By Mike Collett-White
Fri Aug 31, 11:16 AM ET
VENICE (Reuters) -
British actress
Keira Knightley has had
enough of the media's fixation with her looks, weight and
figure, and urged people to focus on her films instead.
In Venice to promote her latest movie "Atonement," the
22-year-old star of the hit "Pirates of the Caribbean"
franchise had to field questions about her curves during a news
conference this week.
"It's really frustrating, and particularly when you come to
Venice film festival with a film that is an intelligent film,"
she told Reuters in an interview. "It's a thought-provoking
film you can have a really good discussion about.
"I think it was just a shame that that had to be brought up
then, and the fact that we all knew that it was going to be
brought up," she added, referring to the cast and crew of
"Atonement" with her at the conference.
"We actually had a bet going. I was like 'Come on, how many
times either anorexia or something about my body, are going to
come up."'
Knightley is the subject of constant tabloid press coverage
of whether she is anorexic, what example she sets girls and
young women and who she is linked with romantically.
"I think what I want to keep it about is the work, that's
all I'm interested in, and when you've got a project like this
I think it's a shame to take it away from that."
The actress, nominated for an Oscar in the 2005 film "Pride
and Prejudice," has won early critical praise for her portrayal
of Cecilia Tallis in "Atonement," a film directed by Joe Wright
and based on Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel.
Knightley said she was "really proud" of "Atonement," her
second collaboration with Wright after "Pride and Prejudice."
But she said she is highly critical of her own work and
finds it difficult watching herself on the big screen.
"I'm my worst critic," she said. "If you really want me to
cut my part to pieces, I absolutely can and I don't want to get
to a day when I can't."
She said that one of the attractions of playing Cecilia was
Wright's decision to use speech patterns and acting styles
similar to those in the 1930s and 1940s, the period in which
most of the narrative is set.
"I think the 30s and 40s, (it is a) speech pattern that
we've pretty much lost now.
"It sort of reached the pinnacle of 'stiff-upper-lip-ness',
and people very rarely do it in these films, people are very
frightened of it."
