Kenneth Branagh worked on his movie moustache for months

Kenneth Branagh spent six months perfecting his flamboyant Hercule Poirot moustache for Murder on the Orient Express.

Agatha Christie's literary detective is known for his distinctive facial hair and Branagh was determined to nail his character's distinctive look before filming started, adding the facial hair gave him a real sense of power on set as he directed the thriller.

"(It took) six months of work to work out what's the volume, what's the shape and how do we put it on," he tells People magazine. "(It's) an impressive thing (that) had peculiar power to it. It's a great moustache because it almost hides your entire mouth."

Branagh admits he needed a little extra courage as the film's director because he was taking charge of a project that also featured stars like Dame Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, and Johnny Depp.

"They were (all) very excited, a little shy the first time they met..., but they were excited," he told Live! with Kelly and Ryan on Thursday (09Nov17). "Everyone gets to play these very striking characters. They're all terrific in it, really done wonderful research with the characters, but they also really enjoyed being an ensemble... They enjoyed being this sort of group of elite folk."

"It was really exciting to watch because it's part of an event in the movie that they're all there in the same place," he continued. "They were all on the shoot for a month together. Never went back to their trailers. These were people who were really full of stories and everything. And you feel it, you feel it in the movie.

"There's a kind of tension, a good tension, a good rapport... It was really a pleasure to direct."