Keira Knightley Interview, Atonement

MoviesOnline sat down with Keira Knightley at the Los Angeles press day for her new movie, "Atonement,” another classic British romance directed by Joe Wright (BAFTA Award-winning director of "Pride & Prejudice”) based on a screenplay adaptation by Christopher Hampton (Academy Award winner for "Dangerous Liaisons”) of Ian McEwan’s best-selling 2002 novel. The film features an award-winning cast that includes James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, and Vanessa Redgrave.

Filmed on location in the U.K., "Atonement” spans several decades. In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis (Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony’s vivid imagination. Robbie Turner (McAvoy), the educated son of the family’s housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony’s headstrong older sister Cecilia (Knightley). Cecilia, he hopes, has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony – who has a crush on Robbie – is compelled to interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit and changing the course of three lives forever. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, Briony finds the path to uncertain atonement for her childhood misdeed, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.

Keira Knightley previously starred for "Atonement” director Joe Wright in "Pride & Prejudice.” Ms. Knightley’s portrayal of Jane Austen’s heroine Elizabeth Bennet earned her Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and London Film Critics Circle Award nominations, among others; and the Best Actress citation from New York Film Critics Online.

She is also known to audiences worldwide for her portrayal of another heroine, Elizabeth Swann, in Gore Verbinski’s blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean” trio (respectively, "The Curse of the Black Pearl,” "Dead Man’s Chest,” and "At World’s End”), all of which starred her opposite Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom for producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Ms. Knightley had earlier starred in Gurinder Chadha’s sleeper hit "Bend It Like Beckham,” for which she was honored with the London Critics Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year. Her other films include Richard Curtis’ "Love Actually”; Tony Scott’s "Domino,” as the late bounty hunter Domino Harvey; John Maybury’s "The Jacket”; Antoine Fuqua’s "King Arthur,” again for producer Jerry Bruckheimer, as Guinevere; Gillies Mackinnon’s "Pure”; and George Lucas’ "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” in which she had her first big-screen role.

The U.K. native acquired an agent at an early age and appeared in her first television drama, Ferdinand Fairfax’s "Royal Celebration,” at the age of 6. Her subsequent television credits included playing Lara in Giacomo Campiotti’s miniseries remake of "Doctor Zhivago.”

Ms. Knightley’s most recent films are Francois Girard’s "Silk,” opposite Michael Pitt; and the just-wrapped "The Edge of Love.” The latter project reunites her with director John Maybury and also stars Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, and Matthew Rhys.

Keira Knightley is a fabulous person and we really appreciated her time. Sporting an attractive star print tea dress by Topshop, here’s what she had to tell us about her new movie, "Atonement”:

MoviesOnline: Your dress is lovely.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: Thank you.

MoviesOnline: That green dress in the film was sensational. Didn’t you just want to wear that forever?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: It was a great dress. It was actually very fragile though, so every single one of them broke. It was like tissue paper. The pattern in the front of it was done by lasers, so it was holes in the fabric. But it meant that there was such a tiny amount of fabric between the holes that literally you’d do that and it would just rip all along it. So obviously a certain scene in the library took its toll on the dress.

MoviesOnline: Was it bruising doing that scene?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I don’t remember that it was particularly comfortable. I was hoisted up. They made the bookshelves for it, so they were specially made bookshelves to make it easier, but it was quite athletic.

MoviesOnline: Do you have that at home?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: If you’d like, I’m sure you could have it.
[Laughter]

MoviesOnline: Did you know this book? Were you familiar with it at all?

MoviesOnline: Could you talk about the rehearsal process you had for this film?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: It was interesting because we actually HAD rehearsal for this film. We never do normally.

MoviesOnline: James McAvoy mentioned you switched parts and played each other’s roles in rehearsal?

Normally you come onto set and you’ve got about 10 minutes to figure out a) that there is a problem, and b) how to sort it out, which means that that’s kind of the level that you are seeing on film. You are getting this, okay, what if we just do it, and sometimes that actually works really well and sometimes it doesn’t. But it was really nice on this because as far as projects go, it was quite a risky project. And because of the style that Joe had chosen to do it in, doing it in that 40s accent, really fast, very clipped British accent. It doesn’t exist anymore and a lot of people have shied away from it in the past because it’s seen as being incredibly theatrical and very stylized and stilted. So it was really great to have like three weeks where we all worked on the accent together because we decided right from the top if we didn’t really go for it that it just wasn’t going to work, so everybody had to be on the same page. So we just made sure that we were totally on the same page as far as the accent went and as far as emotionally the journey of these characters. And also it’s a story that isn’t about what is said, it’s about what isn’t said. So it was very important that we knew what it was like learning two lines of dialogue.

MoviesOnline: Was that why everyone was smoking?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: Again, what we were trying to do is really go back to that 1940s style of filmmaking as well, and you watch any of those films and it’s a cigarette on the go the whole time. So I watched a lot of Greta Garbo for her cigarette action. It was a really interesting way of holding it. And then there was some fantastic Bette Davis cigarette action as well. I think I stole both.

MoviesOnline: What does Saoirse bring to her performance that’s special?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: She was 12 when she played Briony and it’s an extraordinary thing to watch when a 12-year-old gives that performance because that’s when you go this is not taught. So where does that kind of a talent come from? And it’s quite extraordinary. She has this broad Irish accent and there she is giving this pitch perfect 1940s English accent. Bringing to the role, I can’t imagine any other person of her age being able to play that role and being able to play it with the complexity that she managed. I think it was really extraordinary. I’m sure she’ll be wonderful in Lovely Bones as well.

MoviesOnline: There are so many extraordinary scenes. Which part of this movie was the biggest challenge for you?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: That’s what I want from work. I want it to be challenging. If I’m going to find it easy, then what’s the point in that? I can’t think of one moment that comes out as being challenging. I think partly because of that three-week rehearsal period where we had a map of exactly what we were going to do and we talked through everything. It was actually incredibly clear when we got to making it and there weren’t any kind of surprises that came out. I think as far as sort of my favorite scene when I read it, for my character, and when I was playing it, was the one in the Swallows tea shop. And I think it was when they see each other for the first time after five years. I suppose that was the most challenging and rewarding because it’s the scene where I think if you’d seen it in a modern day film, you’d say exactly what you were feeling and they would have kissed and it would have been quite melodramatic. And it was trying to go through that process of realizing what these two people wanted to do and wanted to say, and in fact all these probably melodramatic feelings that would have been exploding inside of them, and yet keeping a lid on it. So it was, I suppose, challenging just trying to keep that balance between keeping the emotion there and keeping that intensity there, but actually also trying to rein it in and bring it back and bring it back. It was a really interesting exercise in letting it all out and then reining it in again and letting it all out, and just getting that balance right.

MoviesOnline: What about the scene where you jump into the fountain?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: Oh, that was just cold. We shot that over two days and on the first day they heated the water, so it was absolutely fine. And on the second day they didn’t so it was freezing! I think they just couldn’t be bothered. Actually I got rather ratty. I don’t think I behaved particularly well. I was pissed off! It was absolutely freezing cold, but it looks good so that’s the main thing.

MoviesOnline: When did you shoot that scene?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: We shot it in the summer, but it was a British summer. Everybody keeps saying it was really warm and I remember a couple of days of it being warm, but on the whole I don’t remember it being very warm. But maybe it was because they weren’t naked jumping into a fountain. Maybe that’s why I thought it was so cold?

MoviesOnline: You don’t have any special resistance to water after Pirates?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I should, but no. In the Pirates films we had such huge costumes on over the top that we were actually wearing wetsuits underneath, but here there was no room for a wetsuit in that fountain.

MoviesOnline: How do you learn so quickly?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I think it was a lot to do with Lisa (Keira’s stunt double in Pirates) on that one. She is completely fantastic. I think it’s anything. If you’ve got a good teacher then you can learn and you want to learn. I find I really enjoy it. Anything like that I really like, I like getting stuck in.

MoviesOnline: Are you done with the Pirate films or do you think you have another one in you?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I don’t know. It was an extraordinary experience, it really was, and the success of those films has been just amazing, but I think, for me, I’ve always liked three as a number. That’s quite good.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk a little about "Silk”? Has it been released yet in Japan?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: It hasn’t come out in Japan yet. I think it’s coming out in January in Japan. The character that I played never goes to Japan. She’s in France the whole time. It was based on this incredibly beautiful book by Alessandro Baricco, and it was a book that I got really obsessed by. And it’s incredibly simple. It’s about 65 pages or something and every page is a new chapter and there is a lot of repetition, but it’s really stunning. So when they sent me the script I really wanted to be a part of it because of this book and also because it was a character that was really sort of, there was nothing in the book and there is nothing on the page. She is very much a sort of silent background character. And I think I’d been playing so many of these strong quite heroic women that are going headfirst into situations, that it was a really interesting thing for me to hold back and to be playing this person that wouldn’t speak and would just constantly, I don’t know, be quite subservient to the people around her. So I think that’s why I chose it. And also the director, Francois Girard, who’d done a film called "The Red Violin,” which I really liked. I thought that was a very beautiful piece.

MoviesOnline: Is there a movie that changed your life?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: It would probably be something really obvious. It would either be "Little Women” with Katherine Hepburn, or it would be "Gone with the Wind.” I wanted to be them. I still do watch "Gone with the Wind” on a loop. But "Little Women” I watched until the video broke completely, and I think I got through about 3 videos of it. My mother would just have to keep buying it for me because I couldn’t stop, just around and around and around.

MoviesOnline: Did you see the remake of "Little Women”?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: It was pretty good, but Katherine Hepburn, come on!

MoviesOnline: How much research did you do for this film?

MoviesOnline: Are you looking forward to doing more modern films and not wearing period costumes?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I have very much been in period pieces. I went off and there’s two films I’ve got coming out next year which are both period as well, and partly because I wanted to work in Britain. I had been away for such a long time, and really if you look at what’s exported, film-wise, from Britain, it is the period pieces. And I think it has a lot to do with what people think of when they think of British culture. You think in the past. You don’t necessarily think of the present. I know it absolutely has a vibrant and modern culture, but that’s not what sell overseas, which is fair enough. So therefore if you do want to work in Britain you kind of have to, also the scripts that have just spoken to me more have happened to be those. It’s not necessarily because they were set in ancient times or historical places. It’s more been about the characters, about the stories. I’m not going to go, all right, this is a great script with great people, but I’m not going to do it because it’s set 200 years ago. You just can’t. You have to go with the script that speaks to you. So yes, I’d love to do a contemporary piece. I just haven’t found one that’s done it for me yet.

MoviesOnline: Would you like to play an American?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: Yeah, I’ve been offered a lot of films, and I did one, "The Jacket,” was an American film, but again, the ones that have interested me as far as characters go, and because of Pirates I’d been away for two years straight so I just wanted to work at home. In a minute or two I’ll want to travel again and that will be fun, but it’s been really great working at home.

MoviesOnline: What do you have coming up next?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I’ve got these two films. "The Duchess,” which is with Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling, which I finished last week. And then "The Edge of Love,” which is with Sienna Miller, and my mom wrote. So they are both coming out next year.

MoviesOnline: Do you have any experience sending or receiving love letters?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: Not that I’m going to tell you about! I’ll keep that to myself, thank you very much! (laughs)

MoviesOnline: Is your mom a professional screenwriter?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: She’s been a professional screenwriter and playwright for the last 25 years. That had nothing to do with me. She’s been a playwright since I was born.

MoviesOnline: Is this your first time playing in one of your mother’s projects?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: Professionally, yeah. It is. It was really exciting. Predominately she is a playwright and this is the third film that she’s got made. So it was really exciting to work.

MoviesOnline: Was she around on set?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: She wasn’t actually. I think she only came about twice, which is weird because she loves hanging around on my sets, but I think for a writer your work is done once you start filming. And this certainly was. The script was locked. So she didn’t really hang about.

MoviesOnline: Did she write this with you in mind?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: No, when I was doing "The Jacket,” which was about 4 years ago, she came up to Glasgow just to hang out and she was writing it. And she said, I think I’m having a problem with this draft, can you give me notes, which she’d never actually done before, so I read it, and gave her some notes. But I said, if you get this up and running I’m going to play that part. And she went, oh yeah, fuck off. And it happened!

"Atonement” opens in theaters on December 7th.