I recently discovered that three of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander books have been made into movies for the BBC starring Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander. And Mankell is working on another Wallander book! The movies will air in the United States on PBS in the spring. Apparently many movies with Kurt Wallander as the main character have been made in Sweden.
When I read a book I usually imagine what the characters look like. If the author has done a poor job with description I have a difficult time picturing the character. Kenneth Branagh is not who I imagined as Kurt Wallander. In my head he looked a lot like Stellan Skarsgard but shorter. The publicity photos show Branaghas as an unshaven disheveled man and that is good enough for me. I doubt my image of Wallander will be replaced by Branagh when I read more of the books.
A few months ago I read Faceless Killers, the first Kurt Wallander book, and it’s still one of my favorite reads of the year. I’m anticipating enjoying these movies next year.