Belfast director Kenneth Branagah responds to his historic Oscar nominations and the snub of his leading lady Caitroina Balfe
Director Kenneth Branagh made Oscar history with three of his new film Belfast’s seven nominations for his work as a writer, director and producer.
Branagh, 61, became the first person ever to receive nominations in seven separate categories – Best Actor (Henry V), Best Supporting Actor (My Week With Marilyn), Best Adapted Screenplay (Hamlet) and Best Live-Action Short (Swan Song), adding another Best Director nomination for Belfast along with Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.
He also becomes just the third person ever – after George Clooney and Warren Beatty – to be nominated in all five major Oscar categories, with the multi-hyphenate opening up about the nominations to Entertainment Weekly.
Historic: Director Kenneth Branagh made Oscar history with three of his new film Belfast’s seven nominations for his work as a writer, director and producer
History: Branagh, 61, became the first person ever to receive nominations in seven separate categories – Best Actor (Henry V), Best Supporting Actor (My Week With Marilyn), Best Adapted Screenplay (Hamlet) and Best Live-Action Short (Swan Song), adding another Best Director nomination for Belfast along with Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture
Branagh earned his first directing Oscar for his 1989 feature directing debut, Henry V, revealing what still remains the same about the job after all those years.
‘I was 27 years old when I started directing that first picture that was nominated as Best Director. I had instinct and I had a passion,’ Branagh began.
‘I had a love of the movies and a fantastic history of watching them, but I had very little experience and with that combination, what I listened to was my instinct. 30 odd years later, in a pandemic with a story that was as close to my heart as anything I would ever do, my reaction was also once again to do the thing I did — but now with a lot of experience — to follow my instincts,’ Branagh added.
Director: Branagh earned his first directing Oscar for his 1989 feature directing debut, Henry V, revealing what still remains the same about the job after all those years
‘In both cases, when it came to the choice of where to put the camera, how to shoot a scene, how to pace the editing, what to do with music, everything was was from my first instinct,’ Branagh continued.
‘I didn’t second guess. I didn’t overthink it. I enjoyed the process of making the film as much as I enjoyed the process of making Henry V. I did not feel pressure or risk in both of those instances,’ he added.
‘What I felt was the adventure and the privilege of doing it. I’ve been a lot more worried doing my work in the 30 years in between and sometimes I felt a lot more pressure. But in both of these instances, I tried to listen to my gut and to follow my heart,’ he said.
Instinct: ‘In both cases, when it came to the choice of where to put the camera, how to shoot a scene, how to pace the editing, what to do with music, everything was was from my first instinct,’ Branagh continued
Belfast is perhaps his most personal film to date, based on true events from his childhood growing up in the capitol of Northern Ireland in the late 1960s.
The filmmaker believes that the film’s extremely personal nature has helped lead to his critical acclaim.
‘When material really connects with people’s hearts, sometimes bypassing the head, it makes for that experiential relationship to that piece of cinema,’ the director said.
Personal: Belfast is perhaps his most personal film to date, based on true events from his childhood growing up in the capitol of Northern Ireland in the late 1960s
‘It really activates consideration of [people’s] own childhoods and their own families. The handover is from a very personal account and very specific accounts of my background, but it hands over very personally to their own,’ he added.
‘There are so many people I know who’ve seen this, who’ve spoken to me, who start with accounts of what happened when they moved as a child or when they crossed over from that period of innocence into adulthood that perhaps they weren’t quite ready for,’ Branagh revealed.
While many awards season prognosticators felt that his star Caitriona Balfe would get her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, it wasn’t meant to be.
Childhood: ‘It really activates consideration of [people’s] own childhoods and their own families. The handover is from a very personal account and very specific accounts of my background, but it hands over very personally to their own,’ he added
‘We know that this is a phenomenally competitive year. They’re just some wonderful films out there, and inevitably, there are wonderful performances,’ Branagh said of Balfe’s snub.
‘What I know for sure is that I wouldn’t have any nominations, for sure, without the incredible work of Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe and Jude Hill. It sounds cliched, but I mean it when I say these nominations absolutely belong to them,’ Branagh said.
When asked of Balfe, he added, ‘What I know for certain — and I would bet the house right now — is that she will be back for sure.’
Competitive: ‘We know that this is a phenomenally competitive year. They’re just some wonderful films out there, and inevitably, there are wonderful performances,’ Branagh said of Balfe’s snub
Nominations: ‘What I know for sure is that I wouldn’t have any nominations, for sure, without the incredible work of Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe and Jude Hill. It sounds cliched, but I mean it when I say these nominations absolutely belong to them,’ Branagh said
94TH ACADEMY AWARDS: THE NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE
Belfast (Focus Features)
Coda (Apple)
Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
Drive My Car (Janus Films/Sideshow)
Dune (Warner Bros)
King Richard (Warner Bros)
Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
The Power Of The Dog (Netflix)
West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
Judi Dench – Belfast
Kirsten Dunst- The Power Of The Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – Coda
Jesse Plemons – The Power Of The Dog
J.K Simonns – Being The Ricardos
Kodi Smitt-McPhee – The Power Of The Dog
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Ariana DeBose is nominated for West Side Story
COSTUME DESIGN
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Belfast
Dune
No Time To Die
The Power Of The Dog
West Side Story
ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Encanto
Parallel Mothers
The Power Of The Dog
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Coda
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power Of The Dog
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person In The World
COSTUME DESIGN: Cruella is up for the gong
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Affairs Of The Heart
Bestia
Box Ballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Drive My Car
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick… BOOM!
Will Smith – King Richard
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Kristen Stewart is up for Spencer
DIRECTING
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
FILM EDITING
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Power Of The Dog
tick, tick…BOOM!
MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
House Of Gucci
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells VS The Machine
Raya And The Lost Dragon
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Encanto has bagged a nomination
ORIGINAL SONG
Be Alive — Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & Darius Scott (King Richard)
Dos Oruguitas — Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
Down to Joy — Van Morrison (Belfast)
No Time to Die — Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die)
Somehow You Do— Diane Warren (Four Good Days)
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing with Fire
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune
Free Guy
No Time To Die
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
VISUAL EFFECTS: Dune has bagged a nomination
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power Of The Dog
Tragedy Of Macbeth
West Side Story
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