Keira Knightley Interview: From Pirate To Duchess

Kiera Knightley rose to international stardom very quickly, following her breakthrough appearance in Bend It Like Beckham.

Going through the normal child actor’s route of British TV, she went global in 2003 (aged just 18) opposite Johnny Depp in The Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl.

In the last few years she has been flexing her acting muscles with period dramas such as Atonement and The Edge of Love, but today she’s talking to Entertainmentwise about her new movie, The Duchess, based on the book by Amanda Foreman.
 
Entertainmentwise: We understand you were familiar with the book before you signed on to do the film, was it an offer you couldn’t refuse?

Keira Knightley: “I started reading the book when I was doing Edge of Love, (but) it wasn’t the book, Saul (Dibb, the director) sent me a letter and he sent me three really big ostrich feathers tied with a nice big bow…They’re very pretty, I thought a man who does that, you have to work with him really!”

EW: What’s your view on the film’s parallel’s with Princess Diana? (Her character was directly related to the late Princess of Wales, and mirrored her complicated love life).

KK:  “I was 11 when Diana died so I really don’t know what the actual story was, so I don’t think I can comment on the parallels. I was definitely aware of the images. I knew when I was going into it that she was a distant relation, but that’s as far as my knowledge goes. I was very much making a film about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. I think that she’s an interesting enough person to warrant a film completely about her, without comparison… it certainly wasn’t the reason for me to make the film.”

EW: The film’s ending is very open to interpretation. The director believes it’s a ‘happy ending', do you?

KK: “No, we disagree about this, which I think is great. It’s not my place to dictate, I think if you think it’s happy – and some people do actually – then that’s great. If you don’t then you don’t. I think that the whole journey for her is one of idealism into reality, in a strange kind of way and I think that she gets very much broken down.”

EW: Are there any plans to act on stage in the future? If so, what sort of role would appeal?

KK:  “Desire yes, plans no. I have no idea, I don’t know what it would be. There are so many different ones, it could be a Shakespeare, it could be a modern, whatever catches the fancy.

EW: Finally, how was  your sex scene with co-star Dominic Cooper?

KK:  “You are meant to be very supportive of each other, but he came out in a skin coloured nappy, and I just completely lost it. I couldn’t stop laughing! Saul actually did come over and say ‘come on, just pull yourself together, this is serious work,’. And he’s standing there in a skin coloured nappy (laughs).”

The Duchess  is out 5th September.