BRANAGH'S PLEASURE AT COLLINS' SCREENING PAYMENT

KENNETH BRANAGH's proudest moment as a filmmaker came at the screening of his low-budget movie IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER - when he handed glamorous actress JOAN COLLINS a cheque for her role in the film.

The thespian wrote and directed the black and white picture, about an amateur theatre group attempting to stage Hamlet at Christmas, in 1995, and paid for the movie himself with the revenue he had recouped from his big screen take of Frankenstein. After selling the low-budget movie to a studio at a profit, Branagh decided to share out the wealth with his cast and crew in an unconventional way - by handing out pay cheques at the film's screening.

Read the full article online here.