Kenneth Branagh: New normal won’t be abnormal

By Sugandha Rawal

New Delhi, July 10 The whole world is trying to adapt to the new realities in the post Covid-19 era, and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kenneth Branagh feels that the new normal will not be as “abnormal as people fear”.

As cinemas remain closed in several places around the world, the pandemic is changing the way people consume talent, with OTT emerging the big winner.

“It’s significantly changing it right now,” Branagh said while talking about the future of the movie industry after the pandemic.

“(The truth is ) your guess is as good as mine. When the ban is lifted, will you rush back to see a movie in a theatre? Or has your life made you think ‘I rather like home entertainment’. I personally want to get back to the movies. But I don’t know how widespread that will be. If there is risk involved, of course, people will be cautious and if that happens, it will change things. But I believe that the new normal won’t be as abnormal as people fear,” he explained.

Branagh’s own film “Artemis Fowl”, which was planned for a theatrical release, went the digital route due to the disruptions caused by the virus crisis. The movie was released in India on June 12 on Disney+ Hotstar.

“It just became inevitable for this film… From my beginnings with the movie, which was to read the book in the company of my nephews who said you got to make this film, this is before anybody talked to me about it from Disney, to all the way to now those same nephews saying ‘when can we see it?’… When they heard it was going on Disney Plus, they were very excited. So I’m glad that a movie went to family audiences in these circumstances with its energy, its velocity and its sense of adventure,” he added.

Branagh is credited for translating several works of literature into cinematic gems — from Shakespearean classics to superhero comic books to Agatha Christie whodunit to fantasy stories. His filmography is filled with critically-acclaimed projects, including “Henry V”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Othello” and “Hamlet”, “Murder On The Orient Express”, “Thor” and “Cinderella”.

Talking about his evolution, he said: “Evolution for me is to try and be quicker to find what is the essential point of something and trying to reduce that to its essence and make it as tight, short and rich as possible. So, it’s, I guess, heading towards a simpler approach to storytelling that doesn’t mean that it cannot be complex. But your entry point is something very direct, simple, honest and universal.”