Enter Death on the Nile, a tale of jealousy, passion and—as Branagh describes it—“the corrosive power of lust” on a private paddle steamer along Egypt’s Nile River in the 1930s. He’s bringing the adaptation to theaters on Feb. 11 and, once again, a starry ensemble is along for the ride. You’ll see AnnetteBening, RussellBrand, LetitiaWright, AliFazal, SophieOkonedo, RoseLeslie, EmmaMackey, ArmieHammer and JenniferSaunders—all playing passengers accused of killing newly married socialite Linnet Ridgeway Doyle (GalGadot). It’s up to Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh, reprising his Express role) to sift through the murky clues. “Agatha felt it was one of her best books and one of her most personal books,” Branagh says of Christie’s novel. “There’s a sense that no boat can really take you away from yourself.” Indeed, just as the story revolves around an embittered love triangle between glamorous newlyweds and the devastated woman the husband left behind, Christie herself was left heartbroken by the 1926 dissolution of her first marriage. Months later, after a fight with her estranged husband, she mysteriously disappeared for 11 days before being found at a spa hotel in Harrogate, England. Christie published Death on the Nile in 1937—one of her 33 novels with Poirot as the hero—and the murder mystery has been ingrained in public consciousness ever since. The story has been adapted into a 1946 Broadway stage play, a live Kraft Television Theatre production in 1950, a 2004 episode of the British series Agatha Christie’s Poirot and even a video game. Most memorably, a 1978 movie featured MiaFarrow, BetteDavis, AngelaLansbury, JackWarden and MaggieSmith, with PeterUstinov as Poirot. But here’s the latest twist: This Nile is cruising unchartered waters thanks to newly added characters and third-act gotchas. The passenger list has been reduced from 12 to nine and mainly consists of the honeymooning couple’s wedding guests, and some relationships have been altered. (Remember the busybody novelist and her daughter? They’re now a duplicitous aunt and niece.) And if you think you know whodunit, think again. The late Christie’s estate gave its blessing to make some changes. “The kernel of the story is there—but the surrounding people and the motives and the aches and the agonies have been expanded and reimagined,” says Bening, 63, whose Euphemia role is an amalgam of several characters in various Christie novels. Adds Branagh, “We’re going to throw the audience…in a very, very entertaining and surprising way.”
Meet the Cast of Death on the Nile
The success of Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express and the 2019 movie-mystery hit Knives Out prove that part of the fun of watching a whodunit is seeing a who’s who of talent onscreen. And after assembling a dream team (MichellePfeiffer! JudiDench!) for his 2017 hit, Branagh, 61, was determined to round up A-list suspects. First: an actress to portray the beautiful but ill-fated Linnet. Branagh knew who would fit the bill after he saw Gadot, 36, as Wonder Woman. The two met in 2018 in London during filming of the sequel Wonder Woman 1984. “She walked in and was stretching all over the place and I felt like I was catching an athlete midseason,” he recalls. From Gadot’s perspective, “I like these kinds of movies with twists and turns and trying to put the pieces together. And there’s something wonderful about sharing the time with a great group of people.” To round out the ensemble, Branagh did meet-and-greets on both sides of the Atlantic. He connected with Brand, 46, in a London music studio and asked if he would be willing to shave off his beard for the role of the resident doctor. (He would, and he did.) He saw Bening in New York City, where she was performing in the Broadway play All My Sons. “He really didn’t have to woo me at all,” she says. “He’s charming, the cast was fun, the story was impassioned and the part was delicious.” Wright, 28, who rocked as a princess warrior in Black Panther and two Avengers movies, so badly wanted to play conniving Rosalie that when she heard that Branagh might be considering another actress, she invited him to see her act in a London play at the Old Vic theater and visit her backstage. “I could tell by his reaction that he was impressed,” she says. “From that day on he was like, ‘Let’s do it.’” Branagh didn’t just want the cast to connect for the sake of onscreen chemistry. Because of the intricate production design inside the Longcross soundstage in Surrey, England—his team re-created Egypt’s Abu Simbel temples and brought in water tanks for river scenes—he sensed the ensemble might get restless in between takes and would need to entertain each other. And they did. The bonding started as cast members arrived in England. Gadot took extensive dance lessons to prep for a scene by day and dined with Bening at night. Other cast members underwent group fittings for their respective elaborate wardrobes. Even the first group table-read rehearsal was unique: Branagh started the proceedings putting on music and conducting a guided group meditation. Then the fun really began. On the first morning of production, the director asked his passengers to squeeze themselves onto a small wooden launch boat on the water in the middle of the Cotswolds hamlet in England for an exterior scene. “I wanted them to be aware that the characters had to feel like they were trapped in proximity to each other,” the director says. The sun was shining. The wind was blowing. The next step, obviously, was to engage everyone in a round of cast trivia. Questions involved the mammoth box-office grosses of Wright’s superhero movies and Bening’s early acting gigs. “Within three questions, I learned that when it came to competitiveness, Gal Gadot made JoshGad on Murder on the Orient Express look like a Buddhist monk,” Branagh crows. “And Judi Dench, the most ruthlessly competitive games player ever, is likely to be trumped by Annette Bening.” The games continued throughout filming. “Ken would be in character with the full costume and the mustache and then he’d pull out a piece of paper and be like, ‘Question number one!’” Wright says, laughing. “It was such a great way of getting to know each other.” They also played cards and dominoes. Wright faced off with TomBateman (who once again plays Poirot’s right-hand man, Bouc) and bemoans, “I learned I am a terrible loser.” They kept up the good times after hours too, often gathering at local pubs for cocktails late into the night. The ringleader was none other than the veteran four-time Oscar and two-time Tony nominee. “I was the instigator who’d say, ‘Let’s all meet for a drink!’” Bening cheerfully admits. After all, she explains, the trip to England was one of the first times she had traveled overseas for work without her longtime husband, WarrenBeatty, and the couple’s four kids. “Now that they’re all grown, I get to go away and have my adventure.” When they all finally wrapped, “It was bittersweet,” Bening says. “I mean, I was glad to get back home, and I missed my husband, but I was sad it was over because it was such a joyous experience.” Branagh says the joy translates on the screen. “You have great actors who come in with a real sense of their characters, and they’re bringing human traits and characteristics that we can really recognize,” he says. “The audience will feel a level of reality and take part in the fun.” The beauty of Christie’s enduring work, he adds, is that “she’s a master at creating a great story in addition to that fun. She knew that those primal characteristics could at best lead to sex…and at worst lead to death!” And with all the uncertainty and distress going on in the world, Bening thinks the time is right for good old-fashioned entertainment: “Sometimes you’re just ready to sit and be taken away visually and emotionally and be engaged and escape,” she says. “The important part of what we do as actors is try to lift people up and take them on a trip.” Next, The 15 Greatest Murder Mystery Movies of All Time
