As one of Britain's most iconic actor/directors, Kenneth Branagh has a special relationship with theater. Throughout his career he has often worked to merge the stage with celluloid, delivering such memorable films as "Much Ado About Nothing," which he directed, wrote and starred in.
His latest is a venture into opera, about which he knew almost nothing. "I had an amateur's love and appreciation for opera but that was about it," he says.
So when opera patron Peter Moore approached him to create a film based on Mozart's "The Magic Flute," Branagh was initially "extremely nervous." But the story intrigued him, as did the fact that this particular opera had been transported to the movie screen several times before, including a much-loved production by Ingmar Bergman back in the 1970s.