Apple TV action-comedy Mayday stars Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh as a mismatched American and Russian odd couple, but you might be surprised by which one of them lets their fists do the talking.
Despite Reynolds semi-regularly suiting up as the dual-katana-wielding Deadpool, it's Branagh's former KGB agent who's the far more adept fighter in Mayday. And according to the movie's directors, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the 65-year-old Branagh wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty when it came to the action, or the comedy.
"He was super hands-on," says Daley during a conversation with GamesRadar+ at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 to discuss Branagh's Liam Neeson-style action man makeover. "He did a lot of the rehearsals with our stunt coordinators. He did a lot of his own stunts, and just like he approaches everything, he had deep reverence and deep respect for the material, and was able to put a level of emphasis into all of it that we were so lucky to have."
In Mayday, Reynolds US Air Force pilot Troy "Assassin" Kelly crash-lands behind enemy lines in Russia, and is saved from a life sentence in a gulag by Branagh's Nikolai Ustinov, who happens to be obsessed with American pop culture, like McDonald's and Top Gun. Kelly is a very wanted man, however, so when push comes to shove, it's Ustinov who does the pushing. And the shoving. And the head-smashing.
Branagh's wannabe-defector is also a deadpan delight, landing laughs alongside blows. Mayday, then, is something of a change of pace for the typically affable Branagh, who more than holds his own opposite wisecracking motormouth Reynolds on the comedy front.
"We're big fans of casting the greatest actors we can get, whether they're drama or comedy people, like Jesse Plemons in Game Night," Goldstein says. "We just ask them to commit to it like you would a drama, and it turns out to be hilarious. And Ken just brought so much great chops to the thing."
"There's this weird misconception that dramatic actors have trouble doing comedy," Daley adds. "And I couldn't disagree more with that. I feel like dramatic actors, as long as they play it like a drama, are the funniest."
هەفتانە هەرسکردنەکان، چیرۆکەکانی ئەو کۆمەڵگایانەی کە خۆشت دەوێن و زۆر شتی تر
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/action-movies/mayday-directors-on-turning-kenneth-branagh-into-the-russian-john-wick-he-was-super-hands-on/
