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“Everything you associate with Agatha Christie — spectacular locations, vivid characters and very violent, passionate stories — it’s all there in (the movie). For me, it’s such a gripping, grab-you-by-the-scruff-of-the-neck kind of story,” Branagh says.

“It’s different from her other books,” he continues.

“Her other books are all equally good, but that dynamite combination of the place, the people and the story is hard to beat in this one.”

After the film’s $350 million box-office haul, Branagh will reprise his role as Poirot in an adaptation of Christie’s 1937 novel, Death on the Nile.

The sequel is already in pre-production and will hit cinemas on Nov. 8, 2019.

“The strong sense I had in my mailbag was people wanted to go on different journeys with Poirot and experience more of this universe,” Branagh says.

When asked, I reply simply that it would be a lovely thing to do. Kenneth Branagh wants to play a James Bond villain

The supplements on the Blu-ray release of Murder on the Orient Express, which was shot on 65 mm film — a rarity nowadays — will give fans a chance to delve further into the world of Poirot and Agatha Christie with 90 minutes of extras that include deleted scenes and a short documentary on the writer.

“This was a movie that just kept playing and playing, much to my delight. It was something that was one of those word-of-mouth pictures and it played across all age groups and it had people leaning forward wanting to know more about these characters,” he says.

“You feel as though there is a world that she’s created.”

In a rare interview with the Sun, Branagh, who first made a name for himself directing a film version of Shakespeare’s Henry V in 1989, talked further about directing the famous ensemble cast, his own decades-long career and why he’s holding out hope to one day play a Bond villain.