Keira Knightley defended after director disses her acting

By Tribute on May 31, 2016 | 9 Comments

Keira Knightley, your backup has arrived.

Directors Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go) and Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) came to the 31-year-old British actress’s defense after she was slighted by John Carney, who helmed Begin Again. Keira played Gretta, a singer-songwriter, in the film.

While speaking with The Independent about his latest film Sing Street, John slammed Keira’s acting abilities.

He said, “Keira’s thing is to hide who you are and I don’t think you can be an actor and do that.”

He described her as “disenchanted” while filming Begin Again, adding, “I don’t want to rubbish Keira, but you know it’s hard being a film actor and it requires a certain level of honesty and self-analysis that I don’t think she’s ready for yet and I certainly don’t think she was ready for on that film.”

John praised Keira’s costars, Adam Levine and Mark Ruffalo, but said that despite his best efforts to make the film flow, she “didn’t quite come out as a guitar-playing singer-songwriter.”

When asked to discuss what he learned from making the movie, he said he’ll “never make a film with supermodels again.”

The Oscar-nominated actress has yet to respond to John’s criticisms, but Mark and Lorene quickly took to Twitter to counter his claims.

Check out their Tweets below and let us know what you think of John’s harsh words! ~Matthew Pariselli

My experience with #keiraknightley was utterly spectacular on every level. I have no clue what this guy is talking about. #arrogantshithead

— mark romanek (@markromanek) May 30, 2016

.@Lieryn @markromanek I agree with Mark. Keira was a joy to work w/. Present & easy & really, really good at her job. Just lovely. — Lorene Scafaria (@LoreneScafaria) May 30, 2016

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1. Jacob • May 31, 2016 @ 11:52 AM

   She was honestly good in Begin Again. Like objectively good. Go watch it if you don’t believe me.

2. TinaMagic • May 31, 2016 @ 12:05 PM

   This guy is talking about this three years after the fact? I don’t get it. #attentionseeker

3. Kris • May 31, 2016 @ 12:39 PM

   I too thought she was great in that movie…don’t know what this guy is talking about. Her acting abilities are above reproach.

4. Shawn • May 31, 2016 @ 1:20 PM

   Keira has been slammed and slammed and slammed from ignorant and blattenly regular morons. The internet has and always will be a haven for hate and ignorance. I applaud Keira for all the work she actually does. I could not do the things she does as I am sure she does not know how to do the things I do(build plastic injection moulds). She is a great actress and hope to see more from her. Keep up the great work Keira and dont let the boobs of society EVER bring you down there are millions of others that also say nothing but positive things for you. Look to that not the nah sayers there is always disgust and ignorance in jealousy. Sorry for the long one but these morons need to stuff more chips in their faces and shut the you know what up.

5. Sean • May 31, 2016 @ 3:19 PM

   She’s started to age a lot, she’s on her way out I think. Too bad, would have loved to see her in another Pirates.

6. Kris • June 1, 2016 @ 12:22 PM

   We all age Sean. Interesting how aging comments are always directed towards women. Johnny Depp isn’t getting any younger and nobody says he’s too old for “Pirates”.

7. moviesteve • June 1, 2016 @ 7:16 PM

   But people have said Johnny is looking tired, bloated and overworked.
   Or did I just become the first one to say that?
   Whatever. All the best, Keira. Keep working and get back to your Never Let Me Go days.

8. Cathy • June 1, 2016 @ 7:54 PM

   It’s not that she’s old. She’s never been a good actress. Ditto many people who got into acting because they have connections.

9. LambofJob • June 2, 2016 @ 4:23 PM

   Keira Knightley is a bomb actress.

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