Keira Knightley Rules of Life. Keira Knightley: “My magnificent breasts are fiction! Candid interview with kira

mother says that I was born at the age of forty-five.

it's probably stupid to talk about it, but I never liked being a child. I wanted people to start taking me seriously as soon as possible.

I started filming when I was seven, and from the very first day I decided to save money for a house - I put money in a jar of jam. But I wanted an agent at three. I don’t remember it myself, but everyone around me says that it was so. I don't think I really had the slightest idea what agents were, it just seemed unfair to me that Mom and Dad had them and I didn't.

for last birthday when I turned 28, I thought: “Damn, this is what they call becoming an adult.” And then I took a photo - I'm nine years old, I'm sitting somewhere in denim overalls - and I thought that I urgently need to buy the same one. And then someone gives me wings, like a fairy. In general, I met my 28th birthday in a denim jumpsuit with wings behind my back - and I have never been so happy.

my parents had an agreement: for several years in a row - after my older brother was born - my mother wanted a second child, but my father (theatrical and television actor Will Knightley. - Esquire) said that they could only allow this if my mother (Sharman McDonald, famous screenwriter - Esquire) will write and successfully sell the play. So I was born, and my mother wrote “When I was a girl, I cried and screamed” - her first play.

I went the way from the eternal "she can't act" to an Oscar nomination, and it seems to be great.

at various social events you can see me in the corner with a glass of champagne. Every time I get really, really scared and uncomfortable, and I just stand there in the corner, drink quietly, smile meaninglessly, and wait for it to finally be over. And I never know what to say and to whom.

there are no individuals on the red carpet, and no matter how hard the photographers try, they are all very similar. That's why I love Björk and her swan dress (which Björk wore to the Oscars in 2001. - Esquire). But I don't have the courage to do that.

in some photos I look like a prostitute - but dear prostitute, of course. The kind that only stops at the Ritz.

in magazines I've been called the sleaziest woman in Britain and I'm very proud of it because it's true.

when I was ten I dressed like Kurt Cobain. My brother and his friends loved Nirvana and I had this crazy washed out cardigan - striped like Cobain. I wore it every day, and when it ended up in the trash because it was worn to holes, I cried like I was burying a person.

never think what to wear. The main thing is to wear clean clothes.

I always disappoint people who come to interview me. Obviously everyone expects me to be much prettier in real life.

I don't think about a balanced diet. Just the thought of dieting makes me crave chips or ice cream. And I don't go to the gym - I can't stand them.

I have no I have no idea how much I weigh. I don't even have scales. But I noticed that when I talk about it, I terribly annoy those who can not be called graceful.

I'm terribly lazy. The only exercise I do regularly is turn on the TV.

football - this is the only reason I have a TV at home. It's complete nonsense to watch football on a laptop screen.

more than anything I like to walk. I know it sounds like complete bullshit, but I was born that way.

I can not even imagine, can I say that I am completely normal. The world around is definitely not normal, but I try not to hurt others, and I try not to hurt myself. Perhaps this is the definition of normality.

Okay, that everyone thinks differently. It's more interesting to live that way.

to be an actor means to be observant. You will have to come to cafes and watch people for hours.

the most unexpected things in the world we learn about ourselves.

if i have a dark side, I still haven't discovered it. Yes, I'm so boring.

nude shoots scare me, but I'm ready for it if the script calls for it. Or if I think it's funny.

On posters, my boobs are always painted on. For "King Arthur" (film 2004. - Esquire) I also painted boobs, but they turned out stupid and saggy. And I told them: "Guys, since you undertook to draw boobs for me on the computer, you could make them stick out as they should."

yes i have boobs but 50% of the inhabitants of this planet also have boobs. So let's not waste time talking about mine.

I firmly decided live your life in the best possible way. First of all, it means giving as few interviews as possible.

yes, I wear a ring. This is the only thing I can say about my personal life.

I've had enough of screen weddings. In the movies, I've been married five times, and I have three children plus countless marriage proposals - something like twenty.

i never ask with my fellow actresses, how they are doing, because I absolutely do not want to know this. It may sound a little childish, but I really do not want to know anything about how and what they live. After all, if I suddenly find out that they do a lot of shit in life, I will immediately become uninteresting to look at them on the screen.

when there are too many men around you, you're about to grow a beard.

I'm always asked:"So you're not kidding when you say you're a feminist?" It's like, damn it, all they do is make a joke of it.

if you want to maintain a good relationship with your family, your man and your friends, you will have to spend all your time on the Internet with your phone in hand.

Good books make me happy good food and evening with friends.

I hate karaoke. Damn, I just can't stand this fucking karaoke. I have to get so drunk that I can no longer stand without someone's help before I dare to sing in front of someone. Imagine: among those who surround me, there are a lot of people who really sing beautifully, and then suddenly I pick up a microphone. It doesn't look any better than just telling them to "fuck you".

swearing is my main sin, but I get great pleasure from it. And this despite the fact that my mother swears quite a bit, and my father does not swear at all.

I used to love rage against the machine. It seems because they constantly swear in their songs.

"nicely" - it's the worst word on earth.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child so I don't read fast. But I really love words. Pretty strange, given that they are so difficult for me.

a life - it's not just study, study and study. Life is learning and unlearning, learning and unlearning, and then learning again.

I never believed that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 due to the apocalypse. It seems to me that they simply had an undeveloped imagination, and they could not imagine what would happen later, after 2012.

I forget absolutely everything even faces. Another side of dyslexia, huh.

what am I thinking now? That very soon, tonight, we meet with friends for a drink. Gin always makes me cry, so I'll drink vodka.

when you don't know what to do fall into a swoon.

Photo Getty I mages

Keira Knightley should be showing up any minute, everyone in the studio is getting a little nervous, rehearsing the welcome smiles. We're in LA, everyone's a little nervous here. In the spacious pavilion, the echo from the moving spotlights rumbles. The long rows of hangers are filled with dresses, the floor is piled with boxes of shoes. A large table is lined with jewelry worth two million dollars. Two huge guards in identical black suits look after the jewels. They look suspiciously at anyone who spins around the table for too long. Staring at the diamonds, I almost miss the moment Kira appears. She wears a wool blazer and a pleated skirt. On her feet are brown lace-up boots. Twenty-six-year-old Knightley rewards everyone present with a polite "hello" and, seeing the familiar face of hairstylist Ben in the crowd, goes to him to kiss the air twice.

Kira remembers everyone who helped her become a star - hairdressers, makeup artists, assistant producers. She was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for her role in the film Pride and Prejudice, and now she is filming in the film adaptation of the novel Anna Karenina. “This is Tolstoy,” the actress exclaims emotionally. “You have to be crazy to refuse such an offer.” And this is not the first time that Kira has to play a Russian aristocrat. In David Cronenberg's new film A Dangerous Method, the girl starred as Sabina, a Russian patient of the psychoanalyst Gustav Jung, suffering from hysterical seizures.

Kira is a very polite Englishwoman, she does not even try to speak with an American accent and act like an American. She was born in the London suburb of Teddington. Her mother is the famous playwright Sherman McDonald, her father is theater actor Will Knightley. Already at the age of three, the girl asked her parents to hire her own agent, at the age of six she got one. Knightley patiently built her acting career, ignoring those who scolded her unconvincing performance. Nonsense! The results of her game are more than convincing - by 2008 (thanks to the Disney trilogy "Pirates of the Caribbean") she became one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood with an annual income of $ 40 million! In addition, since 2006, Keira Knightley has personified the Chanel fragrance - Coco Mademoiselle.

She is very rational about her personal life and never flaunts her relationship. Little is known about her novels. She dated actor Rupert Friend for five years. Last January, they broke up due to the fact that the terms of their contracts practically did not allow them to be together. Her new friend is James Righton, lead singer of the English indie rock band Klaxons.

Corset? And what, nowadays someone uses corsets?

Oh, it was a director's fantasy! I usually put a few drops on my wrist and on my neck. I hate the thought of someone bringing me to my knees.

And what, aroma can win the heart of a man?

Good question... I don't know. It's probably better to ask men about it. A friend of mine stopped dating a girl after the first date because he didn't like the smell of her perfume. It is possible that the opposite also happens.

On what basis do you dress?

I like boyish chic. I feel a lot of boyhood inside me. When I was a teenager, I dressed like a boy. Until the age of 14, she did not wear skirts at all. I just hated them. I still like to wear men's shirts.

Can you remember your first designer outfit?

Yes, it was a Miu Miu dress. Remember the white dress of Marilyn Monroe that rose from the air from the subway? My dress looked like him, only black. It didn't fit me, especially the top. For such a dress you need a large chest (and I don’t have it at all). But I still love him. I bought it ten years ago, but it still looks relevant. I love it when things come back into fashion.

Do you need a lot of time to get yourself in order in the morning?

I do everything very quickly. Especially now that I have short hair. Long hair was a lot more of a hassle.

Why did you cut your hair?

It was required for filming. At first I objected, I thought that you can get by with a wig. We began to discuss it, drank a glass of champagne, then a second, and after the third I already had this haircut.

Are you sorry?

Not at all. Although I thought I would regret it. But now it's so easy to manage hair! Washed up and left. Fabulous.

You play a lunatic in A Dangerous Method, the first on whom Jung tried his psychoanalysis.

Yes, I'm playing a patient. My heroine had a romantic relationship with Dr. Carl Jung.

Jung taught the whole world how to interpret dreams. Do you have recurring dreams?

There are, but I'm not going to retell them to you (laughs).

Last Night in New York, you played a married woman dating her former lover. Do you think it's possible to love two men at the same time?

Sometimes. But it is difficult to answer such a question unambiguously. It should somehow be combined with your personality, with the place that you occupy in life, with how you feel about the person who is next to you.

Which is worse, emotional or physical betrayal? Or do men and women perceive it differently?

I always thought that emotional betrayal is worse for women, and physical betrayal for men. But when I started asking men about it, I made an interesting discovery. It turns out that for them it is much worse, much more dangerous to fall in love with another woman than just to have sex with her.

I never thought that men are able to analyze their betrayals so difficult.

(Laughs.) How capable! But I think it all depends on the relationship in a couple. This topic is both exciting and repulsive at the same time. We will never be able to unambiguously explain why cheating occurs. Each time is a special story.

Have you ever sexted?

Excuse me, what?

Sexting. This is when someone exchanges messages of an intimate nature via sms or through social networks. Do you think this is flirting or cheating?

Oh my God! I do not know what to say. First time I hear about this.

Do you believe in female intuition?

I believe, but I do not think that it works correctly in a hundred percent of cases. I can always feel the people between whom there is sex, to catch the chemistry of their relationship.

Have you ever been jealous for no reason?

I think jealousy is the only emotion in which there is nothing good, nothing positive. I'm not saying I've never been jealous. Of course she was jealous. But it seems to me that jealousy never arises by mistake. This feeling can be trusted.

Do you find it easier to communicate with women or with men?

My friends include both men and women. There is a friend who is comfortable only in a purely female company. In my other girlfriends, as in me, there is a lot of boyishness. But I don’t demand terrible physical strength and a tough testosterone character from men either. They can be musicians, artists, writers and directors. Men are actually very sensitive beings.

If you imagine that you will no longer be recognized, even for one day, where will you go?

Very simple. I'll go to the subway. I love riding the subway and seeing people.

Anna Karenina was played in the movies by Samoilova and Plisetskaya, Garbo and Marceau, not to mention Vivien Leigh and Jacqueline Bisset. To get into this enviable company, Keira Knightley had to read Tolstoy's novel twice and come to terms with the fact that Russian women are special.

No stranger to complex tricks - she climbs masts like a pirate and plays football like Beckham. In the film adaptation of the great Russian novel, the British actress will have to perform only one acrobatic etude - jump under a steam locomotive.

If successful, this will not be the end of the journey at all, but simply a transfer - from the conditionally second composition to the unconditionally first. From the echelon of stars to the echelon of world cinema superstars. , with which Keira Knightley was not compared only by the lazy, convincingly proved that suicide on the screen is the shortest path to the coveted Oscar. But The Black Swan, with all due respect, is just a ticket to the ballet, and real cinema is always The Arrival of the Train. We already know what Keira Knightley is waiting for, it remains to find out what she herself is waiting for?

You - a girl who is just getting ready for the wedding - is it wrong to ask about the emotional similarity with Anna Karenina?

Why? Who among us has not experienced despair or unbearable pain, succumbing to passion, who has not committed acts with grave consequences? We are all subject to emotions that are not so easy to control. Why would I be an exception?

- It turns out that you also have "terrible secrets of the heart"?

I just want to say that it's not perfect. And that I can also be two-faced, I know how to lie and I know what it's like to hurt your loved ones. But I still try to become better, I learn from my mistakes.

- Unlike her heroine...

Do not try to oppose us, this is the road to nowhere. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that even Tolstoy himself could not fully understand his feelings for this woman.

- Why do you think so?

In my opinion, at times he doesn’t exactly condemn Anna, he really hates her, portrays her as a kind of Babylonian harlot, a debauchee. Anna at such moments does not seem cute at all. And in other episodes, the author suddenly suddenly almost falls in love with his heroine and sympathizes with her very much.

- Which Anna was more interesting for you to play - vicious or helpless?

I tried to focus on Anna's character flaws, her weaknesses and mistakes, instead of portraying her as a tender victim of circumstances.

- Kira, it's not entirely clear: are you protecting this woman or are you trying to expose her?

Both. In general, it seems to me that the attitude of the author, director, and audience towards this novel and towards this character should be twofold. I first read Anna Karenina when I was eighteen, and then I perceived this novel as a story about a magnificent love between two very beautiful and unfortunate people and I really sympathized with the heroine. But when I re-read the book before filming, the impression was completely different. I saw an incredibly complex woman, the dark side of her soul. And the love in this book no longer seemed so magical and fabulous to me, love here was almost madness. This struck me. It's like I was reading one novel at 18 and a completely different one at 27.

- You probably rarely re-read the books that you loved in your youth.

I will say more: Anna Karenina is generally the only book that I have read twice. Before that, I had never returned to the material already covered.

- Do you read a lot? Who else among the Russian classics do you know?

Dostoevsky. His Crime and Punishment is really depressing stuff, really depressing. Well, I know Tolstoy not only from Anna Karenina, I also read War and Peace.

A lot of people think this book is far from funny.

Yes? And I really liked her, I just fell in love with her, honestly.

- Probably, "War and Peace" also helped you understand the role of Karenina?

And this too. It was important for me to understand how the secular society of Russia at that time was organized, because it was it that largely shaped Anna's character. And by the way, I did not limit myself to Tolstoy alone. Before filming, I also read a book by the British historian Orlando Figes "Natasha's Dance" about the cultural history of Russia at that time.

- So how is it? Did you manage to unravel the mystery of the Russian soul?

Oh, I would not like to talk about Russia, having never visited this country. I have several Russian friends, they are great guys, but neither this knowledge nor the knowledge gleaned from books is enough to rant about such complex matters as the “mysterious Russian soul”.

- You overestimate us in advance, Kira.

No, it's just that I really don't know anything about the people who live in modern Russia. But I hope that now your amazing culture is valued in society more than in the 19th century. Then, after all, the aristocrats even preferred to speak French, and not their native Russian, they seemed to be ashamed of their origin. The French dictated absolutely everything to you: how to behave in society, what to read, what dresses to wear...

- And who, by the way, came up with dresses for your heroine? English? Or the French?

Oh, the costume designer was the gorgeous Jacqueline Durant, my compatriot, British. Thanks to her, the costumes in this film also play an important dramatic role.

Englishwoman Keira Knightley is one of the greatest actresses of her generation. In the April issue of Interview Magazine, she became the main character - the cover, a large and unusual photo session performed by fashion photography stars Marcus Piggot and Mert Alas, and a completely unusual interview - director David Cronenberg (David Cronenberg), who filmed Kira in his film "Dangerous method", spoke with the 27-year-old actress, who is relaxing at her home in London, after filming as Anna Karenina.

Kiera Knightley / Keira Knightley
Mert & Marcus photographers

Interview Magazine April 2012

01.

David Cronenberg- How do you? Where are you?

Keira Knightley- I'm fine. In London. I just left someone in the kitchen cooking chicken curry, although I was going to help him, but I won’t (laughs). Where are you?

DC- I'm in the office of my home in Toronto. You've finished your work on Anna Karenina, haven't you?

KN- We finished right before Christmas.

DC- Another Russian.

KN- Yes! I'm not entirely sure what the story is about. It seems that I'm starting to feel Russian... Although, I've never even been to Russia.

DC- I also. You didn't speak with a Russian accent playing Anna, did you?

KN- No, although you told me that I should do it. I think you remember when you said in Venice one day, "Go back to Joe (To Wright, director of the film "Anna Karenina" - approx. valse-boston) and talk like a Russian."

DC Yes, I'm glad you didn't. I feel a great influence from both of you: both you and Sabina (Spielrein - the character of Keira Knightley in the movie "A Dangerous Method"). I can't even think of you working with another director. I'm guessing arrogantly that on the set you secretly think: "Oh my God ... David would have done it very differently."

KN- I miss you all the time. (laughs)

02.

DC- Is this version of "Anna Karenina" made like a big epic movie?

KN- In a sense, yes, but at the same time it turned out to be a very stylized, deeply theatrical work. In many ways, it's the opposite of "A Dangerous Method" with its million different angles. They act completely differently. Sabina and Anna are not similar, but there is a common idea that their way of thinking turns against them as a result. But in fact, the way we did Anna Karenina is completely different from working on A Dangerous Method.

DC- Have you watched other films based on "Anna Karenina"?

KN- I watched several versions some time ago. One of them on TV in England, with Elena McCrory as Anna, and she was amazing. I also saw the Greta Garbo version, but that was a long time ago. I didn't want to watch it all before filming, and if somewhere I managed to do something similar to them, it's by accident, and not because I deliberately copied someone. But this is a very strange book... I don't quite understand what Leo Tolstoy's real attitude towards Anna was – whether he liked her or hated her, whether she is the hero of this novel, or his anti-hero. At some points he seems to despise her, but this is really a book about a woman who is despised in some way, so you have to play it without trying to make her too good, or oversimplifying everything, which is really very difficult. I think if you turn it all into a melodrama, it will not be as interesting as the original story.

DC- Someone might say: "Why does it matter what Tolstoy's point of view was?" By the way, one can imagine that Tolstoy was a director, and Anna was his actress. Once I wrote a story myself. I started my career thinking I would be a writer.

KN- Didn't know about it.

DC- Yeah. The strange thing is that I find a lot of directing in it. You select the characters, dress them, light them, find the setting, decide what they will eat... So, thinking of Tolstoy as the director of your novel and you as his actress, try to understand how he treats you. applies. Was Joe Wright Leo Tolstoy for you?

KN - (laughs) Yes, sure. I think the most important thing in trying to adapt such a book to cinema is to determine what Tolstoy thought about each of his characters. What is the purpose of each character? Should the character look good or bad? Is there a way we can combine the good and the bad in this person because that would be more interesting? I think we ask ourselves these questions all the time. So, yes, I guess Joe did, in a way, become Leo Tolstoy.

03.

04.

DC- So, you played two tragic roles of Russian women in a row, one of which is based on real events. Was there any difference for you in playing a completely fictional character and a real historical person?

KN- Yes, there are always moral questions when you play a real person. Is there a good reason for doing this, or are you just exploiting someone's name? It's like dancing on someone's grave. I think it's much more fun to work on a fictional character. So many people are identified with him. So you don't take advantage of anyone and don't take the easy way out by judging them. Or, if you condemn them, then you do it in such a way that the person judges himself, and is not condemned from the outside. What's nice about playing someone real is that there's more information about them, so a lot of the questions you want to ask are already answered. Although, playing Sabina was quite difficult, because there was not much information about her at all.

DC- But there is much more information about Anna Karenina in a big book, which, in a strange way, makes Anna a more real person than most people like Sabina.

KN- When it comes to great fictional literary characters, and why they often turn into movie characters, they talk and act like real people. They are as full of flaws as they are of heroism. I think the reason people love and hate them so much is because they always see themselves in them as in a mirror. At some level, you can always understand them. Sometimes it's a scary, dark mirror. I think, in a sense, this is Anna. I'm not sure people will feel the same about Sabina.

05.

06.

DC- People who liked Sabina - and there are quite a few of them - are very grateful, because they feel that she has come back to life.

KN- Absolutely. I may not have understood her very well, but she wrote in her diary: "My name was Sabina Spielrein" and "I, too, was once a man." The words swirled around in my head, a kind of fire that someone should have noticed. It helped me to play her role, because many people, having learned the name, also know the story. I think that Sabina has a very ambiguous personality, and I think it's great when people react in this way.

DC- You know, I had a strange experience when my film Crash (1996) came out in England. The tabloid press went wild over the course of the year, attacking the film, calling it vicious and disgusting and "beyond debauchery" - that's what I liked the most. But you are constantly at the top of the English press. Do you think people there look at your work with a clear eye? Or do they only see the celebrity without really seeing your work?

KN- I really don't know... I don't really know what they really want... I know people liked the spanking scenes in A Dangerous Method (laughs). Although I'm not entirely sure. Strange, by the way, when we were in Venice (at the Venice Film Festival - approx. valse-boston), I was not asked about this scene once in all the time that we were there.

DC- Me too.

KN- And then, in Toronto, I was asked about this not much more often. But in England, it happens really often, and it seems to be the only thing I'm ever asked about. I'm not quite sure how this characterizes the English.

DC- Well, they probably like spanking. Perhaps it comes from situations in private schools for boys. Getting your bare bottom spanked is usually a kind of homoerotic experience in these types of schools... This is my interpretation of why spanking is really so interesting to the English.

KN- Really interesting. Probably soon I will have to shoot back from journalists who want to ask a question on this topic.

07.

08.

DC You have already starred in several very popular films such as Pirates of the Caribbean. You know, I've never made a big Hollywood movie before. Do you think I could work in this?

KN- I think you could work anywhere. But I think when you get a big project, working on it becomes much more difficult than working on a personal project. I had a lot more fun filming A Dangerous Method because I was closer to the people I worked with. You feel everyone on a personal level, you feel like part of a single team. Large projects are more complex because the number of people working there is huge. But in working with you, serious questions constantly arise, you constantly have to make decisions. In big studio films, there are so many different people and channels through which any thought must pass, so it is quite difficult to understand what the final decision will be. It is always much easier when there is one person whose thought you follow.

DC- Well, good dictatorship, I think that's what should be on the set. But Robert Pattinson, who is in Cosmopolis, which I just finished, once said that after working on Twilight, he was quite surprised that I could make decisions on the set, and that happened. But for me it's business as usual.

KN- I think quite often, when you have a lot of money and time, and you make a movie for a big film studio, you don't have to make final decisions right on the go. You can always go back and reshoot the scene.

09.

10.

DC“Sometimes I wonder where the border is. Do you enjoy working on something like "Pirates..." where the whole process is big tech? It seems to me that you are not so keen on modern technologies ... Or are you?

KN- If I had to make a choice, it would be something like a performance, or, in general, less technological work. When you work in a space that uses a lot of technology, it's very difficult to play your role because you have to do a lot of things many times, from different angles. This is actually what I would like to understand. I'm very interested in how to keep the high efficiency of the game in a high-tech process.

DC- Well, in the end, you will just put on a suit that makes a digital picture of your movements, and the whole movie game will consist of this.

KN- I've already filmed it. Wouldn't you like to try this?

DC- Can you believe I'll try (Kira laughs). After Anna Karenina, another film comes out in which you starred.

KN- Yes, in June the film "Looking for a friend for the end of the world" is released - a film about the end of the world, oddly enough. I starred in it even before Anna Karenina. It also stars Steve Carell.

DC- How it was?

KN Well, Steve is absolutely amazing. I love his work in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). He has an incredible ability to be funny, but at the same time pretentious, like a crying clown. There are some comic moments in the movie, but it's about the end of the world, so there's obviously a sense of the apocalypse, and it's not a comic because everything dies... Other than that, it's fun enough. (laughs)

DC- You just have a lot of other films, and other directors.

KN- This is true. Sorry. I cheat on you all the time.

DC- I know. Okay, maybe this will spice up our relationship. I made another movie after A Dangerous Method, so I think we're both guilty.

KN- I know. You changed me. Open relationships are fine. I think it's all right.

11.

Photographers: Mert Alas, Marcus Piggott
Style: Karl Templer
Location: London, March 2012
Text: David Cronenberg
Translation that you can say: (the translation is far from perfect, I recommend everyone to read the original text on the journal's website: