Keira Knightley is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the still-beloved (and rewatched) Pride & Prejudice. As successful as the film was though, that specific time in her life did leave her with some scars… and no, we’re not talking about sword fighting. Knightley got candid about feeling like there was a lot of hate toward her for her role in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which she starred in around the same time she made the book adaptation.. On top of that, she also explained how the response to the Jane Austen film threw her for a loop.
The actress recently sat down with her P&P co-star, Rosamund Pike, to discuss the romance film for its anniversary. Both actresses shared some fun tidbits, including a fun Donald Sutherland story involving a gas mask at a party. Knightley eventually opened up about the interesting dichotomy of being linked to both the adaptation of the Jane Austen novel and Disney's blockbuster pirate saga:
Yes, [Pride & Prejudice] was pretty big for my career. If people will come up to me, it’ll be about that one. Pirates of the Caribbean had already come out, but I think in the public consciousness, I was seen as a terrible actress. But I had this phenomenally big success with Pirates. And I think this was the first one that was a phenomenally big success, but was also critically acclaimed.
This new interview, which was conducted by Vanity Fair, wasn’t the first time Keira Knightley has been honest about how she felt while making the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In fact, she's been quite candid about the ups and downs that came with playing Elizabeth Swann alongside Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner. She also said this during her recent chat:
So I remember it coming out maybe the same year, maybe around the same time as Pirates 2. And I got the worst reviews ever for that, and then also being nominated for an Oscar at the same time—it was, in my 21-year-old head, quite confusing.
The first Pirates movie earned a lot of great praise from critics when it hit theaters 2003. but the second film, 2006's Dead Man's Chest, was not met with the same reactions. Nevertheless, that follow-up mostly well received amongst fans.
Keira Knightley previously said she felt like she “was seen as shit” by the public at the time due to her connection to the massive IP. During another interview, Knightley said she didn't enjoy playing a character who was “the object of everybody’s lust”. In short, the star felt “very constrained” as Elizabeth Swann. So, when Pride & Prejudice earned positive reviews, an Oscar nomination and commercial success, she wasn’t sure how to take it.
To put something in context, Knightley was 18 years old when the first Pirates movie came out and 20 when Pride & Prejudice opened in theaters. I'd imagine it can't be easy for someone that age to become so famous and have to contend with commentary on their performances and physical appearance. Knightley has also talked before about how “brutal” it was for her privacy to be taken away as a teenager and to be “put under that scrutiny when you are still growing.”
Knightley has also referred to her time being a young actress in the early 2000s as a “very violent, misogynistic atmosphere,” as it included commentary about her weight and suggestions that she had an eating disorder – which she says she didn’t have. She suffered a mental breakdown at the age of 22 before being diagnosed with PTSD and taking a year off acting.
It’s certainly a shame that Keira Knightley’s most fruitful time of her career had to be accompanied by such negativity. While that’s perhaps what the media projected at her, she was and remains -- in fans' eyes -- iconic for playing the fiery and headstrong Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates movies in so many fans’ eyes. And, of course, she'll also remain iconic for playing Elizabeth Bennett in Pride & Prejudice, which is streamable with a Max subscription.
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