Keira Knightley's "hell of a pregnancy" inspired her to take on role in 'Silent Night'
Keira Knightley's difficult pregnancy spurred her on to take latest role
The 36-year-old actress - who has been married to musician James Righton, 36, since 2015 - was expecting her second child and suffering from sciatica when she first read the script for the festive flick, which was filmed in February 2020.
She said: "We filmed it before Covid and I was pregnant with my second daughter [when I read the script]. It had been one hell of a pregnancy; I'd been nauseous for six months solid. I had a couple of weeks when I felt all right, and then I got sciatica, so I was in agony and I was in agony and really angry in my hormonal state."
In her first holiday film since the 2003 classic 'Love Actually', Keira - who gave birth to Delilah in late 2019 and is also mother to Edie, six, - stars as Nell, a mother preparing for the Christmas season when because of a lethal environmental catastrophe, the government rolls out suicide pills to the public for a quick and easy death.
The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actress then went on to claim that - despite her pain - she was drawn to the role of a mother in the comedy horror because it tackles the "dark side of maternity."
Speaking to Stylist Magazine, she added: "I'm very interested in women's stories. And I think this film taps into the dark side of maternity; you give birth to life . I'm very aware of how easily these tiny creatures could die. But you're not able to fix everything for your kid, even though you want to be able to say it's OK. Sometimes you can't. In a weird way, that's what this film deals with: that dark maternal thing."
Tagged in Keira Knightley James Righton