After being noticed and appreciated in Bend It Like Beckham, Keira Knightley has gone from strength to strength and has cemented her place as one of the most talented and desirable stars in Hollywood. While the British beauty has done a wide range of films from romantic dramas to comedies, her forte has always been period dramas. From Pride and Prejudice, The Duchess, Atonement, and her marquee role in the action-adventure Pirates of the Caribbean, Knightley has ensured that her presence has been felt amid huge ensemble casts.
Period films expectedly require very specific costumes that denote the fashion of the era. Keira Knightley is no stranger to the corset which was a popular period garment for women that made their waist small and therefore appealing. But The Imitation Game actor was caught unawares by the challenges the costume posed for her role in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Keira Knightly Was Breathless In Her Corset
IN 2003, British actor Keira Knightley landed a high-profile role in Johnny Depp’s cult franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean. The swashbuckling adventure series went on to become one of the most popular film franchises, with Knightley going toe to toe with the likes of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. But the Pride and Prejudice star faced some major costume woes in the film. Despite being adept at wearing corsets in many of her period dramas, the garment posed multiple challenges for her in this film when she tried to push her body to the limit. Recalling the time, Knightley said,
“I had a Scarlett O’Hara thing, she gets her waist down to 18 and a half inches–so I thought I would try that. For five minutes, it’s fantastic–you have this tiny waist and fantastic cleavage, but oxygen deprivation is a big problem! When in doubt, faint.”
The star ultimately listened to her body’s cry and decided that extreme methods of physical beauty were the wrong way to create a stir.
Keira Knightley Felt Objectified After Pirates Of The Caribbean
Keira Knightley was not yet 18 when she became an international star with 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film which developed into a cult franchise, gave Knightley a foothold in Hollywood. Despite her massive success, the star believed that playing Elizabeth Swann who was an object of desire at such a young age, led her to be stereotyped as a female actor.
“Elizabeth Swann was the object of everybody’s lust. I felt very constrained. I felt very stuck. So the roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that. I didn’t have a sense of how to articulate it. It very much felt like I was caged in a thing I didn’t understand.”
This predicament made Knightley pick and choose her roles wisely which led to a very successful period of films for the star with prestigious projects like Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, the former earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress at just 20 years old.
Source: The Mirror
