ritain's hottest young actress, Keira Knightley, talks about her role in Domino, a film loosely inspired by the life of Domino Harvey, daughter of legendary British actor Laurence Harvey and a former model who rejected her privileged Beverly Hills life to become a gun-toting LA bounty hunter.

What sold you on doing this movie?
The moment I read the script, I thought, "This is so cool." It's really a black comedy... dark and nasty and all the rest of it. But there's something about it, you read it and you're just completely swept up in it. At that point I didn't know that I was doing Pride & Prejudice and I got a real kick out of the idea of going from Elizabeth Bennet to Domino.
The whole idea of this girl who's from an extremely privileged background who completely turns her back on all of it and goes off on this wild path is an extraordinary idea in itself. Then there's the fact that a lot of it is based on reality. That's fascinating.

Did you get to meet Domino?
I did once, very briefly, way before we started filming... But although this is totally inspired by her and by her character, it isn't true to her story. So I thought, "Seeing as we're not completely telling her story, it gives me freedom to do what I want." She's very intelligent and just incredible.

What kind of weapons have you been training with in preparation for this movie?
Nun-chucks were the big one. Guns. I think that I do a couple of knife throws. And I'm just punching people in the face, really.

So is the mark on your cheek a remnant of an earlier fight scene?
It's the remnant of a bus crash. Not real. This one is real, though (pointing to a mark on her arm). I'm very proud of that� I've got to tell you how I got this though. I was shooting two machine guns. It was fantastic. I had a machine gun in each hand and one of the shells from the machine gun jumped out the back and hit me. I didn't know until afterwards. I went home and had a shower and I had fake blood all over me and suddenly something wouldn't come off. It's a fabulous burn.

How do you like the look of this character?
I like it a lot. I'm glad to wipe the tattoos off at the end of the day, but it's nice to have them. But no, I'm enjoying her; you mean the hair too, right? Just everything. I really like it.

You filmed Pride & Prejudice before this.
Yeah. I had four days in between. I didn't realize that it was going to be as difficult as it was to make the transition. It was really strange. The characters are so different. It was difficult, but good.

Are there things in the movie that people would be shocked about if they knew it was true?
Everything is shocking. It's very violent. There's sex, violence, nudity and bad language. I don't know specifically what's true and what isn't. I think that a lot of it is inspired by truth with a lot of artistic license along the way.

Where does the film's sex appeal come in?
Sex appeal? There's nudity. We do a lot of stuff in strip clubs, right? Not particularly me, but yeah, I had my first strip club experience which was great. There's a lot of interesting things that you'll have to wait and see.

- Samantha Rock

Postscript:
Domino Harvey was found dead of an accidental overdose in her West Hollywood home on June 27, 2005. She was 35.

Read Tribute's exclusive one-on-one with Keira Knightley talking about Pride & Prejudice in our next issue, online soon!