Empire magazine, October 2004

Public Access
It's the new queen of the screen, Keira Knightley.

*Pierce Brosnan said he wants you as a Bond girl. Do you fancy being a Bond girl and do you fancy Pierce?
James Lacey, London
That's a top question, James. Pierce Brosnan is very sexy. I don't think I have the right assets to be a Bond girl, though. You have to be, erm, kind of...taller. Anyway, I'm not good with bikinis. They always have to wear bikinis, don't they, Bond girls?

*You've just finished filming The Jacket. Which of these would you prefer: the Green Jacket, or a jacket potato?
Steve O'Bannon, via email
The jacket potato (laughs) They're a staple of my diet. Cheese, a bit of salad - lovely. There, Steve, aren't you glad you've asked that? Next time I see someone from EMPIRE, I'll expect to see you with a jacket potato for me.

*The Jacket stars Adrien Brody. Has he got a huge hooter or what?
Mandy Symons, via email
He's got a very nice nose. He does all that modelling and he's got an amazing face. And it was fun working with him. Just watching him and Jennifer Jason Leigh work, you go:''Ooh, acting masterclass - take notes.'' It was really, really great.

*Is it true that your mothers couldn't tell you and Natalie Portman apart on the set of The Phantom Menace?
Ian Johnson, Dundee
Yeah, I should think so. We were both wearing the same costume and we were stood next to each other. But I was only 12 and on it for about three weeks. So I don't really remember anything from the shoot apart from being very uncomfortable in the costumes.

*Have you ever played with your Star Wars action figure, Keira?
Elizabeth Turner, via email
No, I haven't seen it. I believe they scanned my face for it, so there is one, but can you play with it? There's probably going to be a King Arthur action figure, isn't there? There was meant to be a Pirates figure, though I haven't seen any, and there's a pirates video game too.

*Keira, are you forever blowing bubbles?
Sammy, West Ham
No, not since West Ham went down to the First Division. I'll be blowing bubbles when they get back into the Premiership. We weren't ready to do that last season - if we'd got back up we would have just gone straight back down again. I'm going to be very controversial in saying that. But next year we will come up! We will come up!

*Did the leather chest-strap thing you wore in King Arthur chafe?
Linda Laurence, via email
It was very tight and did kind of rub. But most of it was lined with some sort of soft material on the inside that was very nice and comfy.

*Do you think you'd ever star in Text It Like Beckham?
Peter Deighan, Dunstable
Would I star in Text It Like Beckham? Erm...hmm...no. I'm sure Posh and Becks text beautifully, though.

*Do you regret making The Hole?
Dan Livingstone, via email
I don't regret anything about making The Hole. It was a fantastic experiece and interesting becuase all the scenes were shot in order. It was really dark, a great cast and a good character. What a bitch.

*You had hunky co-stars in Pirates. So, Keira, Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom?
Donna Wade, Stockport
Oh, Jesus! I can't. I might be working with them again. Erm, a mixture of both of them. And it's not even picking individual qualities - it'd just be an amalgamation of absolutely everything.

50 MOST BEAUTIFUL CELEBS: 1 - KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

She's kissed Orlando, proved girls can play footy, and hit top LA beauty status in seconds. Now she's gracing the cover of NewWoman - and Vogue - at the 'Oops, I seem to have skipped the spotty teenage stage' age of 19. So it's no real surprise Keira topped our Most Beautiful poll. From 2002's Bend it Like Beckham to this month's King Arthur, her star keeps on rising. We met up with Richmond's most glamorous export to say 'Congratulations' and nab some secret beauty tips.

- So well done - you've been voted our Most Beautiful Celebrity!
- Really? That's excellent! [Laughs] It's very nice - thank you.

- So do you consider yourself knock-em-dead beautiful?
- Oh no! I mean, you can look good in four hours in hair and make-up... but no, I don't consider myself beautiful.

- What role do you think your looks have played in your success?
- Obviously I think I've got a look that they [the film industry] want. But sometimes my face simply won't fit a character, other times it will... That's the name of the game. But yeah, my looks must play a part in getting me roles.

- Your best beauty tip?
- A bloody good dermatologist! [Cracks up]. And lots of water. That's what they all say, isn't it? Water and good foundation.

- Any favourite beauty products?
- Mmm... I'd say Dr. Houschka - the cleanser and toner - and I always carry E45 cream in my handbag.

- Are you mad about fashion?
- I try to be but I'm not very good at it! I'm a shoe freak, though. When I'm in LA I love shopping at Fred Segal's in Melrose Avenue. And I'm a market girl. In London I'm always in Camden and Spitalfields. I'm not really into designer stuff. I love customising my clothes, which basically means ruining them, so I don't normally buy very, very expensive stuff.

- But you always look so glam! Do you have a personal stylist?
- Yes. They normally bring in a row of clothes and say 'OK, you can have one of these for the evening, but you have to bring it back in immaculate condition. So which one are you going to take?' And I go 'That one!', and that's about it!

- How do you keep in shape?
- I walk everywhere. I suppose that's the only form of exercise I do now. I did seven months training when I did King Arthur, weightlifting, boxing and that kind of stuff and that's kept me in good shape. I've still got muscles in my arm and I'm happy about that [Flexes arms as proof].

- Ever considered plastic surgery?
- I'm only 19, I don't have to think about that just yet! But I say, whatever makes you happy.

- OK, so give us a quick plug for your new film King Arthur...
- I play Guinevere. In those days, women fought on equal standing with men and she would've been a warrior. She's very manipulative and calculating and would use whomever to get her own way, whether it was with her sexuality or by killing someone. It felt very empowering playing her!

Daily Mirror '3am magazine', 28th July 2004

KEIRA ROYALE
Hollywood honey Keira Knightley talks about kissing Clive Owen, Guinness and being a tomboy...

Keira Knightley shot to fame as the damsel in distress in Pirates of the Caribbean alongside Johnny Depp. In her new film King Arthur, she shimmies around in corsets, lace and a bondage-leather outfit as warrior princess Guinevere.

- You were surrounded by boys when making King Arthur - must have been tough...?
- Oh yeah! I was lucky - seven beautiful boys in leather. What more could a girl ask for, really?

- In Pirates you were a girly-girl, and in this you're a fierce warrior princess. Which is more you?
- I think I'm like a man in this. I suppose I'm more of a tomboy than the girly-girl, which is why I can't walk on stilettoes very well. I look like I'm drunk sometimes.

- Critics have said they were surprised by your strength and ability.
- Excellent. That's cool. I really, really enjoyed doing all the training, doing all the action and working with the stunt guys and trainers. I just had a fantastic time and really got into it.

- How hard did you train?
- I was in the gym two hours a day, four days a week for three months before we started, and then as much as I possibly could when we weren't filming. I was mainly doing weightlifting to build up my upper body, and then boxing when I started the swordfighting.

- Did your body change with all the training?
- Definitely. And it's amazing how much it changed in such a short time. Mind you, I was training a hell of a lot. I went up a dress size, just in muscle, but I don't know abought weight because I don't weigh myself.

- You're only 19 but have already played some very sophisticated characters. How have you managed to avoid the teen casting?
- I don't know. I think you can only do movies you'd like to watch and I just haven't really seen any teen movies. I think thery're a very American thing, and maybe they're not in the English culture so much.

- You've also been married a lot in your films.
- I think I've been married five times before I'm 20, which I'm rather proud of! I'm giving J-Lo a run for her money aren't I? She'd better watch out!

- You have a big kissing scene with Clive Owen, who plays King Arthur. How did you find it?
- He's a lovely kisser! We did quite a few takes and he's very good. Nothing to worry about there. It's always a bit weird though, having to kiss someone you don't really know that well.

- Ever had a nightmare kissing scene?
- Not so far. It could be a nightmare and you always carry mints in your pocket just for politeness and hope for the best.

- How tight was the bondage leather outfit you wore around your chest?
- It was pretty tight. It was all one top even though it looks like two, and we took a long time designing it. Originally I was in full-on armour, but then we thought, 'Where did she get that? That doesn't make sense.' So I had to be dressed like all the other Woads, and actually I was more covered up as all the guys were totally bare on top with just these little loincloths. I thought: 'There's no way I'm wearing that!'.

- How long did it take to get all the blue make-up off?
- Not that long but I always forgot about the bits behind my ears so I ended up with little blue streaks running down there. I did nearly ruin my flat in Dublin [where King Arthur was filmed] and the landlord called up the production company because I had blue footprints all over it. He was like: 'What's this kid doing? She's got blue paint everywhere!' And they were like 'Sorry, we'll clean it up.'

- Were you drinking a lot of Guinness there?
- Yes, and then the blue paint came off really easily!

- How many pints could you put away?
- I'm a bit of a lightweight, so not many. Not like the boys. We'd go to all these pubs at night and Hugh [Dancy] could really knock it back. But I do like it. It does taste different in Dublin to anywhere else.

- Do you still live at home?
- No, I finally moved out and bought a flat in London. I have a bed and a wardrobe and that's it. People keep saying: 'Get decorators'. And i'm like 'No, no, no.' That's not the point. I am going to do it myself.

- So are you a minimalist?
- No, I just haven't had any time! And because there's nothing in the flat I just haven't spent any time there.

- You also have a new boyfriend, model Jamie Dornan.
- Yeah, he's great - very sweet and sexy. We have a lot of fun together and we're very happy together.

- What's this rumour about you being a Bond girl?
- No, that's not true - I'm not going to be a Bond girl. No one's talked to me about it.

- Do you fancy it?
- You know what? I don't have the right assets, so I'll leave it up to others! You've got to look a certain way to be a Bond girl, if you know what I mean!

- Could you win a fight in real life?
- No. I couldn't win a fight, but I could probably throw a punch and maybe get one good one in!

- With your film success you must be really wealthy now?
- Not as wealthy as I keep reading about in the papers!

- When do you start filming Pride and Prejudice?
- I'm starting rehearsals soon and it's really exciting. I'm really looking forward to working with Judi Dench, it's going to be great.

Express Magazine 'Saturday', 24th July 2004

KEIRA SLAYS THE KNIGHTS
As axe-wielding Guinevere, Keira Knightley puts the Knights of The Round Table to shame while training for this summer's blockbuster King Arthur.

by John Millar

Keira Knightley proved she could play the boys at their own game when she scored a career goal in the 2002 football film Bend It Like Beckham. And she comfortably held her own alongside impressive all-star casts in hit British movie Love Actually and US blockbuster Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl. But the 19-year-old actress faced her toughest challenge to date when she was cast as fearsome warrior queen Guinevere in the multi-million pound all-action epic King Arthur. For as well as being the only girl in the core cast of this latest, gritty, big-screen version of the legend, she also had to undertake a gruelling three-month training regime to get in shape for the physically demanding role.
Naturally tall and slender, Keira was assigned a personal trainer to work out with for four days a week in the gym to build up the muscles she needed to wield axes, knives, and a bow and arrow for the brutally realistic fight scenes. And when her male co-stars - Clive Owen, who plays King Arthur, and Ioan Gruffudd, Hugh Dancy and Ray Winstone, who play Knights of The Round Table Lancelot, Galahad and Bors - were sent to boot camp to perfect their weapons techniques before she shoot began, Keira went along too.
And, the self-confessed tomboy had no complaints about having to sweat and suffer with the lads. On the contrary, she relished every minute. "I loved all of it. It was all wicked," she recalls, smiling gleefully when w meet at the launch of the film in LA. "I'm a bit of a tomboy so the action stuff was fantastic. I used to train with the guys and I could beat most of them. They hated that."
"Keira had as much to do as the rest of us," confirms Hugh Dancy, who played the title role in the TV adaptation of Daniel Deronda. "Everybody had a lot to learn."
Keira's favourite discipline was archery. "I loved the archery because I had done it before at school summer camp," she says. But that's not tosay it came easily. She suffered in her efforts to master the sport, but took her injuries in good spirit, bearing them like badges of honour. "I had the most fantastic bruise all the way up my arm, which I was extremely proud of because it meant I was doing it well," she explains. So well, in fact, that she was better than most of the guys and absolutely had no problems in hitting the bullseye: "I beat Ioan hands down," she boasts. Despite revelling in her action-girl role, she wasn't above playing the helpless damsel and took advantage of the protection afforded her as the only girl in training. "The boxing was great because I got to punch them but they weren't allowed to punch me," she smiles mischievously. From the sounds of things, the feisty teenager wouldn't have any trouble defending herself, but the film's producers clearly weren't taking any chances with their leading lady. And who could blame them? Fast becoming Britain's brightest screen siren, Keira's star quality certainly wasn't lost on her King Arthur co-stars. Not only were they knocked out by her looks, they were also taken by her magnetic presence - both on screen and off. "The camera loves her,2 says Ioan gruffudd, who came to fame in Hornblower. "She transforms on screen. Whatever 'it' is, she has it. In front of the camera she blows you away - it's breathtaking! She's also a beautiful girl," she adds. "She's down-to-earth, very bright and clever. And she's willing to learn as well. She has not become precocious or nonchalant." Clive owen was also pleased to observe that success had not given Keira an inflated ego. "It's incredible to think soeone of that age is so rounded and unaffected," he marvels. "It must be easy to go a bit loopy, and she's not. That, for me, is hugely impressive. Part of the credit for Keira's grounded attitude must go to her parents, who are both in the business. Her dad, actor Will Knightley, and mum, playwright Sharman Macdonald, allowed their daughter to work during her school holidays after she famously asked for an agent at the age of three. At the age of nine, she appeared alongside Sophie Ward in A Village Affair, and made her major big-screen debut as a decoy double for Natalie Portman in Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace. But it was her role in Bend It Like Beckham that really projected her onto the world stage and led to parts in ITV's adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, Pirates of the Caribbean and Love Actually.
She'll soon reunite with her Pirates co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom for the sequel to the box office hit. But first, fans will see her play an alcoholic waitress in The Jacket alongside Adrien Brody and take the romantic lead opposite Matthew MacFadyen in the latest movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Yet, despite her rising star status and salary, she has only just moved out of the family home in Teddington, Middlesex, and into her own flat in Central London - reportedly to live with her boyfriend of six months, Irish model Jamie Dornan, 22. The young couple are rarely apart and Keira even flew him over to be with her at the Hollywood screening of King Arthur. Her other constant companion is her mum, who accompanies her on her frequent trips abroad - and the LA launch of King Arthur is no exception. But while her work frequently takes her to the States, she currently has no plans to relocate. "Never say never,2 she shrugs. "I really do like coming over here to LA and I have some mates here now, which is good. But while I like visiting LA, I can't imagine living here. I'm very much a London girl. That's where most of my friends and family are, so I would find that hard to move away from."
Besides, she finds it strange enough on her current visit to be greeted by giant posters of herself - with breasts digitally enhanced at her own request - staring down at her from points all over the city. What's more, her high profile makes it difficult for her to do the kind of things most girls he rage love - namely shopping. Keira confides that she wants to buy a pair of cowboy boots from a shop on Sunset Strip, but she won't go in because her image looms over the store from a huge King Arthur hoarding. "The cowboy boots are at a really good price," lament Keira who, despite her growing wealth, clearly still has an eye for a bargain. "But I can't go to that shop because of the poster. So I was thinking maybe someone could take it down so I can get the boots." It's unlikely that anyone would dream of removing the giant-sized billboard - and even more unlikely that Keira could become anonymous, especially after her attention-grabbing performance in King Arthur.
Besides her impressive fighting form, Keira's skimpy costume - made up of a few strategically placed leather strips - has already attracted a lot of interest. However, according to the actress, it could have been much more revealing had the wardrobe department stuck to historical fact: "They were matriarchal societies, so the women were leaders and used to fight on equal standing with the men. But they were all completely naked and painted blue," she says. "At the beginning there was talk of doing that. Luckily it was quickly forgotten!" The costume she ended up wearing for her combat sequences didn't leave much to the imagination - which a smiling Keira describes as "rather unusual".
"We spent months trying to come up with that outfit. I was originally in full armour, a bit like the boys. Then it was 'OK, but where did she get the armour from?' That didn't make sense. It didn't work. Then we looked at all the guys who were just in, like, loincloths and had completely bare tops. I didn't want to be in a loincloth," recalls Keira, who had to strip off for a love scene with Clive Owen. "So I managed to et full-on trousers and a bit of armour round my legs. Keira's minimalist wardrobe proved a big bonus when filmin the big fight sequences during what turned into an exceptionally hot Irish summer. "I was running round totally fine while all the boys were dying because of the heat," she laughs. And when the cameras stopped rolling, the actress was quick to embrace the Irish way of life. "I have friends and family over there, so I got to hang out with them a lot and drink Guinness." Needless to say, she claims she could drink her male co-stars "under the table". But that's Keira for you, just one of the boys...

Sunday Mirror 'Celebs On Sunday' magazine, 25th July 2004

INTERROGATION: KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
Gorgeous British actress Keira Knightley, 19, talks being starstruck by George Clooney, playing warrior princess Guinevere in blockbuster King Arthur, and strong family ties...

- Is there anything you secretly wish you were really good at?
- Being able to dress myself. Some people can go into shops and always find amazing things, which are normally bargains, and I just cannot do that. I can't piece an outfit together to save my life. Producers usually hire a stylist for me when I go to premieres because they think I'm so pathetic.

- What's been your most embarrassing moment?
- I was making a movie last year called The Jacket, and George Clooney was one of the producers. He came for the first day of shooting and I literally managed to say 'Hi' and 'Bye'. I didn't think I'd react like that to George Clooney. I really didn't. It was the most embarrassing thing ever. Everybody was digging me in the ribs going 'Just say something'. I was like (speaks through her teeth), 'I can't'. So yes, I do get starstruck. If I'm working with someone I can cover it. I only met him for a day, so it was fine to be starstruck by George Clooney.

- So how do you keep your head screwed on with so much hype surrounding you?
- I probably don't! I don't read anything and I don't look at newspapers. It's too weird, so I'm not really aware of hype anywhere. I manage to stick my head in a bucket and don't notice it.

- How much money have you blown in one go - and what on?
- A lot. And it was for my new flat - I've just bought it, but there are a few teething problems. There was water pouring through my ceiling, but my dad went over and found a plumber, so hopefully it's all going to be fine.

- Have you moved back in with your parents while it's fixed?
- Well I've been flying around so much promoting King Arthur I haven't had a chance to live in my flat OR move back to my parents.

- Do you also have a home in Los Angeles?
- No, I haven't bought a place there. I do like visiting LA, but I can't imagine myself living there. Definitely not. It's a very strange town. It took me about a month to get used to the flatness of everything - it's so sprawling and spread out. There's certainly a lot of work there, but it just so happens that, although King Arthur was a Hollywood movie, we shot it all in Ireland. So in actual fact there was no reason to move out there.

- What were your first impressions of Hollywood?
- I think it's a scary place for a young girl. There are pressures to conform to a certain type, tall, blonde, thin, big breasts, you know - The Type. You have to be really strong to say 'OK. this is me. This is what I'm about', and laugh at everything else. I'm not that strong a person yet. I stil need my mum to be near to say 'No, you're fine.'

- So you would never consider plastic surgery?
- I'm 19. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about things like that yet.

- You seem very grounded.
- Yeah, it's all about being British. I've got a really close group of friends and family around me who absolutely don't bullshit. I think everyone needs that. I suppose that's a help.

- What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
- As far as acting goes, 'Cancel and continue'.  Because you do have to deal with a lot of rejection - that is a part of the job and you can't let it get you down. You just have to continue forward. Otherwise, it's got to be 'carpe diem' (seize the day) hasn't it? It's the ultimate.

- When was the last time you cried?
- Probably when I saw the water pouring through my ceiling in my new flat. A frustrated cry for help.

- Have you ever been mistaken for another celebrity?
- Yes, for some reason, Natalie Portman.

- How do you feel about it?
- It's fine. She's a good-looking girl, after all.

- Are you friends?
- Well, I've worked with her on Star Wars Episode I (Keira was one of the queen's handmaidens) so, yes. I met her a couple of months ago as well, and we stood next to each other and I can safely say that in the flesh, apart from the brown eyes, there are no similarities. She's skinnier than me and a lot more petite. There is a huge height difference. I'm 5ft 7 and she's 5ft 3. She's a beautiful girl but, no, in the flesh we really aren't alike at all.

- How would you spend a typical day off?
- I haven't had much time off, but spending it with family and friends is what I usually do. I've been travelling so much, I don't get to see them very often. We'd just eat, drink and talk. It's great. My mum does the cooking because she's really good, and we get a good bottle of wine and we all just chat.

- Did you enjoy playing Guinevere in King Arthur?
- Yeah. I mean what's exciting about this film is Guinevere's a really strong female character. She's a bit of a fighter and someone who really stands up there with the guys in the middle of the battlefield. She wouldn't think twice about killing somebody or using her sexuality to get her own way. She was very calculating and very manipulative. If I was in her situation, I'd like to think I would have fought for what I believe in, but I'd have probably run a mile.

- How many men did you kill in the end?
- I don't know in the end. It's PG-13 now, so some of the bodies are on the cutting room floor. I can safely say I am not the best sword-fighter ever, but I was actually good at archery.I went to a lot of summer camps when I was a kid and they always had an archery course. I loved it. So yeah, I was alright. Hit the bullseye no problem.

KEIRA'S REALITY CHECK (questions to see how 'worldly' the celebs are)
- When was the last time you used public transport?
- It's always a bit difficult going on the underground in rush hour, but very few people actually come up and say something to me. And when they do, they're very sweet. But I prefer walking everywhere. I can't remember the last time I took the tube.

- What was the last domestic thing you did?
- It was probably cooking. I can cook. Well, nearly. I haven't killed anyone just yet.

- What's your top beauty tip?
- I have a fringe, which is the best spot cover ever! So, grow out your fringe is my beauty tip.

- How much is a plate of cod and chips?
- If it's from your local chippy, about four quid. Something like that. (Ed.: Correct, more or less.)

Hello! Magazine, 27th July 2004

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY - QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD AND STAR OF KING ARTHUR
ATTENDS THE LONDON PREMIERE WITH HER LEADING MEN - AND BOYFRIEND JAMIE

When Keira Knightley graced the red carpet at the London premiere of King Arthur, not only was she accompanied by her leading men from the film, Clive Owen and Ioan Gruffudd, but also her own knight in shining armour - her boyfriend of several months, Irish model Jamie Dornan. At the age of just 19, the hot Hollywood star is finally realising she has 'arrived'. "I can't believe how many people are here", declared the actress, who plays a feisty Queen Guinevere in the film. "I don't believe I could ever get used to this sort of reaction." Thousands of fans were waiting at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square to see the stars of the £90million blockbuster arrive. Celebrity guests included King Arthur actor Ray Winstone, model Sophie Anderton and Princess Michael of Kent with her children Lady Gabriella and Lord Frederick Windsor. But all eyes were on the glamorous Keira, looking stunning in a silver-grey designer dress and £250,000 worth of diamonds.
When Hello! met up with the actress recently, she was dressed rather more casually in jeans and an Edwardian-looking jacket - but still looking meltingly lovely. Keira's hair, which she used to wear blonde and swept off her face, is now dark, straight and cut in a fringe. A new look, perhaps, to see her into her twenties ? "Hmmm." She thinks for a moment. "It's really because I have spots and a fringe hides them!" she laughs, her dark eyes flashing in amusement.
Meeting Keira, you understand why all her male co-stars in King Arthur are said to have fallen a little in love with her. She's beautiful, funny, down-to-earth and utterly charming - even when telling you to mind your own business. ("I have no idea what you're talknig about!" she chirrups, all wide eyes and mock innocence, when you try to get her talking about Jamie.) The daughter of actor Will Knightley and playwright Sharman Macdonald, Keira has been acting since she was six years old. Bend It Like Beckham catapulted her to fame and Pirates of the Caribbean, in which she shared a kiss with Orlando Bloom, sealed her place there. However, love scenes - albeit with Orlando - were not enough for Keira and she is reported to have told Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer in no uncertain terms that the next time he cast her she would like to get stuck into the action of the film. What's a top Hollywood producer to do, in that case, but to start shooting a film about King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table, and cast her as a sword-wielding warrior queen?

- Keira, last time we spoke you were just about to start shooting King Arthur and very much looking forward to the battle scenes. How did you fare?
- I loved it! I had an axe fight and sword fights and I got to do archery - which I beat the boys at, by the way - and I just completely adored it. Totally, absolutely loved it. We had three months' training before we started filming and it was fantastic - almost like being 11 years old and running around the playground again.

- You were pretty much the only girl in the cast.
- Wasn't I lucky? I had seven beautiful boys in leather to play with! I didn't fancy any of them though because they were the lads and I was one of the lads so it was like 'No, sorry, can't do that!' They were more like my brothers. Very impressive brothers, mind you, who all looked like rock stars.

- Sounds like you were something of a tomboy as a youngster.
- Yes, but not quite so far that I'd actualy get into real fights. But I do remember playing King Arthur when I was growing up and I think I was a knight because I remember having a plastic sword and shield. I wsn't a princess, that's for sure.

- Is it true you suffered from dyslexia?
- Not exactly. But when I was six they discovered that I couldn't read at all and even at that age I wanted to get into acting. So my mum took me aside and said 'Okay, if you come to me all through the summer holidays with a book in your hand and a smile on your face, then at the end of it I'll gt you an agent.' So I did and I got an agent at the end of it and then we worked very hard for the next few years. By the time I was 11 I'd conquered my reading difficulty. It's never been a problem since, although I never liked school much and left as soon as I could.

- No plans to go to college?
- Not at the moment. I went to Ethiopia recently and it made me realise what a privelege education is and how lucky we are to have it available. Maybe one day, when I get over this acting thing, and decide on a proper job I want to do, I'll study for that.

- It's not likely to happen any time soon. What does it feel like to be famous all over the world?
- To tell you the truth, I haven't stopped working for long enough lately to take a step back and be aware of it. Obviously, there have been differences in my life. Getting on the bus is becoming a bit difficult and, yeah, it is strange when people recognise you in the street and they know you but you don't know them! That's always a bit weird but it's certainly nothing to complain about.

- Where's home these days?
- I have a place of my own in London, but right now it has no furniture and a leak in the roof. I keep hoping for a free week when I can go out and buy some furniture so I can actually move into it, but there hasn't been the time. So I'm sort of spreading myself between friends, family and whatever location I'm working in.

- Tell us about your new projects.
- I've just finished The Jacket, which is a kind of 'thinking man's thriller', in which I play an alcoholic American waitress, who is about as far from Guinevere as you can imagine. I'm about to start shooting Pride and Prejudice, in which I'm playing Elizabeth Bennet - tremendously exciting as I've never done a Jane Austen piece before. Then there's talk of a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, which we'd all love to do because we had a wicked time on the first one. A lot of different stuff - which is great because what's fun for me about acting is to change as much as you possibly can with each project you do.

- When do you find time for romance?
- There's always time for romance. And that's all I'm going to say about that!

Variety, 25th June 2004

Inside Move: MPAA dubs 'Arthur' PG-13
Disney vanquishes Bruckheimer's R-rated promise

By DAVE MCNARY
 

"King Arthur" won't be the second coming of "Gladiator" or "Troy" when it comes to carnage.
The Motion Picture Assn. of America recently rated "King Arthur" PG-13 after the studio managed to trim enough of the violence from the epic's climactic battle scenes to avoid an R.

The PG-13 rating is likely to come as a surprise to some. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer promised last year he'd deliver an R-rated pic, adding, "Audiences want to see something that's real. They don't want to cut away."

Disney spokesman Dennis Rice told Daily Variety that the move to secure a PG-13 rating fits in with the studio's push to attract a broad audience. "We've always felt it was advantageous to go for as wide an appeal as possible with a big summer film like this," he added.

Variety, 24th June 2004
BVI sneaks 'King' for Euro exhibs
Disney counting on 'Arthur' to make up for pic losses

By NICK VIVARELLI

AMSTERDAM -- Buena Vista Intl. held court Wednesday at Cinema Expo with a surprise "King Arthur" screening, the $100 million epic's first international outing.
The Mouse House has much riding on summer tentpole "Arthur" after a string of big-budget disappointments this year, including "The Alamo," "Hidalgo" and "Home on the Range."

Disney presented it Tuesday to international press in Los Angeles, where U.S. press will view it today. Jerry Bruckheimer-produced pic unspooled for more than 1,000 European exhibs amid tight security. A squad of guards escorted the still-unfinished print and thoroughly checked delegates' credentials as they filed past metal detectors to ensure that no recording equipment was introduced into the RAI auditorium. Even a few hours before, organizers remained mum about the event, billed just as "an upcoming BVI film."

"This movie has a truly European feel and sensibility," Buena Vista president Mark Zoradi told the crowd of delegates. Shot in Ireland, the historical actioner stars British thesps Clive Owen as King Arthur, Keira Knightley as Guinevere and Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot.

"King" is scheduled for a July 7 release in North America before beginning its European rollout in mid-July, once the Euro 2004 soccer championship is over.

Late summer overseas release pattern will emulate that of megahit "Pirates of the Caribbean," which cumed $650 million.

BVI also tubthumped the first installment of its C.S. Lewis franchise "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which Zoradi said would be a Christmas 2005 release. Delegates were shown a rough-looking clip of "Narnia," which is shooting in New Zealand.

The Mouse House's product presentation also included clips from "The Incredibles," "Raising Helen," "The Village," "The Princess Diaries 2" "Ladder 49" and "Chicken Little."

Variety, 17th June 2004

Inside Move: Knightley over knights
'Arthur' marketers make thesp star of actioner's ads

By CATHY DUNKLEY, MARC GRASER

The movie's called "King Arthur," but Disney is banking on Guinevere to help open the pic.
The Mouse House has made the character, played by Keira Knightley as a strong warrior queen, the star of its campaign for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced actioner, as a way to lure female moviegoers, a demo that helped "Troy" and "Gladiator" at the B.O.

With the R-rated actioner originally positioned as a "Gladiator"-style epic about the "true story" of King Arthur, early footage pushed the pic's swordplay and armies fighting violent battles.

Marketing ramp-up for the film, which opens July 7, has evolved into a different and broader approach.

Knightley's now front and center in the posters and dominates much of the new spots that now appear on television. Film's love story, lush landscapes and origins of the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table are also emphasized in the trailers in theaters.

Knightley will also grace the covers of Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and Premiere magazine.

Realizing that its stars, including Clive Owen, who plays King Arthur, Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot and Stephen Dillane as Merlin, are not household names, Disney also unveiled four 15-second spots this week devoted to each of the pic's central characters, who are more recognizable.

The studio has already spent $3 million on fold-out poster inserts in Los Angeles and New York newspapers. Disney did the same last summer to promote "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

Disney needs "King Arthur" to conquer the B.O. After a string of big-budget disappointments this year with "The Alamo," "Hidalgo" and "Home on the Range," the studio is eager for a hit.

However, the spotlight on Knightley's Guinevere is a little ironic.

In the original script, the character doesn't make her entrance until page 55. Onscreen, she appears 40 minutes into the film after seven other major characters have been introduced.

Sunday Times, May 23rd 2004

Keira

She's the hottest starlet in Hollywood and she's still only 19. Keira Knightley talks to Claudia Croft about fame, growing up fast and why she's too lazy to have an entourage

Keira Knightley arrives at Claridge’s. She’s a tad late for the photoshoot, but the traffic is terrible between London and Teddington, the Middlesex suburb where she still lives, “on and off”, with her playwright mum and actor dad. Dressed in scruffy jeans and second-hand cowboy boots, she apologises to the hairdresser for having cut her own fringe. “I did it to hide my spots,” she says.
It’s nice to know that Knightley gets spots just like any other teenager, but that’s where the similarities end. Movie insiders recently voted the 19-year-old, star of Love Actually, Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean, the woman most likely to become a Hollywood legend.

Her freshness, youth and undeniable beauty are key to her screen appeal. But in Hollywood, which is full of gorgeous young things, what sets Knightley apart is her ability to put a gutsy spin on femininity. She may have worn her fair share of corsets over the course of her career, but, as she says: “I don’t do damsel in distress.” Tinseltown moguls have her pegged as a modern English rose, with enough class to grace the cover of last month’s Vanity Fair, yet feisty enough to hook a younger generation of movie-goers. It is the kind of broad appeal that translates into big, big box office. Last year, her films grossed more than any other female star’s.

She may represent the perfect Hollywood package, but the one role Knightley hasn’t quite mastered is that of the big star. She turns up for the shoot on her own — no agent, no bodyguards, no entourage of assistants. Even her mother, who often accompanies the young actress, is absent. “An entourage? What do they do? I can’t work it out,” she says in a voice that’s posh but not plummy. “I’m naturally an extremely lazy person, so if someone did everything for me, I really think I would do nothing at all.”

Idleness, however, is not an option for Knightley right now. “I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to think about it,” she says, when asked about her burgeoning fame. “That’s the way I like it. If I did, I’d freak out.” Her latest film, out in July, is the epic King Arthur, in which she plays a battle-hardened Guinevere. “I love action movies. I’ve found that, despite being a lazy person, I really enjoy the physical training,” she says. For the gruelling role, she trained in boxing, sword-fighting, archery, knife-fighting and riding — all skills that she will find useful when the cameras start rolling on her next big project, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, a swashbuckling sequel to last summer’s box-office hit. The hard physical graft has left her with an enviable six-pack, but the girl who has been described as the “sexiest tomboy beanpole on the planet” longs for a more womanly physique. “I’d kill for a body like Scarlett Johansson’s. To have tits,” she says, with wonder in her voice. “I don’t have tits, I have pecs.”

Although Knightley may wish for bigger breasts, she’s not about to embrace another Hollywood tradition, plastic surgery, in order to get them. She once joked that she would be washed up and addicted to Botox by the time she was 25. “I wouldn’t go through all that pain,” she says. “And I hate needles.”

Knightley is a girl in transition. In two short years, she has gone from nobody to somebody. Sudden fame, money and success is a lot for a teenager to cope with. “I have days of feeling like a woman, and others of feeling like a young girl,” she says. “It’s strange, because I’m very much in the working world. I’m supporting myself, and have been for a long time. That’s a grown-up place to be.”

Yet, in many ways, Hollywood has raced ahead of her. Knightley the girl from Teddington hasn’t quite caught up with her starry new image. She admits that the most “adult” thing she’s done to date is buy her own flat, near Hyde Park. And when she wants to chill out, she turns to the friends she grew up with. “Most of my school friends have gone to university, so I flit into that life occasionally — hanging out in the students’ union,” she says.

It is clear, however, that her life is already going in an entirely different direction, and you get the sense that Knightley’s self-deprecating humour is, in part, her way of dealing with the tension between who she was and who she is becoming. She may be able to laugh about her spots, say that her legs are too short or describe herself as a lazy scruff, but at times it can all sound a little disingenuous, as if it’s an attempt to stay connected to reality. Her old school has refuted her claim that she wasn’t a well-liked pupil. The stunning beauty has also claimed that she never gets chatted up. “I said that in a magazine interview once, and afterwards four different people chatted me up,” she says. “I’m glad they did, although they then told me that it was only because they felt sorry for me. I’m incredibly thick, and I walk around with my head in a bubble quite a lot, so if someone chats me up, I don’t realise until way after.”

“But,” she adds coyly, “I’m not having that problem any more.” There is a new man in her life, although she’s not prepared to say who. Perhaps rumours of a romance with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody are true. The pair met in Scotland while filming The Jacket and were spotted having intimate dates. Hooking up with a Hollywood player would certainly cement her star status, but Knightley is keeping shtoom. “It’s nobody who is going to buy me diamonds,” she says.

Luckily, she doesn’t need a man to do that. She has just signed as the new face of Asprey. “I’d never done any modelling before,” she says. “In fact, I shied away from it. When I was about 14, a model scout came up to me in a shop at Oxford Circus. They took a photograph and asked me what dress size I was. I told them I was a size 10 and they said, ‘Sorry, that’s too big.’”

Thankfully, the people at Asprey don’t mind. At first glance, the marriage of an old British brand with such a fresh-faced beauty may seem odd, but Asprey has recently been transformed from a traditional purveyor of posh gems into a modern luxury-goods house.

“They had quite an old image before,” says Knightley. “So they wanted somebody young to say, ‘Hey, look at what we are doing now.’” Her brush with fashion has rubbed off. “I’d never experienced the luxury of cashmere before, but I’ve discovered that you can still be a scruff in cashmere,” she says. “Believe me, I can scruff anything.”

Knightley has successfully carved a niche for herself in Hollywood’s mainstream, and she’s optimistic about the future. “It’s an exciting time for actresses,” she says. “The parts are getting stronger. Things are changing. It started with characters like Lara Croft. Now there are a lot of female roles that, 10 years ago, would have been a man’s.”

However, although she has made her mark playing have-a-go heroines, Knightley has yet to truly stretch herself dramatically, something of which she is all too aware. Her biggest rival in the Hollywood It girl stakes is another 19-year-old: Scarlett Johansson, the serious indie ingénue to Knightley’s glossy blockbuster babe. “I’d be completely flattered to be compared to Scarlett Johansson,” she says. “I don’t think I’d come off particularly well, but I understand that. She’s a sensational actress.”

So, does Knightley long for a serious dramatic part? As she poses for these photographs, all traces of the charming Teddington scruff disappear. She slips effortlessly into the role of a film-noir seductress, becoming darker, stranger and instantly more dangerous. Keira lite, that youthful, smiling slip of a thing, has gone, and in her place is a grown-up vamp. It’s a side of herself that she has yet to reveal on screen, but watching her smoulder here, you’re left with the feeling that she has a far greater range than she has so far been given credit for.
 

New York Times, May 9th 2004

Keira Knightley: Acting Without the Acting Out
By KRISTIN HOHENADEL

Published: May 9, 2004

GLASGOW

HAD Keira Knightley's parents been doctors or police officers, it might have been a stethoscope or a toy pistol. But the only thing the daughter of the London stage actor Will Knightley and the Scottish-born playwright Sharman Macdonald wanted at the age of 3 was an agent. She got her way at 6, luckily blossomed into an exquisite and photogenic young woman and, at 19, has been branded Hollywood's favorite rising starlet thanks to recent turns in "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Love Actually" and an attention-grabbing performance as a feisty, pouting, corset-clad damsel in distress in last summer's blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." This summer, she is a butt-kicking Guinevere in Antoine Fuqua's big-budget, Dark Ages "King Arthur," with Clive Owen.

"I'm very close to my parents, and maybe in a funny way I'm trying to be like them," she said on a recent afternoon, sipping coffee while simultaneously smacking an ever-present morsel of chewing gum. "When I was little I always felt slightly outside their world — it was specifically theater — and I always wanted to be in it, absolutely in it, preferably in the center. So yeah, I absolutely cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I don't necessarily think that's a good thing. I do think it's kind of boring to have wanted to be the same thing since you were 3 years old. You kind of go, `Haven't you grown up yet?' "

While Hollywood is busy selling her star power, Ms. Knightley sells herself as the humble child of theater folks, a normal girl who has joined the family business, and is just working hard at the only thing she knows.

Having refused to employ a personal assistant, Ms. Knightley had been readily available for an interview while on location for "The Jacket," a psychological thriller about the Persian Gulf war that is scheduled for release this fall. She chose a busy coffee house, arrived unfashionably on the hour, turned off her cellphone and behaved as if she had the whole afternoon to chat breezily away, squandering her time on such courtesies as small talk. She seemed bent on rewriting the role of rising starlet, which normally requires one to arrive late, to speak only when spoken to, and to never try to pay for one's own skinny cappuccino.

In this disarmingly normal behavior may lie the secret of Ms. Knightley's appeal. She is the impossibly beautiful, naturally aristocratic, charmingly accessible babe next door — a celebrity friend.

With a flawless onscreen beauty that can dissolve in an instant into gamine sexiness, she has proved equally adept at playing the highborn costume-drama demoiselle and the contemporary siren. But she does not turn more heads walking down a Glasgow street than any other cute girl of 19.

Wearing lots of dark eyeliner and fashionably dressed down, an AIDS ribbon pinned to her jeans jacket, she's less striking in person for her beauty than for her spunk. Just when you notice the spots on her forehead, she will point out that she bites her fingernails. She talks loudly, laughs un-self-consciously, does not sit still long enough to be gazed at.

Everything about Ms. Knightley broadcasts that she intends to be seen as both a real person and a real actress. And even if she doesn't yet have the résumé of the latter, one of the reasons people seem to take her seriously is that she seems so quietly confident that one day she will.

Writing in The New York Times, the critic Elvis Mitchell described her as "what Nicole Kidman might be like if she didn't spend so much time coughing tragically into handkerchiefs." Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "King Arthur," also compared Ms. Knightley to Ms. Kidman, who has come to symbolize the idea that glamour and acting skill can coexist. "When you've made as many movies and television shows as we have," Mr. Bruckheimer said in a telephone interview, "you see so many actors; and you know when somebody walks in the room that's really special. I think she's got the goods. I felt the same thing years ago when I did `Days of Thunder' with Nicole Kidman. She was the real thing, even though she was very young then, too — 19 or 20 or 21 — when I first met her."

Those who have worked with Ms. Knightley say she is a hard worker and a good sport, with a teenager's energy and a woman's poise, plus a healthy streak of British self-deprecation. "She came to the set the same every day; she didn't complain about trailers and `Oh, I got something in my eye,' `My latte is not right,' " said Mr. Fuqua ("Training Day") by telephone. "She's always sort of putting herself down. I don't think she takes herself too seriously, which I think is the key."

In his nonmagical version of the Arthurian legend, which opens on July 7, Guinevere is a warrior fighting alongside Arthur in the battle against the Saxons.

"She's not running around in a fluffy dress," Mr. Fuqua said. "She's rolling around, she's got two knives in her hand. She really did learn to shoot a bow and arrow and to ride horses. She's not just the damsel in distress, the beauty. She has an opinion and a political perspective about what's happening in her times, and she's fighting along with the men, side by side."

Ms. Knightley, who likes to call herself a "lazy cow," said nonetheless that she had a blast doing the physically challenging fighting scenes. "I think it's a positive thing in a weird way," she said, "not that I ever think violence is a positive thing. But I do think if we are going to have violence in action films, then I would like a little bit of female representation."

Ms. Knightley said that her parents supported her decision to quit her studies at 16 to pursue acting full time. Still, she considers herself "stupid" for not getting a degree. "I planned to have a backup plan, and I sort of don't have one at the moment. So when the work is on offer, it's kind of ingrained in me to go, `Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!' "

So she hasn't taken a vacation in two years. "I think my particular instinct is to ride the wave as long as it lasts, because it won't last forever," she said. "If you're lucky, really lucky, you might get five years where it's good — maybe, on the outside, particularly as an actress — and particularly if you're pouting a lot. People get bored of that."

Which is why she fought for her current role in "The Jacket," directed by John Maybury ("Love Is the Devil") and starring Adrien Brody, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kris Kristofferson. "What I was being offered — and Jesus, this isn't knocking it at all — was very much a kind of British, corseted lady," she said, turning her already posh accent up a notch. "So this is not what you would expect. I'm actually doing a character instead of another version of the same part."

She was not a shoo-in to play an alcoholic Vermont waitress. When she met with Mr. Maybury about the role, she recalled, "He said, `I don't know if you can act'; and I said, `Fair enough, I don't know if I can act as well.' "

Mr. Maybury, who bit his nails and chain-smoked through takes on the set and insisted on talking to a reporter only after the shoot was over, by telephone, said that he had met "a huge number" of Americans who could do the part, "and one or two who were really perfect."

"I had guarantees and reassurances from a lot of people that I had cast approval," he continued, "but then the people who were financing the film put pressure on me to see Keira." He wasn't thrilled with the idea of casting a fellow Briton in his first American film. "At this point," he said, "I had not seen `Pirates of the Caribbean.' I think I'd seen half of `Bend It Like Beckham' on an airplane or something — and to me, at that stage there were no assurances or guarantees that the girl could act. So I said to Keira: `I really don't want you in this film, but these people are putting enormous pressure on me. Why should I have you in the film?' She said, `Well, if I don't do your film, I'm going to be in corsets for the next 20 years.' "

Needless to say, that snappy remark won him over. "It was obvious that she wasn't just a piece of fluff," he said, "that she did have some depth and that she was interested in seeing how far she could push herself." In this case, that included learning how to drive a car, adopt a credible American accent and drop her image as the quintessential English rose.

"It seems to me for whatever reasons Hollywood is obsessing with her at the moment, and I think we all know what sort of damage that can do," Mr. Maybury said. "But I know that she is as interested in doing stage work in London as in all these huge-budget movies people are trying to throw at her over there. She's very serious about what she does, and I think in time she will become an amazing actor. I don't want to be a gushing luvvie British director saying, `Oh, she's marvelous, darling.' But she is."

Ms. Knightley said she hoped to sharpen her acting chops on the stage. She pointed out that she never went to drama school, though she received acting books from her father at Christmas. "I'm not quite sure what he was trying to say by that," she said dryly. "I always called myself an actress when I was small, and my mum and dad were both like, `Nah, you're not there yet.' But I don't think I know the craft well enough to have earned the right to call myself that. The plan is in the next couple of years that I will."

Ms. Knightley said she hoped to sharpen her acting chops on the stage. She pointed out that she never went to drama school, though she received acting books from her father at Christmas. "I'm not quite sure what he was trying to say by that," she said dryly. "I always called myself an actress when I was small, and my mum and dad were both like, `Nah, you're not there yet.' But I don't think I know the craft well enough to have earned the right to call myself that. The plan is in the next couple of years that I will."