Fans of the Movie Dead Again

Paramount Pictures

By  · Published on Jan 21st, 2021

Welcome to Commentary Commentary, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their piece of work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter revisits Kenneth Branagh's Hollywood debut, Expressionless Over again!

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Kenneth Branagh's shift from indie Shakespeare champion to populist film manager has seen its ups and downs, only it started with ane of the filmmaker'southward nigh entertaining movies. Dead Again (1991) is a mystery/thriller unafraid to get large at times, and the throughline from beginning to end is fun, energetic, and stylish. The film has finally come to Blu-ray — in Australia — and it's well worth the import for fans. I of the extras is a commentary rail by Branagh recorded back in 2000, so we gave it a listen to gloat the film'due south long overdue movement into Hd media.

Go on reading to run into what I heard on the commentary for Expressionless Again.

Dead Over again (1991)

Commentator: Kenneth Branagh (director, role player)

1. "We wanted to fix the atmosphere of this film immediately," he says which is why information technology opens with a "depression grind" of a score during the opening credits before ramping up with those murder headlines. The goal was to gear up expectations early for an entertaining gothic mystery.

2. Ane of the newspapers is dated December tenth, 1949, which is Branagh's birthday. "Pitiful for the in-joke."

three. He received an influx of scripts later on the success of Henry V (1989), most of them historical epics, simply when he read Scott Frank's screenplay aloud with his then-married woman Emma Thompson they were both gripped from the opening onward.

4. While the black & white was in earlier versions of Frank's script the detail had been dropped by the time a version reached Branagh. They discovered through previews, though, that audiences were confused by the fourth dimension jumps — an effect that was fixed by switching the flashbacks to blackness & white.

five. Roman Strauss' (Branagh) prisoner number, 25101415, is the date of the Battle of Agincourt — the famed boxing featuring Henry V. "Nosotros felt that this kind of film was one in which y'all could permit yourself little moments like that."

6. Grace (Thompson) awakening from her dream to a stormy nighttime features gothic touches in its visuals and score, and it'south all part of Frank's enjoyment of "the vocabulary of this kind of picture."

7. People causeless — as did I — that the introduction of Mike Church building (Branagh) parked on the incorrect side of the street was a little joke about Branagh being British, only it was actually because they wanted the shot to feature the skyscrapers in the background.

8. Mike is struggling to quit smoking, but Branagh was a not-smoker and was unable to convincingly portray the smoking scenes — he was so bad at them they ultimately had to be cut. "The sad, horrible truth is that sometime later I now practice smoke." He hopes that this rewatch, once information technology reaches the gross scene with Gray Davis (Andy Garcia) smoking through his neck, will convince him to quit.

9. The commentary was recorded in 2000, and he name drops Agatha Christie unaware that seventeen years later he'll straight a pretty terrific adaptation of her Murder on the Orient Express.

10. The domicile playing the composer'southward mansion turned Christian orphanage is located in Pasadena, CA. They added the front gate and extra towers to maximize the gothic nature.

xi. This was his first real go at a sustained American accent, and he would exit in Los Angeles to practise it with strangers. No one seemed to notice or care.

12. Thompson had worked with Wayne Knight previously, so they insisted that he be cast here.

13. Frank cameos as 1 of the cops in the elevator at the mental hospital.

14. He suspects the big issue that left a big number of other directors cold on the script was the introduction of hypnosis and past lives.

15. The flashback sequence with Roman and Margaret (Thompson) walking on the embankment was filmed on a stretch of CA coast where Baywatch would be filmed years subsequently. "Who knows, it may have been the very bodies that they saw here that gave them the idea for that show. I may be wrong, I'm not certain."

sixteen. The shot of Cozy Carlisle (Robin Williams) looking at the couple after their grocery store chat at 46:43 was a quick insert Branagh grabbed unsure if he'd use it. He told Williams "let's just get a closeup of yous looking a little chip odd so that nosotros can continue to have your character equally a possible candidate for the 1 who did it."

17. Cast and crew members on Expressionless Again told Branagh he was far more than cheerful and fun to be around when he was playing Mike as opposed to when he was playing the brooding Roman.

18. The conversation betwixt Mike and Grace amid the Christmas lights was a reshoot captured a few months after the motion-picture show had wrapped. Preview audiences weren't buying into the couple's romance, and then the scene was added to give the pair more personal time. "You can see that in my face at that place's a piffling more than weight perhaps… something the makeup people weren't besides pleased about." He was likewise out on his get-go ski trip in the days before the reshoots, and he caught hell from the producer and insurance people.

19. A pair of talented stunt performers doubled for Branagh and Campbell Scott during function of their bridge fight, merely it was Branagh who "received the blow in the testicular area which was given to me alive by Campbell Scott who was zealous to the betoken of inflicting actual bodily harm."

twenty. He credits producers Lindsay Doran and Sydney Pollack with using their weight to support the casting of both himself and Thompson, ii Brits who were yet to become big stars, in a Hollywood thriller.

21. They obviously kept losing pair of scissors on the set and had to keep bringing in replacements. Seems pretty obvious that Knight was the one stealing them.

22. He attended some Expressionless Once more screenings and recalls a deathly silence in theaters during the reveal that Mike was Margaret in his past life.

23. Doran suggested that the introduction of Grace'southward flat/studio should feature insert shots of the scissor sculptures and artwork, but Branagh said no. He eventually realized his error and blames his ain stubbornness adding "quite frankly the director was stupid not to accept listened."

24. Frank added the scene with older Gray smoking through his neck pigsty later seeing someone exercise information technology in a restaurant.

25. The character played past Derek Jacobi is named Franklyn Madison — every bit in "Frank mad son" — and that'southward something that not fifty-fifty Branagh noticed at starting time. "I didn't spot it at the time, such is my piercing intelligence."

26. Not every filmmaker enjoys the preview procedure, simply Branagh is a fan. Early on previews "were disastrous" and led to some footling with additional scenes and third-human activity edits that helped keep the audience entranced and in sync.

27. Grace'southward apartment was located at High Tower in the Hollywood Hills, simply while they filmed the exteriors at that place the apartment's interior is a set. They took photos from within the real location and blew them up as translucent backdrops visible outside the set up's windows.

28. It's a very serious scene, but on the day of filming the end fight the 3 friends — Branagh, Thompson, and Jacobi — found it incessantly agreeable to exist standing there, staring intently at each other, while one of them held a pair of bloody scissors.

29. The stop vanquish with Franklyn leaping and landing on the big scissor sculpture — a jump that Jacobi had to be convinced was absolutely necessary — was to some "massively and campily over the top," merely Branagh and friends found it entirely appropriate.

xxx. Dead Again'due south final shot is a fade from Roman and Margaret kissing to Mike and Grace kissing, and for the longest time, they had them lined up past thespian — Thompson on the left and Branagh on the right. They ultimately flipped the negative on the second pair as it actually makes the nigh sense keeping in line with the film'southward past lives narrative.

Best in Context-Free Commentary

"The script had been through a number of directors, let's put it that fashion."

"I had fun."

"Robin Williams, very free with improvisation, and I tried feebly to go along up with him."

"Another terrible in-joke coming up I'yard afraid, but I couldn't resist it."

"Used to love doing these scissor shots."

"He'south a baddie, you see."

"This is a good moment in a motion picture like this, I think, he says immodestly."

"Oh hello, that'll be the villain, right on cue."

Final Thoughts

Dead Over again remains a terrifically fun thriller that takes big swings in its story and style, and if you tin can get onboard its wavelength there's much entertainment to be found. Branagh's commentary sees him honest about his shortcomings as a green director, just it also highlights the thought and effort that went into the product. Information technology's a skillful listen, and it's merely one of 2 commentaries on the disc as another features Doran and Frank. This new Blu-ray is definitely worth a selection up from fans.

Read more Commentary Commentary from the archives.

Related Topics: Commentary Commentary, Dead Again, Kenneth Branagh

Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before yous were born, which is weird seeing equally he's then damn young. He'due south our Chief Moving-picture show Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say howdy if you meet him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.

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