Conversant with classics

Kenneth Branagh might be better known for his portrayal of Shakespeare’s greats, from Henry V to Richard III to Hamlet. Yet, that hasn’t stopped the 41-year-old thespian from dabbling in a modern classic, forgoing angst -- and dignity -- for a chance to portray J.K. Rowling’s foppish foil, Gilderoy Lockhart, the Hogwarts School’s defense against the dark arts teacher in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

Were you familiar with the series before you signed on to play Lockhart?

My sister introduced me to them. I suppose I had slightly resisted them. I would have been one of those people, possibly, who waited, as they did in Britain, until Bloomsbury brought out new editions of the books that had rather more adult covers. A lot of people were sort of embarrassed being seen on Underground trains reading children’s books. Nonetheless, my sister brought me a copy of the children’s versions. I enjoyed them enormously.

How did you prepare for the role? I did go and read all the books around Harry Potter: things about the creatures described in the book and where they come from. All of them are amalgams of mythological creatures that can be researched. There are now junior theses on the meaning of various characters, plots, thematic ideas in her books. I also read a couple of Restoration plays, actually, because the figure of the fop in Restoration drama is a classic type.

Gilderoy Lockhart is famous for writing his autobiography, and when you were only 28, you wrote yours. Could you relate?

I’d like to think my book was not quite as full of itself as Gilderoy Lockhart’s. [Laughs.] I’d also like to think what I wrote in the book was true. Gilderoy’s great gift is for collaboration. Of course, he’s a great fraud, a charlatan. But I think J.K. Rowling seemed to enjoy this amazing capacity with Lockhart to believe anything he says about himself at the moment he says it. This is a man without any capacity for guilt and an absolutely unashamed, ruthless pursuit of self-publicity at any cost, with the natural ruthlessness of the natural coward as well. I’d very much like to think that wasn’t part of my book.

How does it feel to be a cultural icon to children?

It is very strange to have your name called out by 10-year-olds. I find kids will come up and ask me what I’m wearing and if their favorite bit is in the film. “Why do I think he’s so stupid, Gilderoy Lockhart?” Questions I can’t answer. I say, “Well, he doesn’t think he’s stupid, and that’s what makes him funny.”

This is a change of pace from the parts you’ve played recently.

In the last couple of years I’ve played Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer [in TV’s “Shackleton”] who’s a kind of a geezer, and Heydrich [a trusted Hitler aide, in “Conspiracy”], who was this extraordinary monster. I feel as if I’ve been doing comedy for a long time. I remember when I left drama school, there were a couple of opportunities to do situation comedy series, to be daft characters in

-- Rachel Abramowitz