Keira Knightley opens up on the highs of fame, the power of fashion

Dress, Balmain.
Bracelet, Ritz
Fine Jewellery.
Shining
Knightley
Keira
Keira Knightley
Knightley opens
opens up
up on
on the
the highs
highs of
of fame,
fame,
the
the power
power of
of fashion
fashion and
and the
the importance
importance of
of family
family
By
By Elio
Elio Iannacci
Iannacci Photography
Photography by
by Max
Max Abadian
Abadian
Shining
Knightley
Keira Knightley opens up on the highs
of fame, the power of fashion and the
importance of family By Elio Iannacci
Photography by Max Abadian
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07/27/2007 01:37:39 PM
“My life is mad! Quite
mad at the moment,
but so extraordinary!”
Dress, 3.1 Phillip
Lim. Ring, Ritz
Fine Jewellery.
hen writers struggle
for words to describe Keira Knightley, even the most articulate ones seem to channel a Harlequin romance. Exhibit A,
The New York Times: “…you can barely take your eyes off
her. Her radiance…suffuses film.” Exhibit B, Variety: “Looking every bit a star, [Knightley] steps up to the plate…with
a luminous strength that recalls a young Audrey Hepburn.”
And exhibit C, Time magazine: “Knightley radiates a mature
fire through her fresh, patrician beauty.”
As over the top as the accolades sound, there is a reason
for all the gushing. Simply put, Ms. Knightley, in plain view
and in conversation, redefines the phrase utterly charming.
And not in an always-says-the-right-thing, calculated-in-everypleasantry kind of way. No, Knightley is authentically personable and really just one of those actors who is pleased to have
made it. And it shows. Her confidence on the red carpet, her
laissez-faire way of chatting up interviewers and her beyondher-years knowledge of literature and film are impressive.
And then some.
This fall, Keira will be running around the globe pressing two big pictures. The first is a Canadian-made romance
named Silk—an adaptation of the novel by Alessandro
Baricco, directed by Canadian François Girard—and it will
be premièring at this month’s Toronto International Film
Festival (Sept. 6–15). Exquisitely filmed, Silk was shot in
rural Italy and the quieter pockets around Rome and casts
Knightley as a damsel from the late 1800s dealing with her
absent husband—a silkworm merchant—who mysteriously
travels the world for excessive periods of time. The second
movie, Atonement, is another literary drama (inspired by
the bestseller from Ian McEwan) in which she costars with
James McAvoy. Suffice it to say, Keira is one busy star.
“My life is mad! Mad, I tell you!” she campily blurts out via
cellphone on her way to Wales to the set of another film (a
drama called The Edge of Love, due out next year). “Quite
mad at the moment,” she says, her British accent highlighting
the T in quite, “but so extraordinary.”
All kidding aside, Knightley’s “extraordinary” life began in
1985 in Middlesex, England. She was born to an actor dad,
Will Knightley, and an actor-turned-writer mom, Sharman
Macdonald. Her parents brought up their only daughter in an
environment filled with backstage hopes and opening-night
jitters that got Keira hooked at an early age. While most
three-year-old girls ask for Barbies, ponies or party dresses
for their birthday, Keira asked for an agent.
It wasn’t long—at age seven, to be exact—before she got
one. A very lucky one. Now at the tender turn of 22, Knightley
has gone on to finish her 24th feature film. Hollywood recognition began with her big break at 16, when she landed
the part of a sassy soccer teen in Bend It like Beckham.
Soon after, she was cast in two films for which she has since
become A-list material. In both she portrayed two fiercely
independent individuals named Elizabeth.
The first movie, 2005’s Pride & Prejudice, showcased
Knightley’s razor-sharp interpretation of Jane Austen’s romantic rebel Izzie Bennet. Knightley’s performance of the longing-beyond-her-means Izzie, a feminist living in a prefeminist
18th-century man’s world, brought more than just sharp oneliners, delivered with the gusto of a pro (which astonished
the likes of costars Judi Dench and Brenda Blethyn). Pride
gave Knightley the Hollywood golden egg—respect—and the
Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her performance
didn’t hurt, either.
Then along came the moneymaker, the blockbuster role of
swashbuckling aristocrat-turned-pirate Elizabeth Swann in
all three Pirates of the Caribbean films. Her feisty portrayal
of the adventurous Swann (opposite Johnny Depp) kept her
a pivotal part of the trilogy (the last of which accumulated
in excess of US$400 million during its opening weekend
alone) and kept Knightley in corsets for half a decade. But
don’t let the glamour fool you: between filming the Pirates
flicks, Knightley busied herself not with lapping it up at the
Chateau Marmont with Paris and Lindsay but by reading fine
works of literature by Pablo Neruda and getting herself an
education on and off set.
“Pirates started when I was 17, and I’m now 22,” Knightley
notes. “It’s one of those amazing things, where instead of
going to college, I spent my time in the costume department,
learning about fabrics! I think that’s a significant part of your
life to spend pirating around. But it’s the only life I know.”
It was during that Pride and Pirates time that Knightley
started to understand, on set, the transformative power of
clothing. Besides landing on best-dressed lists for premières
and awards-show appearances (who can forget her white
Valentino Golden Globes dress of ’06 or her eggplant taffeta
Vera Wang number for the Oscars in that same year?),
Knightley began to use wardrobe as a work tool.
“I’ve got a big thing about colour schemes,” she explains.
“I have to know what the colour and design scheme of my
character is, and that will give me insight into who and
what she is. It’s hugely important. For Pride & Prejudice,
it was all about stripes. Even if I didn’t have
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07/26/2007 08:16:28 PM
Dress, Nina Ricci.
Bracelet, Ritz Fine
Jewellery; shoes,
Chanel. Opposite
page: Dress, Sophia
Kokosalaki. For
where-to-buy, see
Stylesource. Hair,
Lisa Eastwood;
makeup, Kelly
Cornwell, both
Premier Hair and
Makeup; styling,
Katie Felstead, Jed
Root; fashion director, Elizabeth Cabral;
art director, Tanya
Watt. Photographed
at The Savoy, A
Fairmont Hotel,
London, England.
“I don’t want to
emulate anyone else.
I’m perfectly happy
tryIng to fIgure out
everythIng on my own”
Shining
Knightley
Keira Knightley opens up on the highs
of fame, the power of fashion and the
importance of family By Elio Iannacci
Photography by Max Abadian
221