For the third Hercule Poirot film in the Agatha Christie-inspired trilogy, A Haunting in Venice, director and lead Kenneth Branagh reunited with long-time collaborator and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos. Having worked his magic behind the camera for the first two films, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with Zambarloukos about the challenges unique to this Poirot mystery and what changed since their last cinematic sleuth.
A Haunting in Venice takes audiences to a post-World War II world where the esteemed detective, Hercule Poirot (Branagh), has retired to the picturesque Italian city. Having given up on solving dastardly crimes, Poirot is hard-pressed to join his old friend and best-selling author Ariadne Oliver (played by Tina Fey) to a Halloween séance at an old, haunted palazzo, owned by the renowned opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). Drake has invited guests to the dilapidated old orphanage in hopes that their clairvoyant host, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), can contact the spirit of her daughter. Meant to be a night of revelry, the festivities are cut short by a murderer among them, though the living may not be their only concern.
During their interview, Zambarloukos discusses why he and Branagh opted for digital over film for their third Poirot case, weighing in on the film dogma made popular by Christopher Nolan. We learn what Branagh is like on set as a director, the challenges faced when adapting Christie’s stories, the groundbreaking work of Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire), and what it was like working alongside director Ben Wheatley on The Meg 2: The Trench.
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