UK Press Association, 24 November 2011

Kenneth Branagh has revealed the past year has given him "a renewed kind of relish" for the film business.

The 'My Week With Marilyn' star, who directed the recent action adventure 'Thor', told New York magazine's Vulture blog he had fresh vigour for making movies.

"I'll tell you what it's been, actually, it's been a year of utterly replenishing my appetite for the work and my enjoyment of it. And I don't know why that should be, particularly - I didn't feel that I'd particularly lost it, but I certainly feel as though there is a renewed kind of relish," he said.

"This time last year, I was both editing and in post-production on 'Thor', and I was acting (Sir Laurence) Olivier in the Marilyn movie. And I was finishing Olivier in the evening and meeting with (Marvel head) Kevin Feige on Thor, then bringing all that crazy director-ness back into the playing of Olivier the next day.

"I remember Kevin saying one night, 'Tell me a little about this part in the movie.' And I said, 'Well, I play a man who's directing a film in which he acts, and of course I am an actor who has directed films in which I acted'. It's one of those kinds of movies."

And Belfast-born Kenneth said ending up in the movie industry wasn't something he'd planned.

"When I started working, there wasn't really a British film industry. So the idea of being in the movies continually or consistently was not really part of what I'd come to expect," he explained.

"It ended up being something of a delicious surprise that I had a career in movies at all."

'My Week With Marilyn' is out on Friday.