With his latest film, Belfast, he shows himself consumed by existentialism, a product of the claustrophobic confinement during the months of the pandemic. Branagh embraces his childhood and clings to it like a handle to hold himself upright in times of uncertainty. His formidable cinematographic exercise reminds us that not only do we need each other, but how important it is to unleash emotions in a movie theater.

His childhood is a lifesaver for every member of the audience, and after seeing the audience's connection to the film at the Telluride and Toronto Festivals, it's worth going back to a room and being overwhelmed by this director's talent.

Q: What moves you to keep working on such difficult times?

A: Yesterday I cried hearing people laugh at the movies, hearing their crying in dramatic scenes, it was an incredible experience. It has been very special to release this film with the Toronto audience and to see so many people in the theater, even with the measures of social distance, there were many more people than I have seen in a year and a half. It was overwhelming, a beautiful experience, I have been in this race for a long time and last night was one of the best I have lived.

Q: As a director, do you always include Spanish actors in your movies?

A: Yes. I am a man who has grown up in a working-class family and I believe in diversity. I like to hire actors from different countries, with different personalities. I am not bothered by historical incoherencies. From my childhood I remember a poster of The Towering Inferno with the faces of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, and under their photo the description of their characters: "the architect", "the fire chief", and so on. Their faces invited me to ask about their characters. Hiring so many stars in the same project is a logistical challenge.

Question: Why are many of your movies book adaptations?

Answer: I remember reading it very early, my mother used to read detective novels in my teens and I read it with her. I found it glamorous, serious, I loved books that take you to dark and adventurous places, like in the movies.

Q: What did you read before, Shakespeare or Agatha Christie?

A: I think I remember that I read them at the same time. My mother was a stubborn reader. In my house there were no books because we were a working-class family. I remember the first time I bought a book, I took it home, because there was nothing that seemed more exciting to me than owning a book, and my father asked me why did you do that? Don't we have libraries for the books that we pay for with our taxes? It seemed fatal to him that I bought it. However, my mother had a habit of reading. She liked Agatha Christie's suspense stories, including this play. She was the one who introduced me to her novels. I consider Christie and Shakespeare popular entertainment.

Q: How many books do you have at home now?

A: Many, many people who come to my house believe that I live in a library because the walls are filled with my books. I like to feel surrounded by those stories, because the characters have become my friends.

Q: Do you read Spanish authors?

A: Of course I do but not in Spanish as I don’t know the language that well. I can order tapas in a restaurant but I can’t read Cervantes.

Q: Would you like to adapt Man of la Mancha?

A: Sure, it would be very difficult. I understand better the drama in Shakespeare than the series of small anecdotes from Quixote. It does not translate at all into the language of cinema; most of the films about Quixote have tried to be funny and they have all failed.

Q: You like to adapt the classics for a contemporary audience

A: I go back to my parents again, they taught me that no one is above you or below you. I was raised in an egalitarian society, I apply that idea to literature, there is no reason to be intimidated by the classics. I like to get hooked on complex stories and simplify them in a practical and entertaining way for the cinema. For me it is a privilege, a joy, to shoot these types of films.

Q: You the latest technological advances with theatrical scenes, with the rhythm of old movies. How do you combine both worlds?

A: That is the definition of my approach to the classics, you embrace the traditional on the one hand and add the contemporary. As an artist, why not use the latest possible techniques to produce that art? At the same time, you are not unaware that perhaps the traditional 60mm filmmaking, with its texture and close-ups, will serve the story even better and give you more control. We went to New Zealand, we went to France, to Malta, but it is very difficult to work on trains, for safety reasons, because you have to go back and forth. If you build the stage, you can stop it and then add the images from behind. We also wanted that possibility.

Q: What can you tell us about working with Penelope Cruz?

A: I love Penelope Cruz, she came with the lesson learned, prepared down to the smallest detail. She is a good warrior who cares what she does, she has incredible technique. I think it started when I was 16 years old, to me it still seems like I was 16 years old. I felt all those years of experience, the subtlety with which he is capable of interpreting. She was very popular on the set, really a good, good, good, good woman.

María Estévez

Correspondent writer