How The Pandemic Prompted Kenneth Branagh To Make ‘Belfast’ & Why Jamie Dornan Won’t Stop Singing – Contenders Film: The Nominees

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Belfast writer-director-producer Ken Branagh, actor Ciarán Hinds and sound supervisor Simon Chase – all Oscar nominated – spoke with us at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event about the acclaimed film’s journey to screen.Based on Branagh’s own experiences growing up in Northern Ireland, the Focus Features movie follows a young boy and his working-class family as they experience the tumultuous late 1960s.“It’s not a story I had been planning for a long time, but it is one I had been feeling for a long time,” Branagh said. “The necessity to tell the story and understand about that time of change in Belfast was accelerated by the lockdown and the uncertainty it produced…What in times of turmoil can you understand.”Music supervisor Simon Chase and Branagh discussed the film’s potent music (Van Morrison is a big part of the sound) and the scene-stealing moment Jamie Dornan sings classic song “Everlasting Love.” “He never stopped singing it after that,” Branagh joked.Hinds talked about sharing screen time with breakout child actor Jude Hill. “He didn’t need any tips.

It was me looking at him in amazement…It was one of the most lovely experiences I’ve had in film.”Belfast premiered at the Telluride Film Festival before playing at Toronto, BFI London and other fests.

It opened November 12 in the U.S. Since then, Branagh’s screenplay won the Golden Globe among several Globes and Critics Choice Awards nominations, while SAG nominated the ensemble cast and singled out Balfe’s performance for a nomination.

It is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.Check back Monday for the panel video.New and returning series on broadcast, cable and streamingSeries that made it or didn’t make it in 2020-21Broadcast