Knightley, between 2003 and 2007, would go on to revisit her role as Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006 and At World’s End in 2007. Speaking to The Times, Knightley explains that playing an object of desire like Elizabeth at such a young age left her feeling “stuck” and “constrained” in the industry. “I had quite an entrance into adult life, an extreme landing because of the experience of fame at a very early age,” Knightley said. “There’s a funny place where women are meant to sit, publicly, and I never felt comfortable with that. It was a big jolt.” The actress went on to add:
“[Elizabeth Swann] was the object of everybody’s lust. Not that she doesn’t have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting coming from being really tomboyish to getting projected as quite the opposite. 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.”
‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Took a Toll on Knightley
Disney’s original trilogy of the Pirates of the Caribbean starred Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom as Will Turner. Both actors, alongside Knightley, would go on to birth one of Disney’s most lucrative franchises ever. Knightley, in the same interview, reflects on the experience of making the films. While it made her a household name and star, the actress notes that the franchise’s popularity was “the reason that I was taken down publicly.” She explains:
“It’s a funny thing when you have something that was making and breaking you at the same time. I was seen as shit because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for. They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of, and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly. So they’re a very confused place in my head.”
The entire experience is one that has Knightley set in her mind never to return to movie franchises again, killing any hopes of a return in the proposed Pirates reboot. “The hours are insane. It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming,” the actress says. Another reason why a franchise-based return won’t work for Knightley going forward centers around her family. Now a mother to two daughters, Edie and Delilah, with her husband, James Righton, Knightley can’t imagine being seperated from them. “I couldn’t go job to job [abroad] now,” Knightley explained. “I wouldn’t be in any way fair to them, and I wouldn’t want to. I’ve chosen to have children, I want to bring them up, so I’ve had to take a major step back.”
Stay tuned to Collider for future updates on the Pirates reboot. You can hit the high seas with the entire five-feature Pirates of the Caribbean saga streaming on Disney+.
