15 Reasons Why Hollywood Dropped Keira Knightley After Her Pirate Days
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When Pirates of the Caribbean first came out, it made Keira Knightley a megastar. All of a sudden, we were seeing her in all kinds of movies. She could play a modern girl as well as any period piece that came her way. We saw her in Love Actually — a romantic comedy that put her in the modern world. We all saw her as a badass warrior in King Arthur alongside Clive Owen. We, of course, can’t forget the amazing reboot of Pride & Prejudice where she had us loving period pieces all over again. These days, we rarely even think about Keira anymore unless we happen to hear about her in another period piece. What happened to the star that used to be in everything? Gone are the days when we used to see Keira rocking her midriff-baring tops on the red carpet.
There’s no denying that Keira is a huge talent — she can make us feel shame, angst, and wonderment all in the same movie. When it comes to period pieces, she is an absolute rockstar, but maybe that’s why we don’t see so much of the actress any longer. These days, it seems that the only movies she's doing are period pieces. Is there a reason for that? There is a reason why Hollywood seems to have dropped the gorgeous actress and you might be surprised to hear why. Check out these 15 reasons why Hollywood dropped Keira Knightley after her pirate days.
Her Attitude About Modern Films
Keira Knightley has been in the media a few times over the years saying very strange things. We have all noticed that she does a lot of period pieces now, it’s almost an exclusive thing for her. If you’re about to see a period piece, chances are, Keira Knightley will be in it. But is it her choice to do these roles or does she do them because Hollywood has turned its back on her? When asked why she rarely does a modern film now, Keira answered that she rarely chooses to do those types of films because “female characters nearly always get assaulted.” It’s certainly a bizarre thing to say and it’s not even true. She also stated that she was rarely inspired by a modern character, mainly because she found “something distasteful” in the way modern female characters were portrayed. She preferred historical characters because they were inspiring.
She Loves A Good Period Drama
We kind of figured that when she’s been in so many of them. She is one actress that has been in more period dramas than any other kind of movie. She has said that she prefers it though and we can understand why. There are many inspirational women that come from another time. The period dramas that she has been in are Anna Karenina, The Duchess, The Imitation Game, Atonement, and her early breakthroughs in Pirates of the Caribbean. She says she had to admit that she has an obsession with them.
“For years, I felt quite guilty about it, like it was something that I should try to shake off. Then I realized that these were the films I’ve always loved watching.
I think some people find escapism through science fiction or fantasy, and I suppose my escapism into another world has always been through period drama.”
She Angered Directors
Not everyone gets along in Hollywood and when it comes to making a movie, not everyone involved will always like each other. When it came to writer-director John Carney, he worked with Keira Knightley in the movie Begin Again. He didn’t have a great experience with it and had claimed he would never work with her again.
“Not that I didn’t enjoy Begin Again, but Keira has an entourage that follows her everywhere, so it’s very hard to get any real work done,
and so I was very ready to come back to Ireland and make films that nobody cared about who was in it or any of that stuff. I learned that I’ll never make a film with supermodels again.” It’s possible that she’s not giving off the best impression and people just don’t want to work with her.
She Thinks She Can Sing, But She Can't
You would think that when it came to casting an actor for a singing role that they would make sure the actor could sing. But surprisingly, that’s rarely the case. Sometimes, they get lucky, but then there are times when they just want a famous face and they do what they can to make them appear as if they are singing. Sometimes, like in the case of Reese Witherspoon who took singing lessons to sound like June Carter, you end up with a blessing, but that wasn’t the way it worked out for Keira. John Carney said that the fact that Knightley couldn’t actually sing negatively affected the film as well.
He said it’s “very hard to make music seem real when it’s not coming from musicians.”
We can totally understand where he’s coming from.
She’s Not Ready For Major Roles
We've definitely seen Keira Knightley in a lot of major roles, but sometimes, we get caught up in famous actors just because they're famous. It’s been suggested that Knightley doesn’t have the talent for really remarkable films and that having her in one can be disappointing for everyone involved. Ouch. John Carney has had no problem ripping apart the actress as he explains his disappointment in her as an actress.
“So, it’s not like I hate the Hollywood thing, but I like to work with curious, proper film actors as opposed to movie stars.
I don’t want to rubbish Keira, but you know it’s hard being a film actor and it requires a certain level of honesty and self-analysis that I don’t think she’s ready for yet and I certainly don’t think she was ready for on that film.”
She Stopped Doing The Pirates Movies
It may have benefited Keira Knightley’s career if she would have continued on with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies because they would have given her career the constant splash of being in a big-budget film. She didn’t want to keep doing the movies, we’re not sure why because acting alongside Johnny Depp can’t hurt anyone’s career and it’s a franchise that has grown increasingly popular. But even Johnny Depp couldn’t convince her to do the movies.
“No. I said when the second one came out that there wasn’t going to be another one for me. I mean, they were already shooting the third one at that time. I knew that that was going to be it for me.
It was an extraordinary experience, you know, but I was 17 when I started it and 21 when I finished. I sort of feel like I’ve done the pirating thing, as wonderful as it was, and it was amazing.”
She Wants To Play Roles That Challenge Her Intellect
Sometimes, when it comes to choosing a role, many big stars like to get big-budget roles because it’s a big paycheck and they become super famous. While there are others that want intellectual roles that might win them awards. Jennifer Aniston has played both kinds of roles, but it seems with Keira Knightley, she doesn’t want a role unless it’s intellectual and she may be turning people off in the industry.
“I'm probably very analytical and the projects I've chosen recently have been ones that have challenged my intellect — it's not very difficult to challenge me intellectually — and have forced me to empathize with people or with situations that I don't necessarily find it easy to empathize with.
So, I suppose, yes, I like thinking about that, so maybe he's right. Maybe that's my problem as an actor. Maybe I need to work more from my heart.”
Many In The Industry Believe That She Can’t Act
It’s easy to mistake a talented actress for a famous one. Sometimes as fans we assume an actress must be talented if she’s in major films, but sometimes that’s not the case at all. John Carney certainly felt that Keira was not ready for certain types of films. She’s been in the industry since she was a teenager so if she’s not ready yet, then she will never be ready. We know she can’t sing but is it fair to say that Knightley can’t act? Is that why Hollywood is no longer interested in her? When asked if she thought she was clever, Knightley cut herself down.
“Sometimes I feel very stupid and sometimes I feel like I'm all right.
Normally, after days like today, doing press, I feel incredibly stupid. But I can talk about my dress really well.”
Her Body Type Is No Longer What Hollywood Is Looking For
Think it’s hard to believe that someone as thin as Keira Knightley can’t get a role because of her weight? Times are certainly changing and although Hollywood is not an industry that is going to turn away thin or fit girls, there is a difference between thin like Blake Lively and thin like Keira Knightley. The world is more body positive these days. Knightley herself has said that fans aren’t very nice to her on the street and have actually said things to her about her weight. “Mostly anorexia things.
People get very angry if they see you in a place they don't think you should be, like the pub. I think actors are shadows. They don't exist.
The characters don't exist. The make-up is make-up; the clothes are somebody else's. When people see the reality, it's incredibly disappointing.”
She Can’t Bring In Big Numbers Anymore
The problem with going away from commercial movies and working in only period pieces is that you get forgotten by the rest of Hollywood. If she was cast in a big-budget movie, could she pull in the numbers on her own? Not likely at this point. Maybe if she went into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies again. Even Keira is aware that she may not be able to pull in the numbers at the box office. Once you hit a failure at the box office, then people start to look at you differently. "Yeah, it can do, but then your box office comes back into it," she explains.
"You're only useful in financing those films if you've got a big success behind you, and they have a certain shelf life. So, your stake in financing those films goes down very quickly.
That's why you have to tread a careful line. That's the game we're all playing."
Keira Knightley Turns Off Female Viewers
One of the reasons why Hollywood won’t cast Keira Knightley any longer is because she gets a hostile reaction from women. It seems like a weird thing, we’re not sure why female viewers typically tend to not like the actress, but there you have it. Women, in general, aren’t huge fans of the actress. Maybe it has something to do with that entourage she has. One columnist said this about the actress:
“If you want to befriend a woman, ask her the question, ‘What do you think of Keira Knightley?’ In the resulting torrent of bile and loathing, you will bond.”
What is it about Knightley that rubs people the wrong way? If you are able to answer that question, then you may already know why she isn’t considered to be a top talent in Hollywood any longer.
Some People Weren’t Happy With the Roles She Was Given
You would think that Keira Knightley could pull off any period piece at this point. She has done enough of them and when we hear that she’s going to be in another one, we assume it’s a great choice. But some people in the industry think that certain roles should not have been given to Knightley, most specifically Anna Karenina. Guardian journalist Emma Brockes went into a tirade about Knightley when she saw the trailer for the movie.
“Why I fear Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina is a train wreck. Okay, so there’s the accent thing and there’s the stricken, owl-eyed thing. There’s the jaw thing, in part because of her jaw and the uses she puts it to, you are never in any doubt that you are watching Keira Knightley.
She is always just so Knightley.” Burn!
She’s Too Outspoken For Hollywood
Is that possible? Maybe it’s not so much that she speaks her mind but that people are just annoyed by her in general. She is definitely one actress that gets cut down a lot in the media whether it be because of her acting or her looks. But some people don’t like what comes out of her mouth or they claim that she is too fake. It’s been made clear that she certainly rubs people the wrong way. She protested once when she appeared topless before a photographer that she did not want to be photoshopped because of the unhealthy body image that it showed to younger generations. But some people believe that posing topless is what breeds unhealthy thoughts.
“I think women’s bodies are a battleground and photography is partly to blame. I’ve had my body manipulated so many times for so many different reasons.”
She agreed to the topless shot “because it does feel important to say it really doesn’t matter what shape you are.”
She Prefers Streaming Channels Like Netflix
It’s possible that she is being boycotted in Hollywood because of the things that she says about Hollywood. She stated that online streaming channels such as Netflix and Amazon offer roles for women that portray them as strong characters whereas films in Hollywood still portray weak women.
She said that streaming sites like Netflix are “producing original dramas with strong female characters and female stories," and Hollywood movies are not.
Though she is willing to say that there has been "some improvement," she is also not interested in playing a role of the doting wife. "I’m suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren’t assaulted in the first five pages and aren’t simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife." This might have something to do with why she is no longer cast in Hollywood.
She Is Just Too Rich And Beautiful
When asked why Hollywood and even fans are so hostile toward the actress, one of her directors ,John Maybury, put it plainly:
“People resent success, particularly in this country. She’s thin, she’s rich, she’s beautiful, she’s talented — what’s to like?”
Sure, that might be true, but it’s also pretty obvious that Hollywood has dropped the actress, so is that jealousy or is Hollywood just not interested in her any longer? It could really be that she just doesn’t have a very good opinion about the very industry that she works in and people don’t like that. When asked if she would want her future daughter to become an actress she said, “I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. It can be completely heartbreaking for most people who do it because the amount of rejection is enormous. So I would say to my daughter, ‘Be a doctor or lawyer — something stable and useful.”
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