About the Film

Synopsis | Production Notes | Cast & Crew | Credits

Production Notes

It was Sir Peter Moores’ long-held ambition to ‘take opera out of the opera house’ and reach new audiences that led to the making of this new film version of The Magic Flute, sung in English. Mozart’s masterpiece has enjoyed huge popular appeal and captivated audiences at all levels, young and old, since it was first performed in 1791. Mozart’s appeal is widespread and it is the opera’s romantic adventure story of humanity and fellowship which has made it a perennial favourite for generations of opera-goers.

Although the film’s financiers, the Peter Moores Foundation, considered a number of directors it was Kenneth Branagh’s artistic and commercial success with the film adaptations of Shakespeare’s Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet, which convinced them that he was the director who would be able to undertake the considerable challenge of breathing cinematic life into The Magic Flute.

As producer Bardet explained, “I went to Kenneth Branagh for the obvious reason that he is extremely successful in translating theatre into movies with the Shakespeare plays. We have had to do the same with this opera, a translation from one medium to another one, because cinema and opera are very far from one another.”

Branagh’s energy and passion has ensured that this new version of The Magic Flute has the potential to be an extraordinary cinematic experience; visually breathtaking and weaving drama with comedy in an engaging way while focusing on a compelling story populated by extraordinary characters.

The Script

Once onboard, Branagh began writing the screenplay for The Magic Flute and approached his longstanding friend and collaborator, Stephen Fry, whose talents encompass his work as an actor, author and director, to adapt and create a new English language libretto for the production.

Drawing on the similarities between past and present, producer Bardet pointed out that, “When Mozart created The Magic Flute in the 18th Century it was supposed to be a very popular opera, dedicated to a wide and popular audience. That is why when it was written, the libretto was in German and not in Italian as most librettos were at that time. So in translating the libretto into English we were exactly on the same track as Mozart and Schikaneder in their time, which was to make it as accessible as possible. And English is today the main language in cinema.”

Describing how their collaboration worked Branagh added, “I gave Stephen the 120 page screen scenario with as much detail as possible about setting for each of the scenes, character descriptions as they applied to this version, and the different ways in which I intended to answer some of the questions Mozart and Schikaneder pose in the plot. He then took a literal translation of the libretto and we discussed how to reflect the vernacular of our chosen period (1916). We wanted wit and emotion, and Stephen is unafraid of both.”

The challenge for Fry in bringing the libretto up-to-date, while revealing the opera’s innate humour and comedy, was to find language with the most suitable meter and rhythm for a text which was originally written in German.

As Joseph Kaiser, who plays Tamino commented, “Stephen Fry has done a great job ensuring there is enough of a similarity between the original and singing in English, it makes it very, very easy and sing-able.” Similarly, Tom Randle who plays Monostatos also found the new libretto to be a great success, “It’s a fairly open and free libretto which then allows us the scope to improvise in a way, without feeling too hemmed in.” While Ben Davis, who plays Papageno, felt that Branagh and Fry’s work made the opera more relatable with characters who really come to life, “I think Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Fry have endeavoured and succeeded in developing a language for the piece which really gets you involved in the characters’ lives and makes you feel for them.”

Branagh brought to the project his considerable experience of working in film, theatre and television, a unique skill-set which enabled him to work easily with performers who were more accustomed to the disciplines of the opera world. As Lyubov Petrova, who plays the Queen of the Night, pointed out, “Working with Kenneth Branagh was an amazing, unique experience. Being an opera singer we don’t have the luxury to go so deep into the character and to work on every word, every feeling, and really discuss the character’s development with the director and I had all those opportunities with Kenneth Branagh.”