Keira Knightley

Posted on 6 November 2023by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

Rose Byrne, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, 2000.
Diane Kruger, Troy, 2004. According to The Times (of London). Keira was seen for as the face that launched a thousand ships – Helen of Troy – and…
Rose Byrne, Troy, 2004. … and also for Hector’s virgin cousin, Briseis.
Emmy Rossum, The Phantom of the Opera, 2003. “My test for Christine was the singularly most embarrassing moment of my life because I knew I couldn’t sing it.”But she was forever challenging herself, desperate to prove herself to everyone – and to herself – when scared she was only being hired because of her looks. Charlotte Church, Anne Hathaway, Katie Holmes and Catherine Zeta-Jones were also on the list for Christine Daaé.
Natalie Portman, V For Vengeance, 2005. Portman was delighted to win Evey Hammond from Knightley, Bryce Dallas Howard and Scarlett Johansson because she’d always wanted to shave her head! Evey was pronounced EV – E is the fifth letter of the alphabet, V is five in Latin and Y is the 25th letter (5 squared). Cinema is so educational.
Coral Beed, The Rising: The Ballad of Mangal Pandey, India, 2005. Veteran Bollywood director Ketan Mehta aimed (too) high for his quite gorgeous epic – and, er, Bravehearted – view of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.
Anne Hathaway, Becoming Jane, 2006. Despite their differing ages, Hathaway, 24, Knightley, 21, Natalie Portman, 25 and Kate Winslet, 31, were up for the 20-year-old heroine of the (mainly fictional) biopic based upon Jane Austen’s… letters! James McAvoy was her penniless Irish lover and obvious model for her future creation, Mr Darcy. Keira was Natalie’s double-cum-decoy in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. 1999. When in make-up, their mothers couldn’t tell them apart.
Eva Green, Casino Royale, 2005.
Kate Bosworth, Superman Returns, 2006.
Claire Danes, Evening, 2006. KK was considered for the younger version of Vanessa Redgrave’s character (Mamie Gummer did likewise for her mother, Meryl Streep’s role). However, Keira was working day and knightley on both the latest Pirates and Atonement. Danes met her future husband, UK actor Hugh Dancy, on this film.
Romola Garai, Atonement, 2006. UK director Joe Wright wanted Keira to be Briony, the cause of all the horrendous trouble. Keira wanted to play her more mature elder sister, Cecilia. Guess who won? The New Yorker with the Irish name for freedom took over Briony and was Oscar-nominated at age 13.
Natalie Portman, The Other Boleyn Girl, 2006. For the second time, Portman inherited a Knightley offer – to be Anne Boleyn, sister of Scarlett Johansson’s Mary. Portman also inherited KK’s dialect coach Jill McCullough.
Mamie Gummer, Evening, 2007. Sure, very keen to play the younger Meryl Streep but Keira was trapped between another Pirates of the Caribbean and Atonement. Anyway, Meryl came complete with her own younger self – her daughter Mamie. (Natasha Richardson did likewise for her mother Vanessa Redgrave’s role).
Amanda Seyfried, Mama Mia, 2007. Knifghtley, Amanda Bynes, Rachel McAdams, Mandy Moore were in the Abba musical mix for Sophie. Nicole Kidman was due as KK’s Mama in 2004 – laterf played by Meryl Streep .Butr who was Dad, that was the question. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth or StellanSkarsgård?Hey, hadn’t the plot (of a mother not knowing which of three lovers fathered her daughter) already been spun for Gina Lollobrigida in Buona Sera Mrs Campbell… in 1967!
Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace, 2008.
Sienna Miller, The Edge of Love, 2008. Sharan Macdonald wrote Caitlin for her daughter but Keira preferred to be the other great lover of Dylan Thomas, Vera Phillips – grandmother of her producer Rebekah Gilbertson.
Amber Heard, The Rum Diary, 2009. Johnny Depp’s leading lady from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was up for Chenault – opposite his second version of Hunter S Thompson. When (sorry, but it has to be said) Amber made herself heard. She wrote to the London director Bruce Robinson and his producers outlining why she’d be best. “The part didn’t call for a famous person. It called for an actress who was right for the part.” And who then wed Depp! For 23 months of scandal and acrimony.
Lucy Gordon, Gainsbourg (vie heroique)/Gainsbourg: Je t’aime…moi non plus, France, 2009.
Joann Sfar, a comicbook writer-artist making his directing debut, saw more than 500” Brit girls to play actress Jane Birkin – “none of them were right” – in the film about her second husband, French composer, lyricist, singer, actor, provocateur and drunk Serge Gainsbourg. Getting desperate, Sfar wrote to Keira – “who never replied.” Then, Lucy wrote to him, having been refused by his casting director. And proved she had “the natural manner, the joy and intelligence of Birkin,” Soon after filming ended, Lucy hung herself in Paris, “deeply affected” by a friend’s suicide. “She left as she had come,” said Birkin. “With great modesty.” And in dedicating his film to her, Sfar wrote: “I think about Lucy all the time. I am not the only one. This film is for her.”
Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2010. Knightley was approached about being Cap Am’s lover, SHIELD agent Peggy (ex-Sharon) Carter. Also missing the nine-picture deal for Cap Am sequels, Avengers movies and cross-overs were… Gemma Arterton, Emily Blunt, Alexa Davalos, Alice Eve, Rosamund Pike. Atwell had co-starred with Keira in The Duchess, 2007.
Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, 2010.
Rachel Weisz, Oz the Great and Powerful, 2012. Disneyland is no Oz. Yet having lost a bundle on the depressing Return To Oz, 1984, the Mouse House primed the pump anew for this dangerously titled flop. Also up for Evanora: Amy Adams, Kate Beckinsale, Rebecca Hall, Kristen Stewart. Director Sam Raimi’s favourites became Hilary Swank and Michelle Williams. Then, Weisz arrived out of the blue… and blew everyone away. And Williams became Annie/Glinda.
Sarah Gadoln, Cosmopolis, 2011. KK was first asked by Canadian director David Cronenberg to join his film. When that proved impossible, he ran to his Toronto find from his previous outing, A Dangerous Method, 2010.
Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises, 2011.
Carey Mulligan, The Great Gatsby, 2011. Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s hunt for Daisy in the fourth Gatsby movie since 1926 matched all the season’s other major auditions.As if the only actresses left on planet earth were: Knightley, Jessica Alba, Abbie Cornish, Eva Green, Rebecca Hall, Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Blake Lively, Rachel McAdams, Natalie Portman, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Williams. And Mulligan… soon sobbing on a red carpet, after being handed a phone. “It was Baz: Hello Daisy!” (Except, sadly, she wasn’t).
Julianne Hough, Safe Haven, 2012. The delightful Utah blonde from Burlesque and Footloose won the lead when Keira preferred Can A Song Save Your Life?
Sarah Gadon, Cosmopolis, 2013. Marion Cotillard was first choice to co-star with Robert Pattinson. However, she was too close to delivering her and Guillaume Canet’s son, Marcel. Director David Cronenberg next looked at Keria and Noomi Rapace and voted Gadon.
Rachel McAdams, True Detective 2, TV, 2014. Having proved she could hack it in Domino, 2004, Keira was a late entry for the tough, no-nonsense Monterey sheriff Ani Bezzerides in the second HBO season (changing from Southern to West Coast noir, still owing everything to Elmore Leonard/Justified). Malin Akerman, Jamie Alexander, Jessica Biel, Oona Chaplin, Kelly Reilly, Brit Marling read for creator Nic Pizzolatto. Also seen because of their recent outstanding cops (counting for or against them) were Michelle Forbes, from The Killing (also by Pizzolatto), and Elisabeth Moss, who made Top of the Lake for Jane Campion.
Alicia Vikander, Tulip Fever, 2014. Desire. Obsession. Betrayal (And produced by Harvey Weinstein!). Knightley and Jude Law became Vikander and Dane DeHaan – as the woman falling for the artist hired to paint her in 17th Century Amsterdam. A project passion for directors Peter Chelsom, Tom Hooper, John Madden since 2004 until Justin Chadwick made it in 2014 – unreleased until 2017

Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 27

WELCOME

to the films the stars did not make. The movies that never were. The most definitive collation of casting stories. Check up on all the films - of yesterday, today and tomorrow - that your favourite stars never made... A cast of thousands - 8,063 actors - to click on... More than 40 years in the making! And 2,777,633 words of spirited text.

The ultimate in movie trivia ... Better! Exactly the kind of history that Hollywood deserves. Back to front. Upside-down. Inside out. Full of flashbacks, close-ups, tracking shots (and, alas some badly edited sequences - sorry about that!) forming a fascinating, new and often bizarre flip-side perspective on your treasured movies and stars

HE SAID

“They’re doing stuff, but not with me. I’m not doing any more.” – Adam Driver on no more Kylo Ren/Ben Solo ... Or is it that there will be no more Star Wars?

“I’ve been acting for 42 years and then you make one cocktail…” – Stanley Tucci on his new fame as a TV food and cookery expert.

"The point is it's very hard work and you have to really want to do it. It has to be something that you're burning to say." – Martin Scorsese on directing at 80 and thinking “possibly only one more”.

“Whether you are a competent actor, or an artist, is incidental. The main business is: you’re product. I had a hard time steadying myself against that stuff.” – Robert Redford.

“I’ve never done the same thing twice and how many people can say that?” – Tom Hanks… forgetting his two successive Oscars.

“I was so excited when I got the script for Silent Night. There’s no dialogue in the entire movie! I thought this would be very good for me because it lets me use my gifts for telling a story visually. – John Woo on his Hollywood comeback at 77.

“I’ve gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage. What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father.” – Nic Cage.

“The man who invented mornings was no Christian.” – Peter O’Toole.

“The moustache did the acting.” – Anthony Hopkins on Howards End.

“It’s very difficult to get 100 million people to watch anything,” – writer-director Joe Russo.

“I gave him a little part in Looper, where he got to be shot in the face by Bruce Willis. He was just so overjoyed… like a little kid.” – director Rian Johnson on his father.

“I'm not an actor - and I've got 64 films to prove it!” – Victor Mature.

“If you cast it right, you don’t have to tell the actors what to do.” – John Huston.

CCC CLIPS

>> Name Game. James Spader really started something with his Blacklist series. He played – remember? – Reddington. And now we have Austin Butler and, Emma Stone are in making Eddington… and newbie Glenn Powell is Huntingdon, his tenth gig since Top Gun: Maverick. Perhaps it’s time to re-issue Carrington… with, among others, Steven Waddington!

>> Christopher Nolan says “No, sadly no – no truth to those rumours.” About making the next Bond. So, no Cillian Murphy as Jimbo, then?

>> Rolling Stone. Those Poor Things, Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, are – naturally – in the next release of their Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s Emma’s third Yorgos collaboration. Most likely she’ll be in his next one, too, a re-make of the South Korean hit, Save the Green Planet. That was a comedy. But one can never categorise a Lanthimos experience. After all this one was first titled… And.

>> Taylor Swift’s guy, US football superstar Travis Kelce, is making moves on movies. To be as famous as Dwayne Johnson. Although people are now beginning to ask: Dwyane Whosis?

>>Brandon Routh was Superman back in the day. Today he’s in…Ick.

>> A star sure was born! Lady Gaga now getting $10million for Joker 2…

>> Sean Ono Lennon says Emma Stone should play his dad. Now there’s a thought. After all, Cate Blanchett played Bob Dylan…

>> Sly Stallone has come this far without bothering with serial killers but that’s what he’s chasing in The Epiphany. He plays a retiring cop - what else at 78?

>> Thirty years after the first, Neve Campbell returns in Scream 7. She refused #6 over a money row…

>> Beatles director Sam Mendes made Skyfall and Spectre and another actor who has played John Lennon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, might yet be the next 007…

>> Ryan Gosling tipped to be join the Marvelverse. (They need him more than he them). Henry Cavill may follow – so definitely no Bond then. Not after Argylle. If anyone witnessed that accident, could they call the appropriate authorities.

>> Will Smith comes back (or so he hopes) in an almost suicide squad blasting drug dealers in Sugar Bandits… while Colin Farrell settles for just Sugar – back to his usual smoothie looks after The Penguin…

>> White Lotus 3 resurrects Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Charlotte Le Bon, Scott Glenn and introduces Patrick Schwarzenegger. But which one is going to flash…something?

CHAMPION'S LEAGUE

The battle for the top spot between Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson has – I think – come to an end. Recently, we‘ve seen Marlon leading Jack by one or two movies – and then, almost immediately, vice-versa. The gap is much wider now between the former Mulholland Drive neighbours. Latest research dug up more titles for Jack - Mr Mom, A Christmas Story, Striptease, The Bicentennial Man, Expend4bles – so that he is now safe (?) at the top of league with 177 films he chose not to make compared to Brando’s 172. But you know - you never know…

(The full list of their huge lists of bypassed films are not on their pages for now - one of the hassles being tackled in our - yes, very slow! – restructuring).

Marlon Brando – 177
Jack Nicholson – 172
Paul Newman – 160
Cary Grant – 150
Robert De Niro – 140
Tom Cruise – 135
Dustin Hoffman – 126
Mel Gibson – 118
Sean Connery, Al Pacino – 117

Highest Brit remains, as always, Sir Sean at 117… followed by Laurence OIivier, 93; Richard Burton, 87; Peter O’Toole, 79; Elizabeth Taylor, 73; Peter Sellers, 72; Dirk Bogarde and James Mason, 68; Olivia De Havilland, 58; Vivien Leigh and Gary Oldman, 57.

Highest lady is Bette Davis, 97; Jodie Foster, 84; Michelle Pfeiffer, 81; Katharine Hepburn, 79; Julie Christie, 76; Meryl Streep, 75; Elizabeth Taylor, 73; Nicole Kidman, 72: Jane Fonda, 70; Julia Roberts, 68.

Younger Brigade: Johnny Depp 108; Leo, 75; Jim Carrey, 70; Madonna, 62; Natalie Portman, 57; Aishawarya Rai Bachchan, 40; Bridget Fonda, 36: Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman, 35; Jake Gyllenhall, 33: Ben Affleck, 31.

(You'll find the full list at Champions in the Main Menu)

A BOND MISS

Is Léa Seydoux now a spy…or, to be more polite, a talent scout for Eon Productions? 007’s girl in both Spectre and No Time to Die appears to assisting the (rather quiet) search for the next Jimbo. In La bête (The Beast), one of her many new French films, Léa co-stars with Hammersmith’s George MacKay - Sam Mendes’ find for 1917. He learned French for the film, so this may not be his last Paris booking.

As Gabrielle and Louis, they work extremely well together as star-crossed lovers in three time-lines: 1904, 1914 and 2044. And he looks the business in his retro tuxedo. ‘Twould be fascinating to cast an eye over her report for Barbara Broccoli’s eyes only. On verra as Léa (and now even George) would say. We’ll see.

SHE SAID

“You need your parents to set boundaries and hold you accountable and keep you away from, like, weird people.” – Scarlett Johansson on surviving as a child actor.

“I was so deeply in love with Bella, it terrified me not to live up to her as a character. I felt like I was failing her in the first week, and failing Yorgos [Lanthimos]. ). It was just difficult. I could talk to him about it, but I couldn’t talk to her about it. “ – Emma Stone on making Poor Things, leading to her second Oscar.

“Everything was so beautiful up on that screen. That make-believe world was much more pleasant than anything I was experiencing. I didn’t like reality. I wanted to be in the movies, even though I knew I didn’t look like the other women on the screen. My mother said, ‘you better learn to type,’ but I didn’t listen. Somehow, some way, thank you God, it all came true.” – Barbra Streisand, receiving lifetime achievement honour from the Screen Actors Guild.

“If I arrive at a moment in the history of cinema where I am legally obliged to have some kind of police on my set telling me what I’m allowed to do, I would rather stop filming sex scenes completely.” – French director Mia Hansen-Løve.

“I’m not one to sit around doin’ nothin’, I would never retire, I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage, someday, hopefully one I’ve written.” – Dolly Parton.

“Playing it safe doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. You have to take chances. especially if you’re a black woman. You have no choice.” – Halle Berry.

“The more famous an actress becomes, the less she's allowed to eat.” – Lana Turner.

“I don’t do T&A very well because I haven’t got much of either.” – Tea Leoni.

“I was an idiot in terms of career-building, but I had a great time.” – Sally Kellerman.

“As you get older, you realise your parents aren't these superheroes. They're actually people.” – Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

“Everybody thought I was crazy. And by the way, I thought I was crazy.” – Jennifer Lopez on spending $20m of her own money on making This Is Me … Now: A Love Story.

“It’s dangerous to repeat performances. It becomes the sole thing on your gravestone.” – Helen Mirren on playing The Queen in The Queen and on stage in The Audience.

“I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like: Is this the end of the road creatively?’” – Scarlett Johansson on surviving as a star.

WAIT & SEE...

This is such a busy year for movies that various releases have been postponed until 2025… Captain America: Brave New World, Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, Games of Thrones spin-off The Hedge Knight (not about a gardener), Ke Huy Quan’s actioner With Love, John Wick’s spin-off, Ballerina, Fast X :part 2, Avatar 3, Jurassic World 4, Black Mirror 7, Mission: Impossible 8, Fantastic Four, Superman and the dreaded Michael bio – more like horror film, surely. Oh and no The Batman 2 or Harry P TV series until 2026.