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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Kenneth Branagh is a bit of a twerp?

134 replies

CrystalMcPistol · 07/08/2015 23:39

I know he's a Sir but I can't bring myself to put that in the title as 1) the honours system is a load of old hooey and 2) you just know that he refers to himself Sir Kenneth Branagh when ordering a taxi or booking a table in a restaurant. Twerp.

Also his acting is so self conscious, it's very 'look at me, someone once said in 1992 that I was the successor to Olivier's crown. I'm a Very Serious Actor don't you know'. Twerp.

And I've never enjoyed one of his films! Emma Thompson must pat herself on the back every night when she looks across the bed and sees Greg Wise lying there.

OP posts:
DustBunnyFarmer · 08/08/2015 09:30

Thanks again Londonrach.

Original poster
CrystalMcPistol · 08/08/2015 09:50

Yay Crystal! Converted to Kenneth by Mumsnet!

I wouldn't go that far! There's still the dodgy acting......

OP posts:
LizzyUseless · 08/08/2015 10:06

MrsBert I was going to mention Sir Ben Kingsley, as I also heard he insists on his title being used.

I have liked Branagh in just about everything I've seen him in and I don't think his acting is in any way dodgy. I can think of many dodgier 'actors'. Are you sure you haven't got him confused with someone else, OP?

I remember him being interviewed on Parkinson years ago and he sent himself up rotten.

OTOH, I do not share the Emma Thompson devotion that seems to exist on MN. I'm not really sure why, I just don't.

Original poster
CrystalMcPistol · 08/08/2015 10:11

Umm, definitely no confusion. Too self consciously actorly for me, like he graduated from Rada in 1942.

OP posts:
LizzyUseless · 08/08/2015 10:15

Sorry, meant to add Grin, I wasn't seriously thinking you were confused. Blush

WoonerismSpit · 08/08/2015 10:16

You know that famous person you irrationally dislike, for no good reason?

Mine is KB.

Original poster
CrystalMcPistol · 08/08/2015 10:17

I'm not saying he's as bad in the acting stakes as Hugh Grant or anything, I'm not a barbarian!

OP posts:
LizzyUseless · 08/08/2015 10:23

Did you ever see An Awfully Big Adventure? Hugh Grant wasn't playing his normal upper class bumbler in that and he wasn't bad.

Just shows what he might have been if he hadn't gone along with the type casting.

OnlyLovers · 08/08/2015 10:24

I rather like him and rather fancy him. Not when he was younger but now, in his silver-fox period.

In interviews he comes across as a proper giggle and a fairly normal person. I'd hate to think he was a 'Don't you know who I am?'.

I think he's a good actor and an ace director. Thor is brilliantly done.

OnlyLovers · 08/08/2015 10:24

Oh, also, I used to love Emma T but am a bit over it now. I like how eccentric she is (or seems) but she has lost points for me with her slavering over Prince Charles.

Gruntfuttock · 08/08/2015 10:25

I have nothing to say about KB, but I would like to thank the OP for her use of the word 'twerp'. What a lovely, funny word and I haven't heard it for ages. It's very nearly put me in a good-ish mood.

LazyLouLou · 08/08/2015 10:28

I can reassure you about the Sir thing, I think.

I know a sound engineer who has worked with him occasionally, over the years. He says 'Ken' is a lovely bloke, off stage. A tad growly on stage, but buys a round and pays his tab. He has heard him use the 'Do you know who I am?' line, but apparently, a maitre de was pfaffing about some members of the group not looking quite the ticket!

ElviraCondomine · 08/08/2015 10:40

I love him.

He speaks blank verse as though it is as natural to him as breathing - the very opposite of luvviness (Rory Kinnear and David Tennant are the same - they make 400 year old poetry sound totally unforced and spontaneous like every day speech and that is some achievement.)

His Macbeth was sublime and I have just this morning taken delivery of Henry V on DVD so DD1 can see what all the fuss is about (she loved Macbeth too.)

HowDdo2You · 08/08/2015 10:46

I watched the tail end of him in Frankenstein, last night. For the first time I noted his lack of lips. What is there to kiss? Not that I kissed one, it must be like kissing a fish. Confused

I like Much a do about nothing, also.

I wonder if the DM did one of their little diagrams, how many of the HP luvvies have bumped uglies?

MrsToddsShortcut · 08/08/2015 10:51

'Tragic lip deficiency' that made me cry laughingGrin

Oh, and damn you all! I had an 'interesting' dream about KB last night on the back of this thread and now have a fully fledged bloody post-coital-dream crush!

MrsToddsShortcut · 08/08/2015 10:56

Oh, and yes to his natural reading of Shakespeare. After two years of my English teacher insisting that it was written in iambic pentameter and should be read as such (thus completely killing it) a class of 15 year olds sat their O Levels vowing never to go near Shakespeare again.

He really turned that around and it was entirely down to him and his new approach that younger generations of actors are producing such exciting naturalistic Shakespeare now (this is not my weird crush talking, honest...)

limitedperiodonly · 08/08/2015 12:30

He does have a mouth like a paper cut but I met him once and he was nice.

I've heard that Ben Kingsley insists on being called Sir Ben and read the earlier link where Sir Roger Moore says that's a bit twattish.

I'm sure Sir Roger is nicer, but Sir Ben is the better actor. And if I ever met him in this mode, , I'd call him whatever he wanted just as long as he'd let me live.

I also wondered if the whole 'call me Sir' thing was a joke when I saw him send himself up in the Sopranos as a superior arsehole who is grabby and greedy and then quite rightly terrified when he realises the clowns he's dealing with may be clowns, but they are ruthless killer clowns.

kickassangel · 08/08/2015 13:49

I don't think that I can ever forgive him for Frankenstein tbh.

And I know that Much Ado is meant to be a comedy, but when I saw it at the movies there was a moment when everyone was laughing at the film, not with. And letting Keanu Reeves do Shakespeare! Shudder.

No, sorry, can't get past his crimes.

I also have a bit of a question mark over the genuine humility of anyone who directs themselves in the main role of a film.

stillnotjustamummy · 08/08/2015 14:12

Briefly did a bit of temp work for him- didn't meet him in person, but he took the time to call and leave me a voicemail after I'd finished telling me what a grand job I'd done and he was delighted and thank you. If only all clients were so polite!

OnlyLovers · 08/08/2015 14:17

That's very sweet, stillnot! Awwww.

Original poster
CrystalMcPistol · 08/08/2015 14:28

That was most gentlemanly of him.

OP posts:
Fishwives · 08/08/2015 14:44

His Tragic Lip Deficiency / Mouth Like a Paper Cut is erotically compelling, imo.

I like ET, too - it's not like taking sides when your friends divorce, is it?

JonSnowKnowsNowt · 08/08/2015 14:47

Well if I got an honour in the honours system, I think I'd insist on being called Dame Jon the whole time. Why not? It'd make me grin every time. However it's very unlikely based on my achievements to date, ho hum.

Dadado · 08/08/2015 14:52

Does KB have a Reading accent then - is there such a thing?

CityDweller · 08/08/2015 14:55

Actually he's pretty down to earth. In fact, he used to not even have an agent (may still be the case, it's been a while since I've worked in the 'business'), but rather if you wanted to offer him work you called him directly, left a message on his voicemail and he'd call back really promptly.