Keira Knightley took 'so long' to ignore camera on set

17 March 2019

Keira Knightley took "so long" to "completely ignore" cameras when shooting a movie.

Keira Knightley

The 33-year-old actress - who has three-year-old daughter Edie, with Klaxons frontman James Righton - is keen to branch out into directing in the future but knows it takes a very different approach to starring on screen.

Asked if she wants to direct said: "I don't know, at the moment with a three year old, no. But maybe further down the line. I've worked on a lot of films, I've worked with a lot of wonderful directors and I'm really interested in how it's all put together and I really like working with scripts and storylines. I think there's certain areas that I'm confident I'd be okay in, and certain areas where I'm not as confident.

"The problem is, as an actor what I'm meant to do is completely ignore the camera is there, so it's taken me so long to completely ignore the camera there that now if you're thinking about directing you need to be thinking 'why are you there and what lens are you on'."

The British star plays Rachael Morgan in James Kent's new drama 'The Aftermath' and was drawn to the film because there were so many "interesting" and thought-provoking factors that she was left to "think about" when she read her character's script.

Speaking to Collider, she added: "I'd never seen a film set exactly in this, I want to say period, but that's not right, it's the aftermath and what that looked like, that kind of post-apocalyptic world and I think that sense of rebuilding, that sense of loss, and that very real sense there was a winning side and a losing side.

"But ultimately, if you've lost somebody that you loved, there is no winning, and what does that look like and how do you get past that.

"It's a very, very grown-up love story because what happens as a couple you've been through a great tragedy and suddenly you are completely different people and it should be the person that you know best in the world and yet you don't recognise them in any way, how do you reach them, how do you come back together. I thought all of these things were interesting things to think about."