KENNETH BRANAGH: Regarding ‘Henry’

Kenneth Branagh has been referred to as the next Laurence Olivier or the new Orson Welles.

But the 31-year-old actor-director-writer-producer has a talent, style and vision uniquely his own. They were all evident in Branagh’s 1989 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” for which he received Oscar nominations for best actor and best director. Forty-five years earlier, Olivier made his directorial debut and received an Oscar nomination for best actor for his adaptation of “Henry V.”

PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre” is presenting Branagh’s “Henry” Sunday night.

Born in Belfast, Ireland, Branagh moved with his family to England when he was 9. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his West End debut in London in Julian Mitchell’s “Another Country.” He subsequently starred in such movies as “High Season” and a “A Month in the Country,” and on television in Eugene O’Neill’s “Strange Interlude” and “Fortunes of War.”

Before he was 30, Branagh formed his Renaissance Theatre Company, wrote his autobiography and made “Henry V.” Last year, he scored a hit at the box office with the film noir ‘ ‘Dead Again,” in which he reteamed with his wife and “Henry V” co-star, Emma Thompson.

Branagh talked to Times Staff Writer Susan King about “Henry” and his future plans in a phone interview from his London office.

Were you surprised at how well “Henry V” was received in America?

Sure. I was astonished there was that degree of receptivity to something like that. I think what finally you can’t be surprised by is the thrill people have for (Shakespeare), who has such a gift with storytelling. He writes very good stories. All the popular plays are interesting stories where you want to know what happens next. He has managed to combine humor and passion and emotion very powerfully.

You cannot be surprised that someone who has proved to be a genius in communicating complex ideas in a popular and entertaining way should be successful again. The success of the film, I feel, without being coy here, is entirely Shakespeare’s. What we managed to do is to blow away some of the cobwebs or take away some of the things that get in the way of people having an experience which is as entertaining now as it was 400 years ago.

Why is Shakespeare so often boringly presented in the theater and on film?

People get intimidated. They think they are making a classic instead of making a movie. I think at all times on “Henry,” we were aware we were making a movie, a film that needed to live alongside other films. We were not creating a cultural religious experience.

Were you worried about the comparisons between your “Henry” and Olivier’s?

In a strange way (Olivier’s “Henry”) was a releasing thing because, in a sense, you thought the last thing we must do is attempt to be reverent and sort of stiff and solemn and do it like that particular masterpiece. In a sense, it released us to be as bold as possible, because people could always look at that other very fine version, proven to be excellent and different. It was, in some ways, very helpful to have that (version) because I felt there was nothing to lose by being as bold as I thought we needed to be.

“Henry V” is just one of three feature films to appear on “Masterpiece Theatre.” Did you approach “Masterpiece Theatre” about presenting “Henry”?

It was really nothing to do with me. I am pleased about it. “Masterpiece Theatre” has done a great deal for England and English actors. I am always astonished at how loyal an audience PBS and that particular program has in America.

It is very exciting that a work has more life and is available to more people because, although it did such good business theatrically and on video, I found when the film was shown here on television on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) last year, there were so many more people who saw it. It was thrilling. One got a whole new bunch of letters. Boxing Night was a good night to watch it because everyone had overdosed on food and on reruns of “The Wizard of Oz” and “King Solomon’s Mines,” which is our staple Christmas fare.

Can you talk a little about the two films you are making now?

I am going to be in a Disney movie called “Swing Kids,” which is an interesting story about a group of young folk at the beginning of the second World War in Hamburg.

My major project is a picture called “Peter’s Friends,” which is a film I am directing and acting in. It is about a group of friends who were at university together and meet up some 10 years later. It aspires to the world of Woody Allen, if you like. It is a celebration of friendship. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, hopefully , if it works.

I feel interested in making an intimate film like this that is concentrating heavily on the actors and the acting. The other two pictures I made (“Henry V” and “Dead Again”) were script-based.

You seem to work nonstop. Do you find time to just relax?

I had three or four months at the end of last year off. I just loved it. I like to eat, drink and be merry and I could have easily stopped (working) now.

I don’t want to sound too incredibly prissy, but I feel very privileged to be both healthy and in work. It seems it is a special time to keep working away within reason and be responsible for these opportunities.

“Masterpiece Theatre” airs “Henry V” Sunday at 8 p.m on KVCR and at 9 p.m. on KCET and KPBS, and Tuesday at 8 p.m. on KOCE.