Keira blasts Hollywood’s obsession with rape

KEIrA Knightley says she shuns roles in modern-day films because she notes that the female characters are often raped or treated disrespectfully, which is why she chooses to star in more history-based movies.

‘I don’t really do films set in the modern-day because the female characters nearly always get raped,’ says the 32-year-old actress.

‘I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas I’ve always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces.’

Knightley shot to fame in Pirates Of The Caribbean and went on to star in Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game, about the life of Alan Turing, and the Duchess in which she played the 18thcentury aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire.

Her next film is historical drama Colette, based on the French novelist of the same name.

While she does not single out any contemporary films herself, Brie Larson won the Best Actress Oscar in 2016 for her portrayal of a woman held captive and repeatedly raped in the film room. Other films featuring similarly disturbing scenes include The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the 2009 Oscar-winning Precious. Knightley admits that there’s been some progress with the writing of more current films. ‘There’s been some improvement,’ she tells Hollywood’s Variety magazine. ‘I’m suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren’t raped in the first five pages and aren’t simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife.’ Knightley, who is married to musician James righton, formerly of the Klaxons, admits she’s missed out on earning big money in Hollywood by not being pushy enough. ‘For the first time recently I got paid a little bit more than my male co-stars,’ she says. ‘I haven’t tried to push back on it much. I think I probably should have. ‘My approach has been not to ask because I would have been really angry, which is stupid. ‘I’ve been putting my head in the sand, I’m afraid.’ Perhaps Keira should sign the BBC’s Carrie Gracie as her new agent.