Every Kenneth Branagh Directed Movie, Ranked!
From 'Artemis Fowl' to 'Sleuth,' Moviefone counts down every film Kenneth Branagh has ever directed.
(L to R) Director Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot and crew on the set of 20th Century Studios' 'A Haunting In Venice.' Photo by Rob Youngson. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Kenneth Branagh is an Oscar-winning Writer, director, producer, and actor.
The filmmaker first made a name for himself in the 80's and 90's for his big screen adaptions of William Shakespeare plays like 'Hamlet,' which he also starred in.
As a director Branagh is also well-known for adapting other literary masterpieces to the big screen such as 'A Haunting in Venice,' which opens in theaters on September 15th.
He's also appeared in many beloved films as an actor that he did not direct like 'Oppenheimer.'
After several Academy Award nominations over the course of his career, Branagh finally won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his very personal 2021 film 'Belfast.'
In honor of 'A Haunting in Venice's release, Moviefone is counting down every movie Kenneth Branagh has ever directed.
Let's begin!
20. 'Artemis Fowl' (2020)
Ferdia Shaw in 'Artemis Fowl.' Photo: Nicola Dove / Disney.
Artemis Fowl (Colin Farrell) disappearance.
19. 'In the Bleak Midwinter' (1996)
Out of work actor Joe (Joan Collins). As the cast he assembles are still available even at Christmas and are prepared to do it on a 'profit sharing' basis (that is, they may not get paid anything) he cannot expect - and does not get - the cream of the cream. But although they all bring their own problems and foibles along, something bigger starts to emerge in the perhaps aptly named village of Hope.
In the Bleak Midwinter
18. 'The Magic Flute' (2006)
During World War I, in an unnamed country, a soldier named Tamino (René Pape). But all is not as it seems.
17. 'All Is True' (2019)
London, June 29th, 1613. The Globe Theater, ran by the famous playwright William Shakespeare (Branagh), accidentally burns to ashes. Seriously affected, he stops writing and returns to his hometown, where his wife Anne (Lydia Wilson) get surprised to hear he intends to stay there definitively, after two decades working in the capital, neglecting his sincere affections for them.
16. 'Peter's Friends' (1992)
After inheriting a large country estate from his late father, Peter (Tony Slattery), also attends. It has been 10 years since college, and they find their lives are very different.
15. 'A Haunting in Venice' (2023)
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in 20th Century Studios' 'A Haunting in Venice.' Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot (Branagh), now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, reluctantly attends a Halloween séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.
A Haunting in Venice
14. 'Love's Labour's Lost' (2000)
The King of Navarre (Alicia Silverstone) and her three lovely companions. It's love at first sight for all concerned followed by the men's hopeless efforts to disguise their feelings.
13. 'Death on the Nile' (2022)
Based on the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie, 'Death on the Nile' is a daring mystery-thriller about the emotional chaos and deadly consequences triggered by obsessive love. Branagh is back as the iconic detective Hercule Poirot, and is ed by Letitia Wright.
12. 'As You Like It' (2007)
Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind (David Oyelowo) celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.
11. 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein' (1994)
Based on Mary Shelley's novel, "Frankenstein" tells the story of Victor Frankenstein (Branagh), a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster (Robert De Niro), which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It's not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions.
10. 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' (2014)
Chris Pine plays the young Jack Ryan, cruising the downtown streets of Manhattan for 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,' from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: David Lee.
Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.
9. 'Much Ado About Nothing' (1993)
In this Shakespearean farce, Hero (Keanu Reeves) plots to ruin the wedding.
Much Ado About Nothing
8. 'Sleuth' (2007)
On his sprawling country estate, an aging writer (Jude Law) who has stolen his wife's heart.
7. 'Cinderella' (2015)
When her father unexpectedly es away, young Ella (Richard Madden) in the woods.
6. 'Hamlet' (1996)
Hamlet (Branagh), Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father (Derek Jacobi). Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Hamlet
5. 'Thor' (2011)
Chris Hemsworth in 'Thor.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Against his father Odin's (Chris Hemsworth) - a powerful but arrogant warrior god - recklessly reignites an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
4. 'Dead Again' (1991)
In 1949 composer Roman Strauss (Branagh) is executed for the vicious murder of his wife Margaret (Emma Thompson) with a pair of scissors. In 1990s Los Angeles a mute amnesiac woman (also Thompson) shows up at an orphanage and private eye Mike Church (also Branagh) is called in to investigate. Under hypnosis both the woman and Church seem to have a strange link back to the Strauss murder.
3. 'Murder on the Orient Express' (2017)
Genius Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) investigates the murder of an American tycoon (Johnny Depp) aboard the Orient Express train.
Murder on the Orient Express
2. 'Henry V' (1989)
Gritty adaption of William Shakespeare's play about the English King's (Branagh) bloody conquest of .
Henry V
1. 'Belfast' (2021)
(L to R) Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Jude Hill, and Lewis McAskie in 'Belfast,' directed by Kenneth Branagh
Written and directed by Branagh, 'Belfast' is a poignant story of love, laughter and loss in one boy’s (Jude Hill) childhood, amid the music and social tumult of the late 1960s.
Belfast
