Kenneth Branagh on Mister Laurence Olivier in 'My Week With Marilyn': 'He Was Impatient'

While awaiting actor Kenneth Branagh to call me last Saturday, I happened upon 'Harry Potter and also the Chamber of Secrets.' Particularly, the scene where Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (performed by Branagh), flies to safety with Harry, Ron and Ginny Lockhart screams, "Amazing! Case like miracle!" When I viewed, it had been tough to imagine Branagh tugging off the kinds of jobs he's been on his career -- a wizard, a prince, a Confederate researcher, a director around the blockbuster super hero epic, 'Thor' -- without the assistance of some Hogwarts charm. In Branagh's approaching movie, 'My Week with Marilyn' (in line with the books by Colin Clark), the actor once more showcases his flexibility by playing Mister Laurence Olivier. Whenever you consider the kind of career Olivier had, this really is very difficult task -- particularly since the Mister Laurence in 'My Week' isn't the one audiences are most likely acquainted with. Here, he's frazzled and bitter, because he tries to direct and star alongside Marilyn Monroe (performed by Michelle Williams, already garnering Oscar buzz) in 'The Prince and also the Showgirl.' Situations are complicated from the beginning, as Olivier will get frustrated using the sex symbol's tardiness and acting style. It's funny, right before you known as I had been funnel surfing and located 'Chamber of Secrets' using TV Really? Oh ... sigh. The correct answer is striking really if you notice the first films the thing is the way the central three have transformed, they are like babies within the first couple of. Moving to 'My Week With Marilyn,' where would you start to research a person with as storied work as Laurence Olivier? The good thing is you have lots of material. I began with things that I had not really checked out before, that have been his autobiography, 'Confessions of the Actor,' after which another book he authored known as, 'On Acting.' After which, using the great benefits from the Internet and YouTube, I could haunter the internet archives and discover plenty of interview material with him where he spoke directly concerning the Marilyn experience [on 'The Prince and also the Showgirl'], where he was very honest about this. He was an actress who continued record as saying he loved to experience roles beginning in the outdoors in. He was always searching for the appearance -- your hair, the walk, the mitts -- he's a superbly handsome fella, and that he were built with a great square jaw... and that i stated, "Well, listen, within this a part of his existence he does not possess a beard, he does not have hair on your face -- I do not cash to cover behind that helped me to kind of transform, so are we able to obtain a prosthetic face piece that will produce that square jaw?" Also, there's lots of audio stuff he'd do -- short tales around the radio. And things i had not known about before is he did a whole reading through from the bible, a dramatic reading through from the Bible. After I found be shooting 'My Week,' previously take a few hrs per morning to really obtain the prosthetic in and start the entire process of the makeup. And So I took in to Laurence Olivier reading through the Bible every day. So, I not just reached play Laurence Olivier, I grew to become a lot more religious along the way. I'm surprised to listen to that you simply used an imitation face for that role. I wouldn't have suspected that whenever watching the film. It is good watching another side of Olivier in 'My Week' -- he's clearly frustrated. Well, the face piece certainly assisted [around the look]. Olivier had an imperious quality to him. He was adopted to playing an innovator, he was adopted to playing nobleman, he was adopted to being the boss ... You will find pictures of him where he appears stern and perhaps authoritarian -- everything that Marilyn might have been afraid of. As described within the film, while shooting 'Prince,' there just appeared to become this impending disaster that his career is visiting a detailed -- compounded because filming the film was driving him mad. He talks very honestly about this, when it comes to what he wished for from dealing with Marilyn -- she might make him awesome again. He felt he was incredibly well-respected and revered, but he was being a dinosaur, he was in some way museum-like, and also the mark of his work had been to become harmful ... And So I think he opposed being an excessive amount of "Mister Laurence." It is simply interesting because after 'The Prince and also the Showgirl' he ongoing to possess this type of distinguished career. He was impatient, I believe, and that he seemed to be confused by why [Marilyn] did not be seduced by him. He wished that in some way, otherwise literally, but possibly literally, he would seduce her and they'd have the ability to talk and that he would produce the truly amazing performance and she'd win an Oscar or something like that and it might be a married relationship produced in paradise, appropriately. However it just wasn't that. He did not direct another movie for pretty much two decades, and that he stated Marilyn was the main reason -- it put him off. And that he loved pointing movies. However I think he felt their own performance experienced consequently from the situation within this movie, i think for some time he was quite perplexed just how good she being despite him, because he kind of comically states. What exactly are your ideas on Marilyn Monroe's affect on contemporary society? How can you see her legacy playing by helping cover their more youthful decades? I believe this is an interesting question. I believe this film might be a fascinating one whether or not this transmits people to some of her work and whether you will see an increase in rental fees for such things as 'Some Enjoy it Hot' or 'Gentlemen Prefer Blonds' ... I believe for most people, she's a remarkably vivid face, an legendary face that's always a part of movie montages. It is a type of legacy of movie images. However the actual work continues to be ignored. Returning to Laurence, I just read that Anthony Hopkins urged you to definitely take part in the role... We certainly spoken about this a great deal. Hopkins' acting emergence had been an understudy to Laurence Olivier in the National Theater in England within the sixties, and that he would be a great favorite of Mister Laurence's. Hopkins just explained a great deal by what Olivier was like throughout anyone day, such a great leader he was, such a sharp spontaneity he'd, how camping he or she is sometimes. Simply to be, kind of amusing [and] gossipy, very generous together with his stars, greatly of the type of an all natural leader. This may be a totally coincidental however i was interested in the choice to cast Anthony Hopkins as Odin in 'Thor,' since Hopkins was an understudy to Olivier, who wound up playing an identical god, Zeus, in 'Clash from the Leaders.' I believe what individuals men are evident is if you have been within the National Theater and you've performed the classics, and you've spent considerable time with large robes on and large bits of armor, and playing either God or even the commander or even the general, each of them had huge encounters of this. But it is a pleasant touch to consider that the pair of them, at various points, [were] ruling the world. [Photo: The Weinstein Company] 'My Week With Marilyn' Photos Michelle Williams as Marilyn MonroeEddie Redmayne as Colin ClarkKenneth Branagh as Mister Laurence OlivierEmma Watson and Eddie Redmayne as Lucy and Colin Clark See All Moviefone Art galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook