By Harry Haun
03 Dec 2011

	Olivier in 1939

Anyone following Olivier's act is apt to fall short of the mark, the actor figures. "That was also the fate of Tony Hopkins and Derek Jacobi in other generations. It was an indication of how remarkable Olivier's position was. He just was The Actor. He was the world's greatest and most famous actor, and he dominated in that position for so long that if you ever remotely went near a part that he played before, you were compared to him — usually unfavorably, inevitably.

"One decided just to be flattered by the comparisons, and then get on with it. This was a strange moment when Simon came to me about this — to lay that particular ghost by simply going at it head-on and actually playing him in a script that took him seriously, not only as a performer but as a person. That's how I got over it.

"I was circumspect when it came up only in the sense that I wanted to feel that an appropriate treatment was at hand. I suppose I wanted to feel that the script loved these people, even if that didn't necessarily mean they were painted in a hagiographic way. They could be there, warts and all, as long as somehow it acknowledged how bloody marvelous they were at what they did. I felt that, in a strange way — in the way that one's name has been linked to his in the past — that it was such an obvious thing to do that it was a dangerous thing. I liked the danger of it. I liked, that neither sounding nor looking like him much, there would be a great big leap to take there — that the physical process of doing that would be fascinating."

Prosthetics and clever camerawork help Branagh bring off some astonishing approximations of Olivier's Prince Regent of Carpathia, materializing through a thick monocle and unidentifiable accent. "Then, the hair — the very pomaded, very made-up look Olivier had in the movie." Terence Stamp, a buddy, badgered him into getting "a pair of handmade shoes from a place called George Cleverley's in London — a shoemaker to many, including Laurence Olivier — and I bought them as a kind of insanely extravagant treat for myself for my 50th birthday. They were ready in time for the movie. In fact, they're featured. Simon Curtis gave them a close-up."