Few actor and director partnerships are as beloved as the one between Keira Knightley and Joe Wright. Together, they have delivered some of the most acclaimed literary adaptations of the 21st century.
All three projects—‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Atonement’, and ‘Anna Karenina’—have redefined period dramas in modern cinema. But given such a long history together, there are many legendary anecdotes between the two. There is one particularly unusual story that still amuses both of them years later.
Joe Wright Banned Keira Knightley’s Signature Pout
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Keira Knightley opened up about working with Joe Wright. She revealed that the director had one strict rule for her performance in ‘Pride and Prejudice’: she was not allowed to pout.
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The actress explained that she had long been insecure about her smile. “I didn’t like my smile. Loads of people had said I have a crap smile,” Knightley recalled.
She struggled with this a lot on-screen and developed the habit of pouting almost instinctively when the camera started rolling. But Joe Wright was determined to break her of this habit.
As Knightley remembered, “Joe was like, ‘You’ve got to stop the pout.’ So, I wasn’t allowed to pout.” That became a defining rule during filming, and the director constantly kept an eye on the actress to make sure she didn’t pout.
But the story took a surprising turn years later when the pair reunited for campaigns for the luxury fashion house Chanel. “Then we started doing Chanel adverts, and then all of a sudden, he was like, ‘You know that pout that I banned? Can we have that back as much as possible?’” Knightley said, laughing at the irony.
The One Time Keira Knightley Sneaked In A Pout In ‘Pride and Prejudice’
Despite Joe Wright’s strict rule, there was a particular moment when Keira Knightley managed to make one pout survive the final cut of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
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Knightley revealed it was during a scene when Wright wasn’t present at the set. Instead, the shot was filmed by the movie’s second-unit director. As a result, the moment slipped into the finished film unnoticed until it was too late.
The actress then revealed just how much that brief moment continues to irritate Wright. “Every time he watched it, he’s still like, ‘You got that one f—ing pout in.’” For us viewers, it is almost impossible to notice. But for Wright, the tiny detail somehow continued to stand out over the years.
Then again, perhaps it does not bother him quite as much anymore now that he actively encourages Knightley to pout. And after seeing her iconic pout on ‘The Graham Norton Show’, we can’t help but be charmed as well.
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