Keira Knightley starrer, Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice is one of the most beloved and classic films of all time, having had a major cultural impact when it comes to the romance film genre. The film, based on a novel of the same name by revolutionary classic writer, Jane Austen, follows the characters Elizebeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy and their love story, as they try to navigate feelings towards each other, all the while trying to put aside their pride and prejudices, both upon and executed by them. The movie, very quickly became a classic, like its source material, as well as receiving immense critical acclaim, including being nominated for multiple Academy Awards.
This was not the only film by Wright that has achieved something like this, with many projects winning and being nominated for Academy Awards. This, however, is no surprise as the director is one of the best in the industry. It is only natural that someone of his talent and fame would have some odd requests from the actors working on his projects. The question that arises is what odd request did the director have for Knightley in the 2005 film?
Joe Wright Had A Weird Demand From Keira Knightley on Pride and Prejudice
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Keira Knightley talked about her time on Pride and Prejudice, more specifically, an order given by Joe Wright that the actress was to follow at all costs. She has done three different projects with the director, so it is safe to say that she is aware of what it is like working with him. She revealed that this demand was the fact that she had the tendency to pout in her films.
“I didn’t like my smile. Loads of people had said I have a crap smile.” she went on to say, ” And Joe was like, ‘You’ve got to stop the pout.’ So I wasn’t allowed to pout. Then we started doing Chanel adverts, and then all of a sudden he was like, ‘You know that pout that I banned? Can we have that back as much as possible?'”
Explaining this, she revealed that she was quite insecure about her smile growing up so whenever a camera is pointed at her, she immediately starts pouting at impulse. This was something that Wright did not approve of and had strictly asked not to do so in the film. This, ironically changed when the two started to do advertisements for the luxury brand, Chanel, as Knightley was asked by the director to bring back her pout.
Keira Knightley Slipped Up Once
Keira Knightley revealed that when Joe Wright was on set, he would make sure that the actress did not pout, however, this was not the case when the director was not on set and it was the second unit director instead. The actress told on The Graham Norton Show that there is a shot in the film that was not directed by Wright that features her infamous pout.
“There is actually one shot in the film that was done by the second unit director in Pride and Prejudice where the pout is there and every time he watched it he’s still like, ‘You got that one f*cking pout in.'”
While many may not think this is that big a deal, Wright did. The actress then went on to reveal that the director told her that every time he watched the film, that one pout that managed to make its way into the film bothers him quite a lot.
Source: The Graham Norton Show
