bening in Talks for ‘Death On the Nile’

    Marvel

    Annette Bening, last seen as Carol Danvers’s mentor in “Captain Marvel,” is in talks to join the mystery ensemble film “Death on the Nile.”

    Kenneth Branagh will reprise his role from “”Murder on the Orient Express” as Agatha Christie’s mustachioed detective Hercule Poirot. He will also take the director’s chair again. Michael Green is returning to adapt the screenplay, which is based on the 1937 novel by Christie.

    The cast so far includes Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Tom Bateman, and Letitia Wright.

    Bening could be up for the role of socialite Mrs. Van Schuyler (played in the 1978 film by Bette Davis) or the far more entertaining role of erotica novelist Mrs. Salome Otterbourne, portrayed by Angela Lansbury in 1978.

    [Via Deadline]

  • Gal Gadot In Talks To Star in ‘Death On the Nile’

    Gal Gadot In Talks To Star in ‘Death On the Nile’

    Warner Bros.

    “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot is in talks to join Kenneth Branagh in the Agatha Christie-penned mystery “Death on the Nile.”

    Branagh will be reprising his role of master detective Hercule Poirot from last year’s hit “Murder on the Orient Express.” He’ll also be in the director’s chair once again.

    If Gadot signs on the dotted line, she’ll be playing Linnet Doyle, who is newly married to a former friend’s ex-fiancée, according to THR. That love triangle is the center of the Christie novel, which was first published in 1937.

    The character was played by Bond girl Lois Chiles in the 1978 film, in which Peter Ustinov played Poirot.

    Per THR, Michael Green, who adapted the screenplay for “Orient Express,” is writing the script.

    An equally star-studded cast will likely be announced soon for the film, which already has a release date: November 25, 2019.

    [Via THR]

  • Emma Thompson Reveals Real Heartbreak Inspired ‘Love Actually’ Crying Scene

    Broken heart, actually. Emma Thompson has opened up about the real-life heartbreak that fueled her devastating crying scene in 2003’s “Love Actually.”

    “That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through,” she told The Telegraph.

    Thompson was referring to infidelity, which she experienced with ex-husband Kenneth Branagh, who cheated on her with Helena Bonham Carter in 1994.

    In the movie, Emma Thompson’s character, Karen, discovers her husband (the late Alan Rickman) was cheating on her. After opening her own Christmas present, she realizes that a necklace she found in his coat is meant for another woman. So, she leaves the room and quietly sobs while listening to Joni Mitchell.

    “I had my heart very badly broken by Ken,” Thompson said. “So I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well, it wasn’t exactly that, but we’ve all been through it.”

    Thompson and Branagh first met while making the 1987 BBC drama “Fortunes of War” and got married two years later. They starred together movies including “Dead Again” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” Then, Branagh began an affair with Bonham Carter on the set of “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” They were together for five years.

    Now, Thompson has been married to Greg Wise, who she met on “Sense and Sensibility,” for 15 years and has two children. Branagh married art director Lindsay Brunnock in 2003 as well. Bonham Carter had a longterm relationship with director Tim Burton, with whom she has two children.

    “That is… all blood under the bridge,” Thompson said of holding a grudge against “the other woman.”

    “You can’t hold on to anything like that. It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it … Helena and I made our peace years and years ago … She’s a wonderful woman.”

  • Kenneth Branagh on Motormouth Josh Gad: ‘He Cannot Stop Talking. It’s a Disease’

    Another word out of Josh Gad and there might have been two murders to solve on the Orient Express.

    “Josh Gad cannot stop talking,” laughs Kenneth Branagh, star and director of “Murder on the Orient Express.” “It’s a sickness with him. It’s a disease. He’s incorrigible. He’s garrulous — which is very enjoyable for all of us listening to him being funny.”

    Gad joined a star-studded cast that crammed into a claustrophobic replica of the legendary train for this updated film version of Agatha Christie’s classic who-dunnit.

    Squeezing some of the biggest names in Hollywood, from Johnny Depp to Penelope Cruz to Daisy Ridley, into that set for 12 hours of shooting day was one of the challenges for Branagh.

    “The corridors are narrow. It’s a confined space. But that’s what makes for the drama,” he tells Made in Hollywood reporter Kylie Erica Mar. “The actors themselves, I think, loved being in the same scene together. … For me it was a thrill — a little nerve-wracking in advance, but it was a thrill to do.”

    The other challenge: acting with one of the most elaborate mustaches in movie history, a critical character detail for Branagh’s master sleuth Hercule Poirot straight out of Christie’s pages.

    “I spent months in advance getting that mustache right, that massive piece of face furniture,” he says.

    Which begs the question: Was it real?

    “I can’t tell you,” he says. “I’d have to kill you.”

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  • First Look at Johnny Depp and Star-Studded Cast in ‘Murder on the Orient Express’

    People's Choice Awards 2017 - ShowAll aboard, A-listers … and welcome to “Murder on the Orient Express.”

    Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars are teaming up for director Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous mystery. Johnny Depp, Dame Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, and Michelle Pfeiffer are just a few of the big names in the cast. And Entertainment Weekly has a first look at the star-studded movie, which hits theaters Nov. 10.

    Murder on the Orient Express

    The movie takes place on the titular train, where a passenger is murdered. Branagh’s mustachioed detective Hercule Poirot investigates the complicated case, which involves a lot of intrigue, hidden identities, and conflicting evidence.

    Depp plays Ratchett, the man who is murdered and turns out to have a lot of secrets in his past:

    Traveling with Ratchett are his secretary, Hector MacQueen (Josh Gad), and valet Edward Masterman (Derek Jacobi):

    Josh Gad, left, and Johnny Depp star in Twentieth Century Fox’s “Murder on the Orient Express.” 2017 Twentieth Century Fox FIlm Corp.Pfeiffer is the mysterious Caroline Hubbard:

    Cruz plays Pilar Estravados, a version of the character Greta from the book:

    Dench and Olivia Colman (“Broadchurch,” “Night Manager”) are Princess Dragomiroff and Hildegarde Schmidt, respectively:

    Here are Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Biniamino Marquez, Daisy Ridley as Mary Debenham, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Doctor Arbuthnot:

    And Sergei Polunin plays Count Andrenyi:

  • The Full ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ Cast Includes Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, More (UPDATE)

    "Alice Through The Looking Glass" - European Film Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals
    UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. Only hours after news first broke that Johnny Depp was rumored to be attached to the upcoming adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel “Murder on the Orient Express,” the full cast has been revealed.

    The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop that Depp will indeed be joining the ensemble, as will a bunch of other huge names, among them Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, and Michael Pena. Other stars attached include Kenneth Branagh (who’s also directing the feature), “Hamilton”‘s Leslie Odom Jr., Tom Bateman, Lucy Boynton, and Derek Jacobi.

    Here’s the casting breakdown so far, per THR:

    • Kenneth Branagh as detective Hercule Poirot
    • Johnny Depp as Ratchett, the man who is murdered
    • Leslie Odom Jr. as Doctor Arbuthnot
    • Tom Bateman as French passenger Bouc
    • Michelle Pfeiffer as the glamorous and secretive Mrs. Hubbard
    • Daisy Ridley as the working class Mary Debenham, who’s in love with Arbuthnot
    • Judi Dench as Princess Dragomiroff, a Russian royal
    • Michael Pena as Cuban passenger Marquez

    The flick is due in theaters in November 2017. Our original report about the flick’s casting rumors (which most recently included Charlize Theron, who’s nowhere to be found on the official cast list) is below.

    ORIGINAL REPORT:

    The upcoming remake of Agatha Christie classic “Murder on the Orient Express” may have just landed an A-list star: Johnny Depp is reportedly in talks to join the cast.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Depp is currently in negotiations with producers to take an undisclosed role in what’s shaping up to be an all-star cast. Kenneth Branagh is directing and starring in the film (playing Christie’s iconic detective Hercule Poirot), and THR reports that “Hamilton” Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. is also attached to the project. Recent reports indicated that Charlize Theron was also coming aboard, after Angelina Jolie bowed out, though that casting has yet to be made official.

    A famous 1974 adaptation of Christie’s work featured a murderer’s row of Hollywood talent, including Ingrid Bergman (who won an Oscar for her role), Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, Colin Blakely, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Michael York. Based on the big names attached to this version so far, it seems Branagh and co. are hoping to assemble a similarly-starry ensemble this time around. Stay tuned to see who else fills out the already-impressive cast.

    “Murder on the Orient Express” is slated to pull into theaters on November 22, 2017.

    [via: The Hollywood Reporter]

    Photo credit: Getty Images