Keira Knightley has been to Disneyland and is quite familiar with the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but ultimately, her character in the movie based on that ride is a separate entity. "I think the film is so completely removed from the ride," Knightley said. "There really isn't anything in the story that is the same as the ride, except for a little bit like the jail sequences and certain aspects that are homage to the ride. So no, I don't think really, truthfully I needed to go [to Disneyland] for research purposes but I enjoyed it a lot. It was definitely worthwhile."Knightley plays a woman kidnapped by cursed pirates who believe she can help them undo the curse. In a classic pirate movie moment, Knightley is forced to walk the plank. "I was up there for about two days. Yes, two days to film that scene. It was at least two days to film pretty much ever scene because we did it from every possible conceivable angle. Plus, there is a lot of smoke in the movie. Lots of it. And if the wind changed, then the smoke wouldn't be in the shot. So we were constantly waiting for the winds to be in the right direction. And then they'd move the boat had to make sure if the wind was over here, the boat would be there. So, it was a lot of waiting around. Me standing on the plank getting vertigo. And then at the end of two days, they said, 'Well, okay, you don't have to really jump off.' And I said, 'You're joking. I've been standing up here for the last two days, now you're saying I don't have to jump off?' So I said I'll do it. I just did it once."
As her first starring role in a big studio movie - She had a small part in "The Phantom Menace" and a lead role in the British indie Bend it Like Beckham - Knightley was most impressed by her costars, Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush.
"I can't say enough good things about Johnny. I think he's fantastic. I think there's no question that he is one of the most talented actors around at the moment. The fact that he's been courageous enough to absolutely go for this character in a completely unique way, it completely sums up Johnny. So I loved it. It was very spontaneous, it was very funny. It kind of all gave us all a freedom to sort of play around and do what we wanted to do. He can talk about absolutely anything. He's possibly one of the most intelligent, most well-read people I know. Which personally I love, because like me, he's a school drop-out. He's incredibly generous and just gorgeous. And as my mom said, 'He must have been brought up very well!' So I had a great time working with him, and he made me laugh all the time which is all you can ask for when you're on a six-month shoot. He know a lot about British comedy. Maybe having lived in Europe for such a long time, just the humor was everything that I've been brought up with, so we just clicked."
And Rush, "He's incredible. I've been a big fan of Geoffrey for ages. It's amazing watching him work. I wouldn't say he's method, but he's certainly more method that I am. He went through an incredible amount of preparation time. It was about three hours of make-up for every single day, and prosthetics and everything. So it was incredibly watching him prepare but again, as soon as you're finished, it was dinner and wine and a fantastic laugh."
Knightley auditioned for the film several times, with director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, to get the role. "I met [Bruckheimer] in London with the London casting director. Four days after that, they phoned up and said, 'We want to fly you to LA to meet Gore Verbinski, the director and the guys at Disney.' So, I met Gore and we did a proper audition and screen tests and I read with him and discussed the character and all that kind of stuff. We dissected the character and the script, and really went through it. I told Gore my ideas and he told me his ideas. We just had a really nice chat and it was really cool. It was very laid back. I was very nervous about having been flown all the way from Britain, and thinking I could really bugger this up and wouldn't that be embarrassing. But it was really a nice audition, very little pressure. Then they said, 'Okay, can you fly to New York tomorrow and meet Jerry?' So, I did and we talked about writers because my mom's a writer and his wife's a writer. And sports. And a bit about the character. And I got the part two weeks later."
Knightley will next be seen playing Guinevere in a realistic adaptation of King Arthur, from "Pirates" producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "With 'King Arthur', we're trying to make a reality out of the myth. It's going to be very, very, very raw. It's going to be fascinating. There is a lot of action. I'm doing a lot of action which will be great. And I get to sword fight, which I didn't get in 'Pirates' which I was very pissed off about. But it's all right, Jerry is giving me a sword fight in 'King Arthur; so it's just fine. It's going to be very different to this one."
She said that film will require more from her physically than "Pirates" did. "During 'Pirates' I can safely say I did not do one bit of exercise at all. And it was all location catering and craft services so your big American cakes, which are much bigger than the British ones, which are fantastic. So, there was a lot of that. Now, doing 'King Arthur', the one thing that Jerry and all the guys at Disney said was, 'You have to get really fit to do this.' So, I've got personal trainers. It's terrifying. You get a very unnatural color and as soon as I finish 'King Arthur' I will be going back to my slobbish ways, I assure you."
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl opens July 9. King Arthur is aimed for a December, 2004 release.
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