Hi, everyone, and thank you for tuning into the 429th episode of Awards Chatter, the Hollywood

Reporters Awards podcast on the host Scott Feinberg.

And my guest today is an Irish born British stage and screen actor, writer and director,

whose abilities range from interpreting Shakespeare as well as any one of his generation to directing

populous cinema like Marvel's Thor.

A man who has been nominated for an Oscar eight times across a record seven different categories

and who has also won three BAFTAs, a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy, and who is now receiving

some of the greatest acclaim of his long career.

For Belfast, an autobiographical film about his childhood as the troubles exploded around

him, which he wrote, directed and produced, and for which he is personally up for Oscars

for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Over the course of our conversation, the 61-year-old and I discussed how he was changed by the

real events that he recreated in the film Belfast, what drove him to do so much in his life

so quickly, including starting a theater company, writing a memoir, and writing directing

and starring in a film all by the age of just 28, prompting comparisons to St. Lawrence

Olivier and Orson Wells, and rollercoaster-like media coverage of him ever since, what it's

like to alternate between being the complete author of a film and an actor for hire on

the films of others, ranging from Robert Altman to Woody Allen to Christopher Nolan, why

he felt that now was the time to tell his own story in Belfast, plus much more.

And so, without further ado, let's go to that conversation.

Ken, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast, great to speak with you, and I know

that some of these questions will be already answered for people who have seen Belfast,

...