Keira Knightley is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the still-beloved (and rewatched) Satisfaction & Prejudice. As profitable because the movie was although, that particular time in her life did go away her with some scars… and no, we’re not speaking about sword preventing. Knightley received candid about feeling like there was lots of hate towards her for her function within the Pirates of the Caribbean motion pictures, which she starred in across the identical time she made the guide adaptation.. On high of that, she additionally defined how the response to the Jane Austen movie threw her for a loop.
The actress not too long ago sat down along with her P&P co-star, Rosamund Pike, to debate the romance movie for its anniversary. Each actresses shared some enjoyable tidbits, together with a enjoyable Donald Sutherland story involving a gasoline masks at a celebration. Knightley finally opened up in regards to the fascinating dichotomy of being linked to each the variation of the Jane Austen novel and Disney’s blockbuster pirate saga:
Sure, [Pride & Prejudice] was fairly huge for my profession. If individuals will come as much as me, it’ll be about that one. Pirates of the Caribbean had already come out, however I believe within the public consciousness, I used to be seen as a horrible actress. However I had this phenomenally huge success with Pirates. And I believe this was the primary one which was a phenomenally huge success, however was additionally critically acclaimed.
This new interview, which was performed by Vainness Honest, wasn’t the primary time Keira Knightley has been trustworthy about how she felt whereas making the Pirates of the Caribbean motion pictures. The truth is, she’s been fairly candid in regards to the ups and downs that got here with enjoying Elizabeth Swann alongside Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner. She additionally stated this throughout her current chat:
So I bear in mind it popping out perhaps the identical yr, perhaps across the identical time as Pirates 2. And I received the worst critiques ever for that, after which additionally being nominated for an Oscar on the identical time—it was, in my 21-year-old head, fairly complicated.
The primary Pirates film earned lots of nice reward from critics when it hit theaters 2003. however the second movie, 2006’s Useless Man’s Chest, was not met with the identical reactions. Nonetheless, that follow-up largely nicely obtained amongst followers.
Keira Knightley beforehand stated she felt like she “was seen as shit” by the general public on the time as a consequence of her connection to the large IP. Throughout one other interview, Knightley stated she did not take pleasure in enjoying a personality who was “the item of everyone’s lust”. In brief, the star felt “very constrained” as Elizabeth Swann. So, when Satisfaction & Prejudice earned constructive critiques, an Oscar nomination and industrial success, she wasn’t positive how you can take it.
To place one thing in context, Knightley was 18 years previous when the primary Pirates film got here out and 20 when Satisfaction & Prejudice opened in theaters. I would think about it could’t be simple for somebody that age to grow to be so well-known and should cope with commentary on their performances and bodily look. Knightley has additionally talked earlier than about how “brutal” it was for her privateness to be taken away as an adolescent and to be “put underneath that scrutiny if you find yourself nonetheless rising.”
Knightley has additionally referred to her time being a younger actress within the early 2000s as a “very violent, misogynistic environment,” because it included commentary about her weight and ideas that she had an consuming dysfunction – which she says she didn’t have. She suffered a psychological breakdown on the age of twenty-two earlier than being recognized with PTSD and taking a yr off appearing.
It’s definitely a disgrace that Keira Knightley’s most fruitful time of her profession needed to be accompanied by such negativity. Whereas that’s maybe what the media projected at her, she was and stays — in followers’ eyes — iconic for taking part in the fiery and headstrong Elizabeth Swann within the Pirates motion pictures in so many followers’ eyes. And, in fact, she’ll additionally stay iconic for taking part in Elizabeth Bennett in Satisfaction & Prejudice, which is streamable with a Max subscription.