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Keira Knightley has become easy to take for granted, given that she has been part of the movie industry for much longer than people realise.
The actor was a literal teen when she was cast in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and Love Actually, two films that became massive hits and still have strong followings today. There’s a curious position that young stars have when they experience so much success at a young age, where they have to prove that they were worthy of that fame.
In Knightley’s case, that opportunity came two years later when Joe Wright was casting his new version of Pride &Prejudice, which is among the most loved of all of Jane Austen’s novels, and any new adaptation of the classic text was going to face steep expectations.
Beyond the fact that the book is one that has been pored over by scholars for centuries, it had already been adapted into a highly popular BBC miniseries starring Colin Firth, which many fans considered to be the definitive version of the story. Wright is a director who has developed an exacting style and puts a lot of emphasis on the way that his films look. Although Knightley had thought that her recent success would give her an advantage in auditioning for Pride & Prejudice, she found that Wright wasn’t on the same page.
“He had actually cast someone else in the role,” she recalled to Backstage, “Pirates of the Caribbean had come out, and though I was financially a better prospect, he was seeing a lot of press shots where I looked incredibly glamorous, and he thought, ‘That isn’t Elizabeth Bennett’. We had a meeting, and it actually didn’t go very well.”
Knightley had become convinced that she had lost the role, but was given one last opportunity to prove that she could become the second-oldest Bennett sister.
“I think the producers really wanted me for the film, so they convinced him to meet me again in London,” she said, “I turned up in my normal clothes, and I’m really very scruffy, and he could see me in the part then. It was like, ‘Oh, you look like shit, well done’.”
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
The key to Wright’s approach, and why it’s one of the best Austen adaptations ever, is that he did not use the formality of the period setting to mask the fact that Pride & Prejudice is a coming-of-age story, and should reflect that Elizabeth is a child who is learning to become a woman. Being what Knightley described as “scruffy” showed how Elizabeth is initially unable to fit in with her well-groomed sisters and doesn’t concern herself with issues of love; this makes it all the more impactful when Matthew McFadyen’s Mr Darcy arrives and sweeps her off her feet.
While Pride & Prejudice pulled off the difficult task of appealing to Austen superfans, it also managed to become a major international hit, appealing to those who had never read the book. The challenges that Knightley faced in getting cast in the first place may have given her even more inspiration to nail the part, as she ended up receiving her first Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Actress’ for her performance.
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