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King Arthur and his Knight(ley)s
Acting
is in 19-year-old Keira Knightley’s genes, she is the daughter of
actor Will Knightley and playwright 'Sharman MacDonald’. Knightley's
first major role was in ‘Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace’
in which she played Sabe, Decoy Queen to 'Natalie Portman's' Queen Amidala.
She is probably best known for her role as tomboy footballer Jules Paxton
in the hit ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ - and subsequently ‘Pirates
of the Caribbean’ where she starred alongside Orlando Bloom and
Johnny Depp. Her new film sees her playing Guinevere in medieval drama
‘King Arthur’.
YOU WERE 17 WHEN YOU STARTED DOING ‘PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN’,
YOUR FIRST MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE, AND IT DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE GONE
TO YOUR HEAD. PEOPLE SAY YOU'RE STILL THE SAME.
Oh no, it's definitely gone to my head (laughs). No, it's really weird,
I suppose the way you prepare for any role is always the same no matter
what the budget is and the banter between the actors and the director
is always the same as well. On a Jerry Bruckheimer film, you come on to
the set in the morning, another thing explodes, and that's another day
on the job. It's amazing how quickly it becomes normal, though. You're
working with Johnny Depp, you get stranded on an island with him and you
get to kiss Orlando Bloom and that's another average day at the office.
HOW
WAS IT KISSING ORLANDO? DOES HE HAVE SOFT LIPS?
You
go right to the point! Let me say he's got nothing to worry about! A long
wet kiss is the best.
DID YOU DO PRACTICE RUNS?
Oh, yes, we rehearsed for months... no, actually we just did it. They
said action he kissed me, I kissed him, the sun went down, whallop! There
you go.
DID YOU HAVE STUNT DOUBLES?
Not so much. At the beginning of the movie, in the earlier drafts of the
script, my character Elizabeth Swann wasn't really meant to be that action
packed. She was more of a classic damsel in distress. As we went on, Gore
Verbinski the director, and the writers decided she should start kicking
back: they thought it would be a great idea for me to do a lot of the
stunts myself. It was very spontaneous and spur of the moment. Gore would
say, "Climb up the side of the ship" and I would go, "Alright
then".
IS
IT A MORE GENTILE, MORE CLASSICAL HEROINE YOU PLAY NOW THAT YOU PLAY GUINEVERE
IN KING ARTHUR?
Guinevere... don't think ‘Camelot’, think ‘Gladiator’
and the first 20 minutes of ‘Saving Private Ryan’. It's going
to be very dark and dirty. We're actually following the theory that King
Arthur was in fact a general at the end of the Roman Empire in Britain.
We're following this theory and Guinevere is a warrior, because men and
women fought on equal terms!
SO YOU GOT A SWORD THIS TIME?
Yes! I got a sword, amazing! I did boxing, sword fighting, archery, axe
fighting and knife fighting in preparation. I felt like a man. The testosterone
was pretty high anyway after working with all the guys on ‘Pirates’
but now it’s just going through the roof!
COULD YOU GO OUT AND HANG OUT AND HAVE FUN TOO DURING THE SHOOTING?
Yeah, we really did have a good time. We really didn't have a fight in
the entire six months until we got into the limo at the airport, then
we started an argument but we ended up laughing.
YOU
ARE VERY BUBBLY AND CANDID. DO YOU SAY TOO MUCH SOMETIMES? YOUR STAR IS
RISING AND PEOPLE ARE SAYING YOU'RE THE NEXT BIG THING. ARE YOU AWARE
THAT THINGS YOU SAY WILL BECOME PART OF YOUR HISTORY?
No! Not until people tell me that. How can you? I mean really. You never
know what's gonna happen. I've been taking each day at a time. I've been
lucky so far.
HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO HAVE A NORMAL TEENAGE LIFE?
Oh, you just do, you carry on living, stay in touch with your friends,
go shopping, go to the cinema. You find the time. After all, this is only
a job.
DO YOU HAVE A HOLLYWOOD CRUSH?
Before, people used to ask me who do you wanna work with, who do you fancy?"
I always used Johnny Depp and now it's sort of embarrassing. I hate to
think he might find out about it.
HE'S 40 THOUGH...
He's still a sexy guy! I don't know, there are so many cute guys. I was
always a bit of a Leonardo di Caprio fan.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS A TEENAGER BEFORE ALL THIS?
Pretty unhappy, actually. I wasn't happy in school, partly because I wanted
to do something else. It was nobody's fault, nobody was horrible to me
or anything like that. I was just absolutely not happy being there. I
was lucky enough to have an escape route and this is it. I was very happy,
and so were my parents, when I finally left because I think it was a huge
weight off their shoulders.
WERE YOU PREDESTINED FOR THIS JOB HAVING AN ACTOR FATHER AND WRITING MOTHER?
Maybe. It's
certainly is a very intoxicating lifestyle and I think as a child you
look at it and see the magic. Maybe I should have rebelled and become
something other than this, but I didn't.
WHAT SPORT DO YOU REALLY LIKE?
Boxing - I'm loving it, it's fantastic! Before I tried it I was like "How
can they do that, how can they condone that?” Now I'm up late nights
watching it on TV. I'm thinking about starting kick boxing too. I have
a crap left, but my right's pretty good.
WHAT ARE YOUR
FAVOURITES?
PERFUME: Issey Miyake for Men, I don't like the one for women.
CD: The White Stripes ‘Elephant’
GIG: Coldplay at Earl's Court
CLOTHES: T-shirts
BOOK: Napoleon & Josephine
FOOD: Thai
MOVIE: Sweet Sixteen