Kenneth Branagh Tackles Stunts for Apple TV’s Cold-War Action-Comedy “Mayday”

At the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Kenneth Branagh explained how he approached the physically demanding role of a former KGB operative in the upcoming Apple TV series “Mayday.” The series, set in the Soviet Union in 1987, follows Ryan Reynolds’s crashed U.S. Air Force pilot as he teams with Branagh’s character to escape Siberian wilderness. “Mayday” is slated for release in early September.

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“Mayday” was largely filmed in Canada, standing in for snowy Soviet terrain. Branagh and Reynolds bonded over soccer, with Branagh identifying as a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter and Reynolds co-owning Wrexham AFC.

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During the festival, Branagh received the inaugural Outstanding Contribution to Cinema award and attended a 30-year anniversary screening of his four-hour adaptation of “Hamlet.” He recalled casting Kate Winslet, then 20, in “Hamlet” and later learning of her call from James Cameron to star in “Titanic.” Branagh described the moment: “There was a smell about ‘Titanic’ that — aside from its name, its director and the subject — it would be very special. The casting search had already been something that had become a sort of legend in its own terms.”

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• “I asked the directors, ‘What’s the way to do it if you’re a man of a certain age and it’s not your natural genre?'” — Kenneth Branagh

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• “That was a source of, for me, fascination, at how they were living the dream,” — Kenneth Branagh

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• “There was a smell about ‘Titanic’ that — aside from its name, its director and the subject — it would be very special. The casting search had already been something that had become a sort of legend in its own terms.” — Kenneth Branagh

Variety Magazine