Directors Are Defending Keira Knightley Against John Carney’s Douchey Comments
"I’ll never make a film with supermodels again," he said about the Oscar nominee.
In an interview with The Independent over the weekend, director John Carney made some very pointed and unnecessarily nasty comments about Keira Knightley, who he worked with in the pretty shitty movie, Begin Again.
Carney, who comes off as quite arrogant and pretty sexist in the piece, says a number of things about how difficult it was to work with Knightley, including that it taught him to “never make a film with supermodels again” (FYI Keira Knightley is not a supermodel, but she is an Oscar nominee!). He also made sure to praise Knightley’s Begin Again co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Maroon 5 front-man Adam Levine, for being “unpretentious” and “a joy to work with”.
“I like to work with curious, proper film actors as opposed to movie stars,” Carney said, while presumably staring into a mirror. “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.”
Right. Safe to say, the internet was none too jazzed about Carney’s assessment of Knightley, particularly several directors who she’s worked with in the past. This included Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go), Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World), and Lynn Shelton (Laggies).
Working with #KeiraKnightley was magnificent, top to bottom. She is the real deal. #Knightleylove
— Lynn Shelton (@lynnsheltonfilm) May 30, 2016
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
My recollection of #keiraknightley's "entourage" was that her mum visited the set one day for an hour or two.
— 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
Also, an Oscar nominated actress is not a supermodel. That said many supermodels can act VERY well. #doucebagdirector #keiraknightley
— Angele Alain (@angelealain) May 30, 2016
Keira was brave and fearless onstage and thorough and endlessly rigorous offstage. Felt like I should share that this week. #keiraknightley
— Evan Cabnet (@evancabnet) May 31, 2016
You’re all right Knightley, you’re all right.