Kenneth Branagh and The Art of the Adaptation: or, I'm So Glad You Like My Mind

Moving into a new era with 2006's The Magic Flute and 2007's Sleuth.

In 2025, we like to contextualize an artist's career waxes and wanes as "eras." Taylor Swift, of course, popularized the term, but it is helpful when discussing just about any artist's creative impulses, reaction to the ever-changing industry, and ongoing need to adapt to both their own desires and an audience's asks.

By 2007, I suppose we could say that Ken Branagh was no longer in his "Shakespeare Era" and with a few years yet to come before his "Hollywood Blockbuster Era," we could call this week's newsletter "Branagh's Nobody Remembers that Branagh Made These Movies Era."