Kenneth Branagh has spent much of his career proving that a man can make Shakespeare look dangerously glamorous without throwing a single punch. Best known for acclaimed film and stage adaptations of William Shakespeare, Branagh has embodied Henry V and Hamlet, while also delighting audiences as Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express. Action hero, however, has never exactly been his calling card.

Although that title may be getting a dramatic rewrite, thanks to the stunts Kenneth Branagh pulls off in his latest action movie at 65.

At the Variety Lounge at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Kenneth Branagh revealed that becoming an action man required considerably more than dramatic gravitas. For Mayday, the Shakespearean veteran wanted audiences to glimpse a “former lethal KGB operative” and possible assassin beneath the polished exterior. That meant flexibility training, fight work, and plenty of physical preparation.

“Very, very interesting and fun to be involved in the advanced choreography,” Kenneth Branagh said, describing the stunt preparation with considerably more enthusiasm than one might expect from a 65-year-old actor preparing to be thrown around. He arrived early, rehearsed meticulously, and even memorized sequences by muttering through them like Shakespearean verse.

The commitment impressed the stunt team, who told Kenneth Branagh they had never had an actor for so long during preparation. His response was wonderfully revealing: “I am that scared.” Aside from what Kenneth Branagh explained at the Variety Lounge, he has dwelled in previous interviews on how his theatrical background helped too, since Shakespeare supplied him with decades of stage combat experience.

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A look at the movie that could finally crown Kenneth Branagh an action hero is a must, and it may even steal attention from his unfinished business with Thor.

Mayday drops Ryan Reynolds into the Cold War as Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a hotshot Navy pilot whose reconnaissance mission over Soviet territory goes spectacularly sideways. Stranded behind enemy lines, he finds an unlikely lifeline in Kenneth Branagh’s Nikolai Ustinov, a gruff former KGB agent with an oddly affectionate streak for American pop culture.

Written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Mayday mixes spy-thriller danger with an odd-couple comedy sensibility shaped by 1980s and 1990s pop culture. The result promises plenty of action, bickering, and unlikely camaraderie, with Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorociński, and David Morse joining the ensemble. The film premieres on Apple TV+ on September 4, 2026 and then fans can easily get a look at the stunts Branagh bravely performed.

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Do you find Kenneth Branagh's agility at 65 impressive? Let us know in the comments!