Calay News
The latest Agatha Christie adaptation, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, is about to be released in a month. To celebrate the occasion, 20th Century Studios has released a featurette in which Branagh and other cast members share how “A Haunting in Venice” differs from the previous two recent film adaptations, as well as some anecdotes about how Branagh scared his co-stars. cast on set.
“Agatha Christie was an incredible storyteller,” Branagh says in the featurette. “She’s the number one mystery writer in the world because she understands a good detective story. ‘Orient Express’ was about revenge. ‘Death on the Nile’ was about greed. This movie is about whether there’s something beyond us—a ghost or a god. Whether Poirot believes in it or not, he engages us in fear.”
It turns out that the actors on set, including Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Kyle Allen, Emma Laird, and Riccardo Scamarcio, were legitimately and deliberately blindsided in certain scenes.
“These actors had no idea what was going to happen—what we did with the light, the wind, and the doors opening,” Branagh says later in the video. That wily!
The featurette also teases more of the story of “A Haunting in Venice. While we already knew that Poirot is at a seance in the titular city where someone is murdered, this video reveals that some of the people the characters are trying to contact include a daughter who died violently. Could this daughter’s death be related to the death that occurs at this seance? I don’t know, but don’t worry; Poirot is on the case.
“A Hunt in Venice” is based on Christie’s novel, “Hallowe’en Party,” with an adaptation written by Michael Green. It is scheduled for release in theaters on September 15, 2023.
