TORONTO - It is a very good time to be Keira Knightley, and it appears the lady knows it.
She wears it well, though. Sitting in a hotel room on a crisp September day, Knightley talks about new films and old, characters conquered and roles hoped for, and what is most striking about her is an ease that may or may not be as easy as it looks. She's assured without being overconfident, articulate until she's not, projecting an intelligence that hasn't yet learned to take itself too seriously.
She's 22, and that's it, really. On one hand, Knightley's still the lucky kid, laughing self-consciously and peppering her conversation with the occasional swear word, like a teenager lighting a firecracker. On the other hand, she's a movie star and a respected actress, with a global following for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy and an Oscar nomination for "Pride & Prejudice." Balance is called for. Balance, so far, is something she seems to have a knack for.
Two of her new movies were debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival. One, an epic French drama called "Silk," opened and quickly closed in US theaters a week later. The second movie represents a rather larger fish. An ambitious film adaptation of Ian McEwan's acclaimed 2001 novel, "Atonement" casts Knightley as Cecilia Tallis, an upper-class woman in pre-World War II England whose love for the son (James McAvoy) of her family's housekeeper is sorely and cruelly tested.
"Atonement" reunites Knightley with "Pride & Prejudice" director Joe Wright, and it's very possible she'll come away with yet another Oscar nomination. Cecilia represents the sort of civilized suffering the Academy adores, but for the actress the role may be something more: Not just her first mature part but a part that's about maturing - about taking responsibility for one's own choices and feelings. Some stars grow up in public. Knightley may be trying to do it in the movies.
Q. How did you find Cecilia?
A. I was looking for something more mature, and when I got the script, she sort of ticked all the boxes. I wanted a woman who was dealing with the problems of being a woman, not the problems of being a girl. I liked that she wasn't particularly nice. I liked the fact that she wasn't particularly good. And I loved that she was, in a funny way, redeemed by her love and by her sacrifice.
Q. I know actors hate to talk about technique, but can you discuss how you put this character together? Your bearing and voice and even face seem completely different.
A. Well, what I loved about Cecilia is that she's wearing a mask, all the time. I think most people are. What was interesting was looking at that mask and then looking at what was underneath. It's the 1930s and '40s, which was the peak of the British stiff-upper-lip, the peak of that society's emotional repression. As far as the characterization goes, it hugely helped to watch a lot of '40s British movies: Celia Johnson [in "Brief Encounter"], and Deborah Kerr. It helps with that voice. There's a rigidness. The whole stiff-upper-lip thing is literally that. You see it a lot in older generations, people in their 80s in Britain, in the upper middle class and upper class - they've got this very held-together face, and that's what we were trying to get. Once you imagine yourself in the period, actually, I found the characterization very easy. There didn't seem to be another option about how to play her.
Q. What was it like working with Joe Wright a second time?
A. It's wonderful to watch. He's creating a company. He's now found Seamus McGarvey, who's a fabulous director of photography, and the camera team feels like it's cemented. And then Jacqueline Durran, who's the costume designer, who did "Pride & Prejudice," and Sarah Greenwood, who was the production designer, who also did "Pride & Prejudice." Dario Marianelli - normally, no actress is ever going to know who the [expletive] the composer is . . .
Q. The score is remarkably worked into the film, even into the shot language . . .
A. It's absolutely integral, and it's the same in "Pride & Prejudice," because Dario did the music there. The score is another character, and the fact that I can tell you who that was and talk about that is testament to the way Joe works and to the fact that you know and discuss every single creative aspect of the filmmaking with him.
Q. Maybe this is true of every British actor, but it seems like your performances address class on many different levels.
A. I do play aristocrats again and again. It's hilarious, because really I'm lower middle class, if anything. I mean, my dad was East End, so I'm peasant stock. Maybe that's why I like playing aristocrats: It's dress-up! I'm just about to play another: Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, who was a political hostess in the 1780s and an ancestor of Diana [Princess of Wales].
Q. Is there a kind of part you want to tackle that you haven't yet? Maybe a lower-class tart?
A. Yes, I'm absolutely desperate to play a crack whore.
Q. "Domino," in which you played a female bounty hunter, was possibly the most reviled film of 2005. Any regrets?
A. None. I love that film. Tony Scott polarizes people, but he's a filmmaker who takes the medium to its absolute limit. That film, I'm not saying it's perfect, but it belongs in an art gallery. It's the most incredible installation. It was designed to be an acid trip, and people hated it. We knew that when we were making it. And some people love it. It's amazing the films people talk about - when they actually walk up to you and talk about films - it's "Domino" and it's "The Jacket," two that didn't commercially do very well. And within the industry, "Domino" is cited by camera guys particularly as a huge inspiration.
Q. Must have been nice to kick loose.
A. Absolutely. I started it four days after I finished "Pride & Prejudice."
Q. What? How do you do that?
A. It was very odd. I don't think I'd do it that quickly again. But, again, that's what I'm talking about when I say I want to change as much as possible. I've never again found two roles that were so totally opposite, but it's what I'm constantly looking for.
Q. What else do you have lined up besides the Duchess?
A. I've got a film I just finished that my Mum (playwright Sharman Macdonald) made about the circle of friends around Dylan Thomas. It's called "The Edge of Love" at the moment, I don't think that title will stick. I play Vera Phillips who was his childhood sweetheart and who he and [Thomas's wife] Caitlin meet with during the Second World War in Wales.
Q. Who's playing Thomas?
A. A guy called Matthew Rhys, who's wonderful.
Q. Good luck with it. And I hope you find that crack whore role.
A. (Smiling regally) Thank you. Thank you.
