Kenneth Branagh could be reunited with his former wife Emma Thompson - in a
movie about mischievous Scottish poet Rabbie Burns.
The couple who split up five years ago have remained friendly and Ken has
always maintained that it would be his ambition to work with his
Oscar-winning
ex in a major production.
And he could get his wish in the £20m blockbuster about Burns, the Immortal
Bard as he is known to Scots, being planned by actor James Cosmo.
For Burns clubs everywhere are rallying to the idea that Branagh and his
ex-missus are the perfect pair to play the wicked Rabbie and the woman for
whom he had an illicit yearning.
If fans of the bard and Branagh have their way Ken will play Sylvander and
she
Clarinda - the names by which Rabbie and society lady Agnes M'Lehose were
known to one another in their love letters during their brief and doomed
affair.
It's exactly 10 years since Ken and Emma were in Henry V together.
Cosmo, who will be producing the Burns film, has drawn up a shortlist and is
considering the idea of Branagh and Emma being brought together as Rabbie
and
his one time love. He is listening to what the Burns diehards are saying.
Cosmo is well aware of the pitfalls in casting Burns who is revered not just
in Scotland but in Northern Ireland, with fans too all over the world.
Branagh is one of the few actors who would be readily acceptable to the
Burns
faithful in the role of their idol. He is now back on the list of the UK's
most eligible bachelors after the break-up of his affair with Helena Bonham
Carter with whom he stars in a new film The Theory of Flight to be released
here in the winter.
The Burns movie will be shot on location in Ayrshire and Edinburgh where
Agnes
M'Lehose lived until society turned its back on her because of her
relationship with the poet. She set sail for Jamaica to be reconciled with
her
estranged husband.
Burns had a reputation as a ladies man and a hard drinker during his short
life, but he remains to this day a Scottish and Northern Irish folk hero. In
the 50s and 60s his portrait was a feature on kitchen walls across the
province.
Burns Nights still play an important part in the social scene here with the
haggis being piped in for the Immortal Toast. There are Burns clubs all over
the world.
Branagh who is obsessed with the other Bard, Shakespeare, has just finished
shooting yet another Will epic, Love's Labours Lost, but he is on the wanted
list of several eminent directors apart from Cosmo.
However, he definitely likes the idea of working with Emma who film critics
see as ideal for the role of the well-spoken and well-bred Mrs M'Lehose.
The role of M'Lehose will appeal to Emma too. "She certainly likes to play
women who are original and different," saida friend today.
"Branagh has always been a Burns fan and grew up in north Belfast in an era
when it wasn't unusual for neighbours in his working class district to be
word
perfect in Rabbie's ballads."