Her career took off quickly and smoothly. In life, she met not too many obstacles. I did not experience serious failures … Meeting with Keira Knightley, who nevertheless loves trials.
My reaction is expressible only in her words. In these her fuck, shit and other “mothers”. Keira Knightley talks like that – and it turns out not at all rude, not vulgar. At least organically. Probably because she doesn’t talk nonsense. She sat down at my table in a rather shabby cafe in Notting Hill and busily opened the laptop she had brought. She launched something in it and turned to me with the words: “In case you are interested in what my role is like for me.” On the screen, a girl in a beige motorcycle suit rides a beige motorcycle to the low jazz female singing “It’s a man’s world”. A new look for Coco Mademoiselle. Advertising clip. Only. But that girl on the screen… Seductress. Heart thief. A mysterious, alluring object of desire… And the girl in front of me is just an interesting girl. Black shirt with a raised collar, jeans. Lace-up boots that fit snugly around a narrow ankle. She is tall and thin – exactly thin, not elegantly thin, but teenage-angular: jeans fit the bones of her hips, the bones of her wrists peek out from under her sleeves … She has cheerful quick eyes, short-cut nails, a short bob. Speaks in short phrases, exhales short vowels in London, shortens words, hastily swallowing endings. Concentrated, not distracted from the conversation, and even at the window next to which we are sitting, she never looked. This girl is neither beautiful nor seductive. Just a pretty girl, a busy worker in a big city, quick to speak, quick to make decisions. And there, on the laptop screen, there is a mystery, a dream of mysterious femininity, a bunch of sensuality covered in a motorcycle suit… A practical example of magic. However, magic without a magician: Keira Knightley does not conjure over the image, the ability to transform is clearly given to her by nature. That is why, as soon as the video is over, she looks at me with impatience, says with her mischievous eyes: “Well, give me your question, friend!”
Dates
- 1985 Born in London to actor Will Knightley and playwright Sherman McDonald.
- 1999 Plays a doppelgänger of Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) in George Lucas’ Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
- 2005 Beginning of a five-year relationship with actor Rupert Friend.
- 2006 Oscar nomination for his performance in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice.
- 2011 Completes work on the role of psychoanalyst Sabine Spielrein in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method about her relationship with Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung.
Psychologies: You are clearly satisfied – what pleases you in this video?
Keira Knightley: Didn’t you notice? There’s a role! In three minutes! And a role not created by me. This is pure directing, the highest directorial aerobatics. It doesn’t matter who I am, how I play, what matters is that the image is created. The image of the city – how the early morning smells in it, the image of the room, the image of the aroma. Everything is real and everything is a metaphor. This little film has a plot, but there can be any number of stories: the story I imagined, the director imagined, my partner Alberto imagined, the story of his character, or the story of any of the audience. These are the kind of films that I love — in which it doesn’t matter if I’m good personally. And such roles are when you are an inseparable part of the whole, and the whole is more important and significant than you. You know, that’s why I don’t like interviews, and I try not to read criticism, it seems like you are the center there. And I love cinema precisely because no one is more important, and the most important thing is the whole. I don’t really like myself in movies. In fact, I’m not particularly interested.
Do you watch the films you play?
K.N.: I watch, of course. Because it is important for me to see how the work of others looks on the screen – partners, make-up artist, operator … I watch because of their work, not because of my own. I was the captain of the girls’ football team at school and I know what a team game is. I evaluate the game of the team, not just one player.
Is it true that after filming Atonement, you demanded to put the name of James McAvoy, your partner, in the credits before your own, and on the posters to type it larger?
K.N.: Well, “demanded” is a strong word. I do not remember that in life I demanded something. Somehow I don’t know how … I asked. I was not refused.
Why did you ask for this?
K.N.: I just appreciate the quality above the label. A star, a celebrity is just a label, a brand that has established itself in the market … In general, I saw the first version of the editing of “Atonement” and immediately understood: I am a label, and James is quality, and it became completely obvious to me – I cannot be more important than James here . Because James is a great actor, the best of our generation. I do not know any of the colleagues of our age who could play a tragic role in the same way. Because it is his film in every sense. And he proved all this.
“One of the most important women in my life”
Keira Knightley has every reason to be proud of the new promotional film for Coco Mademoiselle. First of all, it is truly directed as a complete film, a story that can only be told in the language of cinema. Secondly, it was created by Joe Wright, a 39-year-old Brit who directed Kira in Atonement and Pride and Prejudice. It was he who suggested the motorcycle as the main driving motive of the mini-movie. Kira was horrified: “I haven’t driven a motorcycle before. Joe obviously thinks I’m a tough girl! Yes, I became it: we were filming in Paris in the early morning, and passers-by froze at the sight of our escort. I think I was the main attraction in Paris that day! Not bad for a Brit, huh? And finally, thirdly, the film about Coco Mademoiselle brought the actress closer to “one of the main women of her life” – Coco Chanel. “She was strong and, most importantly, independent – this quality is the most important thing for me.”
Is it important for you to prove something in your work?
K.N.: And don’t you confirm your quality with each of your articles? Every interview? There is no difference between us, neither do I. And you know, I like to prove that I can do something. Colleagues say they hate auditions, that it’s humiliating, but I love it. Lately, I’ve just been offered a role, and the most that is required of me is to come and talk about it. And every time I get this damn feeling – I have not proven that I can really be trusted with this job! They just give me a role because the box office of my last film was such and such, and the previous one collected such and such a box office. Like I’m a cow and they’re hoping for my milk! And I love to get involved in the work, confirming that I really am the only one that is needed to do it. Joe Wright didn’t want me to do Pride and Prejudice. He said: “No, you are too pretty. You’re too sweet, caramel.” In general, he wanted to say: “You are sugary, Kira.” The worst of humiliations is when your seemingly advantage becomes the main obstacle! And I begged everyone to try and try me. with different partners. And as a result, she broke down.
And received an Oscar nomination for this role …
K.N.: But more importantly, after that, Joe no longer doubted me. And in Atonement, he wanted to work with me, and partly because of me he agreed to the commercials for Coco Mademoiselle. It was the same with another director, with John Maybury. He categorically did not see me in his “Jacket”. After the audition, he said: “I don’t want you to play in my film. In my opinion, you are a worthless actress. There is a lot of noise around you, but I think you will not cope with the role. Like, back off. I didn’t fall behind. And she asked for another test, for a certain scene. She said: “If I play and you like it, promise that you will approve me. But only if you really like it.” He agreed. I played. He was silent for a while and then left the room. I thought: well, failed to this mother. But at the same moment he returned with a business card: “Here is my mobile and office phone. See you on the set.” Then we also made two films together.
What do you feel when they say this to you – you are too sweet, you play badly?
“STAR STATUS IS LIKE A MARKET LABEL. MUCH MORE I APPRECIATE THE QUALITY.”
K.N.: But after all all-??? honestly say! When they openly say that you are a shitty actress, you can argue, you can ask for a second chance. When it’s a sluggish “thank you, we’ll call you”, and behind your back – “it seems that the girl can’t play this role”, and everything is done quietly, behind closed doors, then discussion is impossible. So, I can not correct myself, change for the better. For me, it’s better straight forward. After all, that’s who I am. You know, there are such girls-girls, and I’m a girl-boy, a boy’s girl. Everything I do… I belong entirely to what I’m doing right now. I never cheat. Never. I may not succeed, I may make a mistake and do something like this … But I do not do this intentionally. What I do, I try to do honestly.
Your words sound the passion of a man who cherishes his absolutes…
K.N.: Yes, I have them. Another issue is that they can change. Because I am changing. And because everything around is changeable. I know for sure that after meeting you I will go to dinner with a friend, and I absolutely know that I will order pasta. But then we come to a restaurant, and it turns out that today they don’t have pasta for lunch, but there is a Caesar. And my absolute will turn into “Caesar”. But it will still be my absolute. All the same, I try to keep to the main road, my “absolutely”. This is the only way to fight laziness. And I’m incredibly lazy.
Indeed?
K.N.: Well imagine: I have a free day. Rarely, but it happens. Well, free day. And I just lie on the couch and switch channels on the TV. So three completely incompetent hours pass. Then I surf the blogs and the internet in general. Three more hours. And there is no day. In the meantime, I could spend it with a book, and it would be good. Because the brain needs constant training … In general, I got rid of the TV. I don’t have a TV. And now I’m thinking of cutting off the Internet in my apartment to hell. I’ll cut it off soon, I think.
Do you want to say that you have to constantly, without relaxing, fight with yourself?
K.N.: I’m not fighting with myself, I’m just trying to change! But I’m really bad at relaxing. You see, I started working at the age of five. I only wanted to be an actress – everything in me was aimed at becoming one. I begged my parents to find me an agent from the age of five … Mom then hung a carrot in front of me, like in front of that donkey who didn’t want to move: I didn’t want to read, but my parents said that they would find an agent – I still have a theatrical family, – if I overcome my unwillingness … So I got an agent. And since then I’ve been a professional. But I must have missed something. Now it is clear that a lot.
“I DON’T HAVE SUCH A PURPOSE TO FIGHT WITH MYSELF, I’M JUST TRYING TO CHANGE”
What, for example?
K.N.: Childhood, youth. I became an adult all of a sudden. My father is an actor, my mother is a playwright. Actors, directors, agents came to us for lunch and dinner. We talked about theater and cinema. I wanted so badly to be an adult! Be a full member of this community! Now I’m thinking: damn me, why did I have to become an adult so early? No, I got really invaluable life experience, but it was different, not the same as that of my peers. I didn’t sit in pubs, I didn’t “club” at night – I didn’t live that wonderful and wild life that they live when they study in college, at the university. I had a profession and already had obligations. She, this profession, separated me from my peers, from classmates – I was a fanatic. And they didn’t like me very much. When one of my first films, The Pit, came out, one very popular girl in the class said, “Well, the film sucks, so it doesn’t count.” I’m still mad at her! I was and probably still am too serious.
I noticed that you rarely smile in the photo.
“I DON’T WANT TO FIND ONE TIME WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS ONLY WORKED AND NEVER LIVED”
K.N.: But when the photographer says “smile”, I feel like a complete idiot. At this moment, it is absolutely incomprehensible to me why I should smile, about what, in fact, I am so happy? I don’t know, maybe I need a good reason to smile. I generally like to know the reason. Why am I, where am I… And I always knew. But now I sometimes feel uncomfortable. There was too much work in my life. I never had a full vacation. I was filming, then I was involved in the promotion of films, all these interviews, then immediately I was filming again. I am afraid that I will wake up one day and realize that I only worked, but never lived. That I have a career, but never had a life … And therefore, from fear – ha! – I bought a Burberry sheepskin coat! God knows how much money it costs! Depravity. Mom told me: “Debauchery, you have no right to spend so much money on nonsense!” And I literally went around this sheepskin coat for months. Until my mother said: “If you buy it, wear it always, while it’s cold, every day.” I bought and every day, while it was cold, I wore it. All last winter and all this… And she moved out from her brother. We rented an apartment together for several years – me, him and his girlfriend. And now I bought my own and moved out – stop being a daughter, a little sister. You have to live yourself. We must change. I don’t know how to adequately respond to external circumstances! I am the type of person who weeps when angry. I have problems with casual communication. I don’t like parties, I don’t know how to behave, I’m completely lost. An invitation to a cocktail invariably ends for me with a dumb stand in the corner with a glass of champagne. Lonely and silent. Well, I can’t just, easily, talk to a person standing next to me. Once Sienna Miller – we were filming together – dragged me to a party. Oh, it was amazing – I saw what the true soul of the company is. She amused everyone, everyone was interesting to her, there were no barriers between her and the rest! And I trailed behind her from guest to guest with my tail … And the worst thing is that at the same time I seem like an arrogant bitch. And I’m not a bitch, I’m just shy.
Four of her loves
“WINTER BONE” DEBRAH GRANIK. Knightley admits that her audience taste is “completely cinephile”. She doesn’t like movie attractions: Pirates of the Caribbean is a great chance to prove herself, a great job … but not my favorite movie. And today’s favorite is “Winter Bone”. A gloomy story about the hopelessness of life in the American outback, “incredibly true and … stoic. It is about the fact that a person is capable of a huge sacrifice, of a heroic breakthrough in hopelessly routine circumstances. In addition, the main character is 17 years old, and therefore this film is also touchingly feminine.
“Impatience of the Heart” by STEPHAN ZWEIG – her favorite book: “This is a novel about feelings. And the plot, and descriptions of landscapes, interiors, the appearance of the characters – all this is necessary for Zweig, just to convey experiences. This is the uniqueness of the novel – the entire intellect of the writer is used in the interests of the heart.
SHERMAN MACDONALD, mother – a former actress and a playwright for more than a quarter of a century – is Kira’s closest friend. “Mom travels with me to the shooting, gives advice on how to change my lines in the dialogues, if the ones written by the screenwriter are difficult for me to pronounce, and then I pass off her corrections as mine. And yet she never interferes in my life. Direct advice from the sphere of personal life, I received only one from her: “Never mix drinks.”
PETER MULLAN, a Scot with Shakespearean talent, is Kira’s favorite actor. “The characters that he created – they have nothing from literature, from art, no “personality” – they are completely alive. With his game, he adds people to the world, which means to me – he changes the world.
In fact, you have become exactly what you aspired to be. But it turns out that this did not add confidence to you …
K.N.: Oh yes, in the explanatory dictionary, the article “Self-doubt” looks like this: “See. Art. Keira Knightley! And success, fame are not helpers here. You know, if it was possible to be an actress, well, completely anonymous, to be in a movie and not get on the stellar conveyor, I would certainly prefer to be just an actress, not a star. The worst thing about being famous is not that the paparazzi are catching how ugly you eat pizza. The worst thing is that you begin to serve as an illustration of other people’s conclusions. Here recently, a woman, the mother of a girl who died of anorexia, accused actresses like me of the death of her daughter. The idea is that we, obsessed with thinness and asserting it as an unquestioning standard, dictate to girls how they look. And we make them victims of anorexia. And I’m just naturally skinny. My dad is skinny too. Just heredity. And I’m not setting any standards. Therefore, I will never move to Hollywood from London – everything is fixated on the outside. I went to one cosmetology clinic there – I was terribly acne before the age of twenty, and traces of the previous acne remained on my face. The doctor studied me for a long time, and then said: “And will we correct the nose?” “In terms of?” I ask. “Will we change the shape of the nose?” — says the doctor. Because everyone goes to him for a complete, complex idealization of themselves … And I: “I would like some talker …” This is exactly what disgusts me about fame: they use you as a confirmation of certain assumptions and they expect you to follow the accepted scenario. But I myself do not know what I will do tomorrow. And enjoy the unplanned life.
But still, do you find something pleasant in your fame?
K.N.: Yes. Just recently, at the airport in Glasgow, a guy approached me, about eighteen years old, and said so politely, shyly: “I’m sorry, but can I kiss you?” I agreed. He kissed me on the cheek, thanked me and left.
And we can assume, with a feeling, that he was incredibly lucky!
K.N.: I don’t know about him, but I definitely felt that I was incredibly lucky.