By Wilson Morales

WHAT DID YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR THIS ROLE?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: I read the book a lot. I've been obsessed by the book since I was about seven, I had all the Austen series on book tape, and I used to listen to it. And then I was obsessed with the BBC version when I was about eleven, maybe ten or eleven. And then I got, I read the book finally when I was about fourteen and got obsessed again. And then when I was offered the role, I read it, I was terrified of doing it, because I'd been really obsessed with the BBC one, I thought I'm just going to do an absolute copy of Jennifer Ehle's performance and that would be awful. I mean, she was fantastic, but it would be awful if I tried to copy her. And it was actually my mom that said you know what? If you read the book, you'll see yourself as Elizabeth Bennet, because everybody does, and therefore you won't be able to do a copy of anyone else's performance, and she was absolutely right, and I think that's one of the reasons that the book has lasted as long as it has, because if you're a woman and you love it, you read it, and yeah, yeah, that's me. So that was good, just reading the book and make notes. I was so terrified before I started, that I learned the entire script, my part and everybody else's by heart, before I started. Which was quite helpful, not really helpful for everything you do, but quite helpful to that one. And then we had, we were really lucky, because we had like historians come and give us lectures, and we had etiquette lessons and all that kind of stuff, and it was good, because I think doing a piece like this, you have to learn the rules to be able to know how to break them. So it was good to be clear about what the rules were.

HAVE YOU SEEN 'TRISTAN SHANDY' YET? IT JUMPS IN AND OUT OF PERIOD.

KNIGHTLEY: No. Really? I've been in the Caribbean. [laughs]

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR JUDI DENCH PILLOW?

KNIGHTLEY: My Judi Dench pillow! I didn't get one, I don't know why, I think it was pretty rude [laughs]. I love that, because she gives this kind of fantastic air, she just sits there and she embroiders, and you think oh that's so nice, it's Judi Dench and it's so quaint and she's embroidering a cushion, and you go what are you embroidering? And she goes, 'fuck.' She's got like hundreds of them, they're just covered in swear words or rude sayings or whatever, it's brilliant.

SHE DIDN'T GIVE YOU ONE WITH FUCK ON IT, DO YOU HAVE TO ASK?

KNIGHTLEY: No! Well maybe, I guess yes, maybe somebody asked her for it. [laughs]

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN LIZZIE?

KNIGHTLEY: Yeah! I think it's impossible not to. Anybody, it's impossible not to. And it's partly because she's a character, she's a character that - I'm making a huge generalization here, but I'm assuming every woman will want to be her, which is this sort of incredibly passionate, clever, witty, intelligent, just amazing being, but also sometimes she is so annoying and you want to kick her up the ass and tell her to sort it out. So she's flawed, she's really flawed, and you can imagine her going into a room and being slightly nervous about it and thinking oh, I feel really stupid right now, and that's a very human characteristic, so I think generally, when people read the book, hopefully when people see the film, but specifically when people read the book, they will see aspects of themselves in that character. Which is what's so brilliant about Austen, I think you see yourself in all her characters. Strong women.

ARE THERE ANY LINES OR SCENES FROM THE BOOK THAT YOU WISH HAD BEEN INCLUDED IN THE FILM?

KNIGHTLEY: Oh of course. I mean, I think - it's a difficult thing, when you try and make a film of a book that you really love, because you only ever have about two hours to tell the story, and it's never gonna be enough, you know. So yeah, I mean, Jesus, we don't say, 'it is a true university of knowledge,' we don't do that line, which is quite extraordinary, actually I didn't realize that until I saw the film the first time, and I went wait a minute! We don't say the most famous line in the entire book. Which I think is kind of quite good actually, because you expect that one. There's a lot more of the Wickham stuff in the book that I love, I love all that Lydia, Wickham thing, that we never shot. It was never written into the script, again, because you have to cut it, and you have to go we've got two hours, we've got to focus in on this aspect. What's lovely about it, is you go you know what? There is quite a wealth of stuff that we have to leave out, because it didn't go with our story, so therefore the next film of 'Pride and Prejudice' can focus on that, and that would be fantastic, that would be nice.

QUITE A CHANGE BETWEEN 'DOMINO' AND THIS. DID THIS PRECEDE 'DOMINO?'

KNIGHTLEY: Yeah, I had - yes, I finished this and had four days and went on to 'Domino.'

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT TRANSITION?

KNIGHTLEY: I cut my hair off.

DID THAT HELP?

KNIGHTLEY: Yeah, no, it was really - it was weird, because I'd got sort of the last third of 'Domino' and Tony Scott started - I mean, the last third of 'Pride and Prejudice,' and Tony Scott started calling and trying to talk about 'Domino,' and I mean, 'Domino' is a crazy script anyway, so it's difficult at the best of times to get your head into that, but even more difficult when your head is so far into 'Pride and Prejudice' and Elizabeth Bennet, it's impossible, so I couldn't talk to him, and I was getting so freaked out, that I wouldn't be able to make the transition in time, and I literally - we worked six days a week on this, so on one weekend that I had, and I was back in London, one day I had back in London, I was walking on the road, and there was a hair dresser's that was open, and I walked in, and I cut my hair off, and went to the guy, I had a picture and I went I want this, and he went no you don't. I went no, no, I want this one. No, no, no, you really don't. I said just cut my hair off! And he went okay, and cut it all off. I needed to look in the mirror and not see Elizabeth Bennet, because that's what was doing it, my hair did, and so I had to cut it off. That was helpful. I think it was incredibly stupid, and putting a ridiculous pressure on myself, to do them that close together. But you live and learn, you know. And actually it was quite exciting as well, I'm sure I'll probably do it again, I'm saying I'll never do it again, but I think I probably will. And it kind of helped, with 'Domino,' because slightly the feel of that movie is flying by the seat of your pants, and I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants.

IT LOOKED STRENUOUS TOO, THE FIGHTS AND ALL.

KNIGHTLEY: Yeah, I mean, there were moments when we were doing scenes from, I was doing 'Pride and Prejudice' and I was off in my entire Lizzie Bennet thing, trying to do the nunchucks, on the corner of the set. And I think there was time Roman, the director of photography on 'Pride,' he was sitting there about six thirty in the morning, just before we had to go to set, and eating his breakfast, and he suddenly looked out the window and saw me doing kickboxing with a trainer that they'd got coming down [laughs], so it was kind of interesting. Kung fu Lizzie Bennet, it's great.

THERE'S SOME REACTION TO DOMINO BEING GAY, BUT THAT NOT BEING PORTRAYED IN THE FILM. THIS HAPPENED TO YOU BEFORE WITH 'BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM.'

KNIGHTLEY: When did that happen with 'Bend it Like Beckham?'

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