Kenneth Branagh: Dimple Kapadia 'brilliant' in Tenet, Ali Fazal 'a joy' in Death on the Nile

New Delhi, Jun 10 (PTI): "Fantastic" is how actor-director Kenneth Branagh describes his experiences of working with Dimple Kapadia in Christopher Nolan's much-awaited Tenet and Ali Fazal in his directorial Death on the Nile.

Branagh, who is awaiting the release of his movie Artemis Fowl on Disney+ Plus this Friday, teased that Kapadia has a pivotal role in Tenet.

"She's got a really smashing part in Tenet. I know that our master director, Mr Nolan, was thrilled with her and our leading man, John David Washington was completely in love with her by the time they finished working together," Branagh told the media during a virtual interview.

Nolan, best known for films such as Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar and Dunkirk, has amassed a star-studded cast for the film.

Kapadia features in it along with actors like John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine, Clemence Poesy, and Himesh Patel.

Branagh said though he didn't get to share the screen space with Kapadia, he was very much aware of her presence on the film.

"There was a huge amount of excitement when we knew she was flying in and she pronounced herself very nervous.

But then we heard about a rehearsal that she had with Christopher Nolan and John David Washington, and they both came away and said, 'Well, if that's nervous, I don't know what calm is.

"Because she was perfect and quite awesomely brilliant as far as they were concerned and also completely gracious and delightful with the crew.

So she made a tremendous impression," the 59-year-old actor added.

Branagh, however, refrained from divulging anything about the mind-bending plot of Tenet that Nolan previously touted as an espionage thriller spanning several countries.

Tenet is expected to be one of the first films to hit the screens in July after the theatres reopen post the coronavirus-forced shutdown.

The film Tenet has a release date of July 17.

Branagh is also in complete awe of Fazal, who stars alongside the likes of Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, Russell Brand, and Emma Mackey in his film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

The movie is Branagh's follow-up to his 2017 blockbuster The Murder on the Orient Express, which is also based on the iconic author's book of the same name.

The actor, who is also reprising his role of iconic detective Hercule Poirot in the follow-up, hailed Fazal as a "real details man" whose various talents were an added bonus.

"Ali was a joy to work with, an absolute joy. He's a total pro. He's a real details man. He was completely caught up in how the character looked sounded and was able to be very precise, but also very playful."

"He could improvise when I asked him to improvise. He has a strong sense of humour. He is energetic and physically very adroit, so he was involved in both dancing and in action pieces."

"So his gifts like that were great. He was a fantastic ensemble player. He was incredibly popular with our cast, they loved him," Branagh said.

Death on the Nile will be released by Disney-owned 20th Century Studios on October 9.

All in all, the director said he had a wonderful time working with the two Indian stars on these much-anticipated movies.

"My experience, at a distance with Dimple and very directly with Ali was fantastic," he concluded.