Why the past is like a magnet for Keira
AT 33, KEIRA Knightley isn’t ready to pass out life advice of her own. She’s willing, though, to pass on a few insights, especially from her mother, the Scottish playwright/screenwriter/actress Sharman Macdonald.
“Money was tight and my parents didn’t know if they could have another child,” Knightley said. “So Mum wrote a play called When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout.”
The play was a hit, the money rolled in and Knightley was born. No wonder, perhaps, that the title stuck with them both. “Mum has spent a lifetime saying to me, ‘Keira, scream and shout until people hear you,’” Knightley said.
“I live by that motto, and I will continue to scream and shout that I have ideas, that I want to work, that I want to get better.”
Awards season is beginning in Hollywood, and Knightley is the beneficiary of Oscar buzz for her role in Colette. She plays the groundbreaking French novelist whose autobiographical Claudine novels became a sensation in turn-of-the-century France.
Nutcracker love It’s a busy time for Knightley who stars in the new Disney family fantasy, The Nutcracker and
the Four Realms, out in the UAE tomorrow. Based on the classic fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann, the film stars Mackenzie Foy as Clara, a young girl who is transported into a magical world of gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice. Knightley plays the Sugar Plum Fairy, with Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger and Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer.
“I’ve always loved the story of
The Nutcracker, because it’s just pure imagination,” Knightley said. “This had all of the elements of the classic story, but it’s more of a live-action epic adventure set in this amazing fantasy world.
“You are literally swept away with the beauty and magic.”
If the Sugar Plum Fairy’s headpiece looks like cotton candy, that’s because it was – briefly.
“We did actually try with actual cotton candy,” Knightley said with a laugh, “but it was a nightmare. It was melting under the lights, plus bees began to follow me around the set. It was quite fun trying the different ways to
make me look like glittering cake. I was literally covered in glitter.
“We shot it two years ago, and I think I still have glitter in my house!”
Oscar worthy role
It’s a long way from the lavish, decadent world of 1900s Paris depicted in Colette, where the author struggles for literary recognition while also challenging social and gender norms and flirting with sexual taboos. “This is a story of a woman finding her voice and her true self,” Knightley said.
“She lived courageously. I felt like I stood tall when I played Colette. She was a maverick, and that’s always exciting to play.”
Having made her career mainly in period dramas, it would be understandable if Knightley resisted offers to make more. Indeed she does, she said – up to a point.
“I get offered period pieces and go, ‘Oh no! I can’t do another one. I can’t,’” she admitted. “Then I’ll go, ‘But I really like them!’
“They’re the best characters I’ve been offered,” she said, “and I’ll always go for the best characters, whether I’m in a long or a short dress. I’ve also found various ways of getting around actually wearing a corset,” Knightley added. “The corsets are pretty much gone. You can put bones inside of the dress, so you don’t need the corset at all.”
Due next year is The Aftermath, set in post-world War II Germany, in which Knightley plays a British colonel’s wife.
Mistaken for other actresses
She may be one of Hollywood’s top stars, but Knightley insisted that she’s often mistaken for other actresses. “Generally I will be recognised first as Anne Hathaway,” she said with a laugh.
“But there’s some Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman happening out there too.”
When not on a set, Knightley lives a quiet life in London with her husband, musician James Righton, and their 3-year-old daughter, Edie. “She’s magnificent,” Knightley said.
“I do love having her on a set. I make sure there is a safe place just for us to touch base. I’m with her. We’re connected.”
She’s profoundly grateful that Righton’s work allows them to travel as a family. “He has been amazing,” Knightley said.
“He has been travelling with me since we had the baby. He has largely put his life on hold so I can work and we can keep tight as a family unit. When he can’t be there, my mum has flown in.” The actress sighed. “Sometimes it does take a village,” she said with a laugh.
Taking the family on the road is a considerable undertaking, Knightley admitted, one that’s worth it only to play the right character. “I’ve always tried to play complex, strong, interesting, well-rounded women,” she said. “If there’s something apart from corsets that joins my career together, then hopefully it has been that … with the occasional money gig thrown in as well.”
Women’s empowerment
Knightley is optimistic about the future of her industry, particularly from her perspective as a woman.
“The current conversation is a massive start,” she said. “Just the fact that we’re saying, ‘Yes, we need more female voices, we need more female directors and we need the female point of view’ is amazing.”
“Obviously we need safety in the workplace as well,” Knightley continued. “I do believe there’s a real hunger right now for strong female voices. I think that’s great. We just need to make sure that’s not a flash in the pan. We need to make sure it’s proper change.”
Knightley’s vision of the future is an inclusive one. “I want to see my friends up on screen,” she said. “They are complex, strange, wonderful women. They’re the kind of characters I want to see and play. I want to see people struggling with the difficulties in the world. They make mistakes, but they stand up again. I continue to search for characters that inspire me,” Knightley concluded, “and that doesn’t mean saints. The slightly more morally ambiguous women are the ones that fascinate me.” Cindy Pearlman , The New York Times Syndicate
I’ve always tried to play complex, strong, interesting, well-rounded women.”
Keira Knightley