Laughter on the Orient Express: Judi Dench tells BAZ BAMIGBOYE why she's working with Kenneth Branagh on film adaptation of Agatha Christie classic

Daily Mail
BAZ BAMIGBOYE
Updated October 20, 2017

Judi Dench would like her future contracts to include a clause stipulating that she will refuse to work with grumpy co-stars.

'I don't want to work with anyone who hasn't got a sense of humour,' she insisted, with a hint of merriment behind those blue eyes.

'It's essential! I simply am not interested in working with them if they're miserable by nature.

'It's like the froth on the top of Guinness. You have to have the froth, and then you get to the real thing.

You discover people through larks,' the actress told me, while explaining why she has worked with Kenneth Branagh ten times over the years.

'I always get into trouble with Ken — and I like that!'

The two pillars of the British acting establishment are together again in the Fox 70mm extravaganza of Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express.

Branagh directs, and also plays the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot; while Judi plays the imperious Princess Dragomiroff.

In the film, the Princess arrives with her personal maid (played by Olivia Colman) and two Shih Tzus.

'She's horrible to Olivia. She's a very autocratic princess. So bossy. And Russian. She's just rude; and you wouldn't want to work for her,' Judi said when we met in Soho.

We had the most glorious time,' she said, of her time on set with co-stars Johnny Depp, Derek Jacobi, Penelope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Pfeiffer and dancer Sergei Polunin, as well as newcomers Lucy Boynton and Tom Bateman.

'Not only that: he stayed in the hotel I use when I am up in London. He's ruined my reputation!'One reason why everyone got on so well, she told me, was because filming took place in the interior of a luxury train. 'You had to be part of the company, because nobody could get off!'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4998840/Judi-Dench-s-working-Kenneth-Branagh-AGAIN.html#ixzz4w9rLucCq
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Depp, Dench and Kenneth Branagh: Behind the scenes of the star-studded Murder on the Orient Express

Telegraph
 Sally Williams
19 OCTOBER 2017 • 7:00AM

Agatha Christie ‘had always been allergic’ to cinema adaptations of her books, her husband Max Mallowan was quoted as saying. ‘She didn’t like her characters to be portrayed on book covers either,’ says James Prichard, her great-grandson.

Christie, who wrote 66 detective novels between 1920 and 1976, translated into around 45 languages, is the most widely read novelist in history, with sales of more than two billion copies worldwide.

There have been 23 film adaptations of her books in the UK alone, not to mention the multiple TV series. And now we have Murder on the Orient Express. Directed by Kenneth Branagh (who also plays Belgian detective Hercule Poirot), it features a parade of towering greats from stage and screen including Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi.

The 2017 version, co-produced by Ridley Scott, with a screenplay by Michael Green (the writer of Blade Runner 2049 and Alien: Covenant)  sets up the classic whodunnit with 14 strangers boarding the long-distance  passenger train that connects Istanbul with Paris.

These include Caroline Hubbard, an American widow (Michelle Pfeiffer), the Russian Princess Dragomiroff (Judi Dench) and her maid, Hildegarde Schmidt (Olivia Colman).

A businessman named Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is murdered at night in the compartment next to Poirot. The train gets marooned in an avalanche (a snowdrift in the book) and the plot follows Poirot’s interrogation of each of the passengers in the hunt for the killer.

The appeal of the film is clear: stars are not being asked to play anything run-of-the-mill. They are showcased in sumptuous 1930s glamour, dressing for dinner (even on a train), and the cooks produce delicious  fancies such as walnut soufflés.

‘I liked the sense that I could let the audience escape into that world,’ says Branagh, ‘where the details of what the characters are touching, seeing, eating, drinking, wearing are a significant part of the pleasure.

‘We live in a world where everything is so transient and quick, it  seemed to me a period in which, from a piece of linen to a glass of water to an arrangement of flowers, there could be a way of evoking a parenthesis of calm in an incredibly rushed life.’

An ‘avid reader of crime fiction’, he last read the book years ago, but admits to being surprised when he reread it. ‘I’d forgotten how it worked out! ‘I liked the ensemble [nature] of it,’ he continues, ‘I like it being enclosed in snow, the claustrophobia. And it’s a tale that sums up the golden age of travel: a world in which you feel the miles under your feet.

Read more here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/10/19/depp-dench-kenneth-branagh-behind-scenes-star-studded-murder/

Behind the scenes with Kenneth Branagh (and a cast to die for) on a blockbusting remake of the Agatha Christie classic Murder on the Orient Express

Mail OnLine
By Clark Collis
PUBLISHED: 17:05 EDT, 14 October 2017 | UPDATED: 17:05 EDT, 14 October 2017

ALL ABOARD! AND WE MEAN ALL ABOARD! A GOODLY portion of planet Earth's most famous residents have gathered today at Longcross Studios outside London to shoot a scene set at Stamboul (now Istanbul) train station for director Sir Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (out Nov. 10).

Branagh, who also plays Christie's famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, is present and properly dressed in 1930s-era attire. So too are Star Wars heroine Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr., and British acting royalty Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi.

 There's more. In one corner of the soundstage, Josh Gad and Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) are discussing the Police Academy franchise; Penélope Cruz is gliding past the re-creation of a vintage train talking on her phone in Spanish; and Johnny Depp is ruminating to a reporter about the likelihood of his character's long brown coat being made out of leather. "I'm feeling like it's fake," he says—incorrectly, as the film's Oscar-winning costume designer, Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), will later attest. But the most eye-catching sight is not a person but a thing: the fake mustache sported by Branagh.

The item is so extravagantly outsize it almost seems more alien face-hugger than facial fuzz. "When I saw it I was like, Holy moly!" says Ridley. "But this is a larger-than-life story, so why not make the mustache larger, too?"

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Kenneth Branagh is starring in and directing the adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic tale "Murder on the Orient Express"

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
by Rebecca Ford

Kenneth Branagh's star-studded adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express pulled into Las Vegas with the first footage at CinemaCon Thursday.

Branagh directs and stars in the Fox film, which also features Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leslie Odom Jr., Daisy Ridley, Michael Pena and Judi Dench among the cast.

The story centers on a murder onboard the famous train and introduces Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh), who must solve the case while being surrounded by duplicitous passengers.

Branagh, sending in a video from Malta where he’s filming the project, said “we’ve assembled an amazing group” of his cast. “This is not only a who dunnit and how dunnit, it’s crucially a why dunnit,” he said

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/murder-orient-express-cinemacon-trailer-showcases-star-studded-cast-989954

David Suchet on going in search of St Peter – the man behind the scripture

RADIO TIMES
By E Jane Dickson
Thursday 2 April 2015 at 05:00PM



David Suchet is a devil for detail. Preparing for his defining role as Hercule Poirot, he built a personal dossier on his character – every mannerism from the detective’s mincing walk to his Belgian accent (a shade more guttural than standard French) was rooted in Agatha Christie’s original text. “As an actor I’m fascinated by what makes an individual tick.”

This week, as presenter of the two-part documentary In the Footsteps of St Peter, the master-researcher turns his profiling skills on the fisherman-apostle who, according to Christian tradition, established the Church of Rome.

On a journey from the quiet shores of Galilee to the gilded splendour of the Vatican, Suchet presents a portrait of St Peter that’s far removed from the usual iconography. We are accustomed to Peter the patriarch, a figure of authority jangling the keys of heaven, but the saint who emerges from Suchet’s research is a vital, impul- sive and conflicted personality.

“I’m not in search of a religion, I’m in search of a character,” says Suchet. “I’m looking at what motivated him. I’m not looking at Peter from a Westernised, sanitised point of view. I’m looking at a big, rugged, impetuous Jewish fisherman, a man full of doubts and failings, but also full of the desire to do the right thing. So I was hugely excited to go back to the Middle East, where it all began, to walk on that earth and smell the smells that Peter knew.”

And as with Poirot, it all comes back to the text. “Peter is the person Jesus talks to more than any other person in the New Testament. He’s also the only character in the Bible, apart from Jesus, who walks on water – and then he gets bad press because he sinks! And then of course he denies Christ, he pretends to the authorities that he has nothing to do with the friend he loves, and that’s just heartbreaking. But the letters Peter wrote – or more probably dictated because it’s likely he was illiterate – to people struggling with their faith are intensely moving. I think he’s terrific!”

Suchet’s engagement with Scripture is deeply personal. He converted to Christianity at the age of 40 in 1986, and last year completed a 80-hour audio recording of the entire Bible – “It’s one hell of a good read!” he says, slapping his knee for emphasis. But he’s not of an evangelising bent. In the Footsteps of St Peter is as much an argument for religious tolerance as it is an exploration of Christianity.

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-04-02/david-suchet-on-going-in-search-of-st-peter--the-man-behind-the-scripture

Michael Fassbender, Damian Lewis: Told you so... Poirot extras became stars in own right

THIS IS SOMERSET
 By Steve Grant
November 4, 2013



It's an act of deduction worthy of Hercule Poirot himself, but actor David Suchet believes he spotted the talents of some of Britain's most successful actors long before they became stars in their own right.
Suchet, who was educated at Wellington School, Somerset, told the Radio Times he had accurately predicted which of the drama's bit-part players would go on to become household names.

Among the 1,124 actors who appeared in the 13 series of Agatha Christie's Poirot were Joely Richardson, Damian Lewis and Michael Fassbender – all before they were well known.

"This is quite true," Suchet told Radio Times of his talent-spotting skills. "As regards everybody who has now become a big name – I have said at the time, 'Watch out for that one'. I've sensed it."




 He said he and the production team did not want the programme to be a "Spotlight gallery" – a reference to the actors' directory used by casting agents. However, the requirement for fresh faces to adopt looks of consternation when accused of a crime created a huge demand for new talent.

The cast included two men who went on to play the lead role in Doctor Who. Peter Capaldi, who makes his first appearance as the Doctor at Christmas, turned up in Wasps' Nest in 1991, 14 years before he became a household name as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It. Christopher Eccleston was a fascist thug in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe in 1992.

Richardson had one of her first television roles in Poirot in 1989 when she was 24. Four years later she starred in the BBC adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Lewis was a recent graduate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama when he played a young resident at a hostel beset by thievery in Hickory Dickory Dock in 1995. By 2001 he had taken the lead role in Band of Brothers and is currently playing the compromised war hero at the centre of Homeland.
Emily Blunt, meanwhile, fared considerably better than her character in Death on the Nile in 2004. Linnet Ridgeway, an American heiress, was found with a bullet hole in her head. Blunt herself went on to take leading roles in My Summer of Love and The Devil Wears Prada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4K57BiMF0

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Told-Poirot-extras-stars-right/story-20028298-detail/story.html#axzz2ji2SJdE1

DAVID SUCHET RECORDS ENTIRE BIBLE BETWEEN POIROT PERFORMANCES (EL DORADO SPRINGS)

Posted July 11, 2013 at 10:20 am


Actor reads all 752,702 words of holy book for a 78-hour audio version

A different use for the little grey cells … David Suchet in Jerusalem recording In the Footsteps of St Paul
David Suchet has spent the past 25 years playing Hercule Poirot in ITV’s adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective stories, breaking off only to star in carefully-chosen dramas, tours and theatre productions to keep him challenged. But in the past year, as he has recorded the final episodes of the 70-part Poirot series while also starring in Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the 67-year-old actor has pursued a passion project. He has spent 200 hours recording the entire Bible from Genesis to the Book of Revelation – 752,702 words, in his deep, melodic, unrushed voice. Publisher Hodder Stoughton says it is the first time a single British actor of stature has tackled it. The recording is now in the editing stages, for a 78-hour release next Easter.

The extent of Suchet’s commitment surfaced when In the Footsteps of St Paul, a two-part documentary he made for BBC1, won the premier prizes at the Sandford St Martin’s Trust religious programme awards in June . To accompany those Christmas programmes, for which Suchet toured the eastern Mediterranean, he recorded The Acts and Letters of St Paul, which were released without fanfare by Hodder. A further instalment of The Gospels followed at Easter. But the executive producer of the St Paul programmes, Ray Bruce, struck fertile ground when he suggested that Suchet record the entire Bible with him. The studio was just south of Tower Bridge, opposite Suchet’s home on the Thames. “He always arrived prepared, for three-hour sessions … And then he went on to perform on stage. It was the most remarkable thing I have ever done in 40 years,” said Bruce.

He is clear it was about “David Suchet’s personal journey”. The background is that St Paul is very close to the actor’s heart because he was converted to Christianity when reading a Bible in a hotel room in 1986. Suchet’s moment of epiphany came with St Paul’s epistle to the Romans, chapter eight, in which the evangelist lays out the Christian hope of salvation – ( “if God be for us, who can be against us?”). He was subsequently confirmed and has said : “I am a Christian by faith. I like to think it sees me through a great deal of my life.”


READ MORE HERE: http://eldoradospringsmo.com/pages/?p=17226

Sir Patrick Stewart - Patrick Stewart's Joy Over Mousetrap Performance 19 November 2012 (CONTACT MUSIC)

Sir Patrick Stewart only watched The Mousetrap on stage one day before he took part in a star-studded gala performance to mark the 60th anniversary of Agatha Christie's celebrated play on Sunday (18Nov12).

Hugh Bonneville and Julie Walters were also among the cast for the special show at St. Martin's Theatre in London in honour of the 25,000th performance of the play, which premiered on 6 October 1952.

However, Sir Patrick admits he had never seen the world's longest-running stage production before agreeing to take part in the celebration, which benefited the Mousetrap Theatre Projects, a charity dedicated to bringing the magic of theatre into the lives of young people.

He revealed, "I came to see it last night for the first time, and I thought 'How has this passed me by?'"

READ MORE: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/patrick-stewart-s-joy-over-mousetrap-performance_3380392

Hugh Bonneville, Patrick Stewart:Big names are usual suspects in Mousetrap (THE TIMES)

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap celebrated its 25,000th show last night with guest performances from well-known actors such as Miranda Hart and Hugh Bonneville.

The murder mystery has been playing continuously in theatres since 1952. The landmark show was performed at St Martin’s Theatre in the West End of London.

READ MORE: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/theatre/article3604152.ece

Hugh Bonneville, Miranda Hart, Julie Walters and Patrick Stewart Star in THE MOUSETRAP Charity Performance, Nov 18 (BROADWAY WORLD)

According to the Daily Mail, Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville, Call The Midwife's Miranda Hart, and stage and film stars Julie Walters and Patrick Stewart will take part in a fundraising performance of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap this Sunday, November 18, at the St. Martin's Theatre.

Read the original report here.

The headlining actors will be joined by Tamsin Greig, Nicholas Farrell, Iain Glen and Harry Lloyd. The Mousetrap will be directed by Phyllida Lloyd to raise funds for the theatre education charity Mousetrap Theatre.

Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie's grandson, owns the rights to The Mousetrap. He and producer Stephen Waley-Cohen are set to reveal a memorial to Christie at St. Martin's cross.

Hugh Bonneville spent seven seasons with The National Theatre, appearing in School For Wives, Yerma, Entertaining Strangers, Juno and the Paycock, The School for Scandal and The Devil's Disciple. He then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and his credits there include Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Alchemist, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, The Virtuso, Amphibians and Hamlet (alongside Kenneth Branagh). Bonneville has also worked on projects for the Donmar Warehouse, The Old Vic and more. Current star of the television drama Downton Abbey, Bonneville has also appeared in The Cazalets, Take a Girl Like You, Armadillo, Daniel Deronda, The Commander, The Gathering Storm, Love Again, Doctor Who and more. His film credits include Notting Hill, Mansfield Park, Shanghai, Iris, French Film and many more.

Read more: http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/Hugh-Bonneville-Miranda-Hart-Julie-Walters-and-Patrick-Stewart-Star-in-THE-MOUSETRAP-Charity-Performance-Nov-18-20121115#ixzz2COrX6uYr