British actress Keira Knightley is undoubtedly one of the best actresses of this generation. She gained popularity after she starred as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise at the age of 17, however, this was not her first time starring in a big franchise.
Knightley started acting in the 1990s as a child and her first movie was 1995’s Innocent Lies. Her second movie was Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, in which she played the role of Sabé, one of Padmé Amidala’s five handmaidens during her term as Queen. As a child actor, that was a big opportunity, however, it was quite hectic for her.
Keira Knightley talked about her role in the Star Wars franchise
Actress Keira Knightley appeared for an interview with TotalFilm back in 2020 and talked about her small role in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The actress was asked if she remembers anything about it, then she replied,
“I mean, I was 12. I literally don’t remember… I remember the headdress being so heavy, it gave me a headache. I really remember the headache from one of the headdresses. And I remember being in the background for such a long time that I’d actually fallen asleep. I was just sitting in a chair, and I was in the background, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I really remember that. But apart from that, I don’t remember anything else about it.”
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. it was the prequel to the main Star Wars trilogy. She played one of Padmé Amidala’s five handmaidens.
Keira Knightley was 17 when she starred in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise
Further in the interview, she was asked if she can recall some details about her time as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The actress said,
“The first Pirates, I was 17. I don’t remember it that well. Overwhelming? Yeah. The problem is, I don’t really know what I remember, and what I just talked about. I know I said that I felt like I was going to get fired. Which sounds like me. But I don’t really remember that feeling. I think I just felt like I was really lucky.”
Knightley played the role in four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).
Keira Knightley didn’t expect the franchise to gain so many fans
The actress also said that the sets of the first movie were quite peaceful and there was no pressure, however, as the franchise began to gain popularity, things took a turn. She said,
“I didn’t anticipate that I would just have an amazing career in Hollywood films afterwards. That’s not where I thought my career was going to be. [On the first one] we got left quite alone, because Johnny Depp hadn’t had a commercial success, and a pirate movie hadn’t worked in probably generations, and it was based on a Disney theme park ride. No one was particularly going, ‘This is going to be a big hit.’ So actually, relatively speaking, it was quite a chilled-out set. But when it got to 2 and 3 after that one had made like a billion dollars or whatever it was, I think that’s when it was suddenly a very different thing.”
Throughout her career, Keira Knightley has proven her ability to bring depth and authenticity to her roles, captivating audiences with her on-screen presence.
Source: GamesRadar
