Kenneth Branagh Talks Jack Ryan

It’s not every day you meet a titan of his respective field - let alone a titan of two. Kenneth Branagh is such a man.

Not only does the actor/director/screenwriter/key grip (okay, we made that last one up) stand as the only individual to be nominated in five different Oscar categories, but he’s defied a few expectations of late, starting with 2011's Thor, a Marvel blockbuster he directed to critical acclaim, and now, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, where he’s had the gall to both direct and play the villain of the piece.

And as Viktor Cherevin – the Russian oligarch who aims to crash the US economy with a terrorist attack, and who only Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) can stop in this non-stop action thriller – Branagh awarded himself plenty of screen time, he wryly revealed when ShortList sat down to chat.

That's not all - he also found time to tell us that he’d love to direct Tom Hiddleston as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. But don’t take our word for it - check out our interview with cinema’s ultimate renaissance man, right here.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is out in cinemas nationwide from 24 Jan