How Kenneth Branagh First Discovered Shakespeare

Kenneth Branagh, the director of the blockbuster hit "Thor," is best known for bringing the plays of William Shakespeare to the big screen. With movies like "Henry V," "Much Ado About Nothing," "Hamlet," and "As You Like It," he has succeeded in opening up the works of this famous playwright to a new generation. But we all wonder what his first experiences of reading and performing William's work was like. He gleefully told us about his beginning experiences with Shakespeare when he visited the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

Born and raised in Belfast, Kenneth said his family had no interest in Shakespeare and there were no books in the house. The family then relocated to Reading, Berkshire where Kenneth said he got bullied a lot. As a result, he withdrew into himself and became fascinated with literature, soon developing a love for words. He even recalled buying his very first book, but his father didn't understand why he was so excited:

"What did you buy that for? Why not just go down to the public library?"

His first exposure to Shakespeare came in a class where everyone read from "The Merchant Of Venice." Kenneth remembered being terrified doing it, and that he "didn't understand the language." But having survived that experience, he quickly developed the acting bug.

When he did a school production of "Romeo & Juliet," Branagh recollected how the director played "You Are Everything" sung by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross. When the song was finished, the director told everyone:

"The song was about sex, it's a mating call. Now that you know what ''¹..."Romeo & Juliet' is about, open up your text and let's read!"

Through all the yelling and screaming of that rehearsal, Branagh said the play was actually not hard to understand. It came down to this gang hating that gang, of two young people in love, etc. From there, the words of the Bard enthralled him like nothing else, and he has since made vastly entertaining movies that reflected his passion of Shakespeare's literature.

Kenneth Branagh said that he would like to do more Shakespeare in the future. He's still a number of years off from playing "King Lear," but I would love to see him bring "Macbeth" to film to see how he envisions it.