Keira Knightley admits she agrees with viewers’ ‘creepy’ complaint about Love Actually

Even director Richard Curtis called the scene ‘a bit weird’

Keira Knightley says she can’t help but agree with complaints about that ‘creepy’ Love Actually scene.

The 2003 romcom follows the tangled-up and complicated love lives of a number of couples during the Christmas period in London.

You’ve got Hugh Grant starring as the newly elected Prime Minister, David, who falls for Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), a member of his household staff.

There’s also Colin Firth playing a writer named Jamie, who develops feeling towards his Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz).

Let’s also not forget Liam Neeson as Daniel, a grieving widower helping his stepson Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) out with his first crush.

We all know the scene (Universal Pictures)

We all know the scene (Universal Pictures)

Then we have Knightley who stars as Juliet. Her life gets turned upside down when her husband’s best friend, Mark (Andrew Lincoln), secretly has a massive crush on her.

And in one of the most memorable Love Actually scenes, Mark shows up to Juliet’s door step and uses cue cards to declare his unspoken love for her. All while her husband is unaware.

Although it was supposed to be somewhat of a romantic gesture, some viewers thought it crossed several boundaries and was just very creepy.

In a recent interview with the LA Times, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, 39, admitted: “The slightly stalkerish aspect of it — I do remember that.

“My memory is of Richard, who is now a very dear friend, of me doing the scene, and him going, ‘No, you’re looking at [Andrew] like he’s creepy,’ and I’m like [in a dramatic whisper], ‘But it is quite creepy.’

Keira Knightley admits the scene was 'creepy' (Universal Pictures)

Keira Knightley admits the scene was ‘creepy’ (Universal Pictures)

“And then having to redo it to fix my face to make him seem not creepy.”

She added: “I mean, there was a creep factor at the time, right? Also, I knew I was 17. It only seems like a few years ago that everybody else realised I was 17.”

Even the director Richard Curtis admitted that the scene was ‘a bit weird’.

“I think it’s a bit weird. I mean, I remember being taken by surprise about seven years ago, I was going to be interviewed by somebody and they said, ‘Of course, we’re mainly interested in the stalker scene,’ and I said, ‘What scene is that?’ And then I was, like, educated in it,” he told the Independent in 2023.

“All I can say is that a lot of intelligent people were involved in the film at the time, and we didn’t think it was a stalker scene.

“But if it’s interesting or funny for different reasons [now] then, you know.

“God bless our progressive world.”

Keira Knightley makes heartbreaking admission about Pirates movies after saying she went through years of therapy

Keira Knightley makes heartbreaking admission about Pirates movies after saying she went through years of therapy

Keira Knightley starred alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series

Keira Knightley has made a heartbreaking admission after starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

The Oscar-nominated actor, 39, famously played Elizabeth Swann, a governor’s daughter who becomes a pirate leader.

She of course starred alongside Johnny Depp, who portrayed Captain Jack Sparrow, and Orlando Bloom, who starred as Will Turner, Elizabeth’s love interest and a blacksmith-turned-pirate.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Knightley featured in three of the films from 2003 to 2007 and has reflected on the problems that followed her.

She thinks she was ‘taken down so publicly’ for appearing in them, telling The Times in an interview: “It’s a funny thing when you have something that was making and breaking you at the same time.

“I was seen as s**t because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for [Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game].

Keira Knightley has made a heartbreaking admission about starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (ShowBizIreland.com/Getty Images)

Keira Knightley has made a heartbreaking admission about starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (ShowBizIreland.com/Getty Images)

“They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly.

“So, they’re in a very confused place in my head.”

Because of her experience on Pirates, Knightley says she will never do a big movie franchise again.

“The hours are insane,” she added.

“It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming.”

Throughout the years the fame really got to her, so much so that she underwent ‘many years of therapy’ to cope.

She told The Telegraph in 2019: “The fame that came with them I just couldn’t handle.

Keira Knightley starred alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (E. Charbonneau/WireImage for Disney Pictures)

Keira Knightley starred alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (E. Charbonneau/WireImage for Disney Pictures)

“So looking back, would I do anything different? No, I wouldn’t because I’m unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that’s much less intense.”

The actor also said it was hard to shake off the Elizabeth Swann character, telling Harper’s Bazaar in 2023: “She [Elizabeth Swann] was the object of everybody’s lust.

“Not that she doesn’t have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting coming from being really tomboyish to getting projected as quite the opposite. I felt very constrained. I felt very stuck.

“So the roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that.

“I didn’t have a sense of how to articulate it. It very much felt like I was caged in a thing I didn’t understand.”

Johnny Depp opened up about 'awkward' on-screen kiss with Keira Knightley due to massive age gap

Johnny Depp opened up about ‘awkward’ on-screen kiss with Keira Knightley due to massive age gap

Pirates of the Caribbean co-stars Depp and Knightley revealed what they thought of their on-screen kiss

Johnny Depp has previously spoken about kissing Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Keira Knightley while having a large age gap.

The two starred in three of the blockbuster swashbuckler films together back in the 2000s as Captain Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann.

The Curse of the Black Pearl was the first title of the franchise, which was released back in 2003, with the likes of Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush also starring.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

In the film, Sparrow and Swann were involved in a love triangle with Bloom’s character, Will Turner, who Knightley’s character (rightly) ended up with.

The actor starred in the first film in the franchise when she was 17-years-old, and Knightley has previously come out and spoken about how she struggled with fame, admitting that the pressure was what made her shift her career towards smaller, independent films.

But it was the sequel that included the steamy moment with Depp’s character.

At the time of filming Dead Man’s Chest, released in 2006, Depp was 22 years older than the Pride and Prejudice star at 41, with the Edward Scissorhands actor later revealing how he’d felt about their on-screen kiss.

The pair shared a kiss in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel (Disney)

The pair shared a kiss in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel (Disney)

While talking to The Standard in 2012, he said: “Kissing someone you are not romantically involved with is always awkward, but the fact that Keira is twenty something years younger than me made it infinitely more awkward. Still, she was a good sport about it and we did what we had to do.”

Knightley also commented on the kiss in an interview with TMZ in 2006, saying: “I couldn’t ask for a better kissing scene with Johnny Depp actually I think my 14 year-old self was yelping with pleasure.

“It was fantastic! What more can a girl ask for? I’ve got Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and I get to kiss both of them. It’s wonderful!”

But looking back on that point in her life, Knightley said that she needed ‘many years of therapy’ to overcome how she felt with her meteoric rise to stardom following the franchise’s success.

The pair had a 20+ year age difference when they kissed (Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

The pair had a 20+ year age difference when they kissed (Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

Speaking with The Telegraph in 2019, the British actor said: “The fame that came with them I just couldn’t handle.

“So looking back, would I do anything different? No, I wouldn’t because I’m unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that’s much less intense.”

In a recent interview with The Times, she admitted that the experience of filming Pirates on set was ‘making and breaking you at the same time’.

“I was seen as s**t because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for [Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game],” she highlighted.

Knightley added: “They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly.

“So, they’re in a very confused place in my head.”

Fans 'shaken' after learning age of Keira Knightley in Pirates Of The Caribbean as she makes heartbreaking admission

Fans ‘shaken’ after learning age of Keira Knightley in Pirates Of The Caribbean as she makes heartbreaking admission

The British actress starred in the franchise alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom

Fans were left shocked at how old Keira Knightley was when she starred in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies.

Knightley, 39, has been acting since she was a child, receiving her first acting credit when she was just eight on TV show Screen One.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

After landing the role of Natalie Portman’s double in 1999 sci-fi hit Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, she later made a name for herself as tomboy footballer Jules Paxton in 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham.

The British actor then took on the role of Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, appearing as the character in three of its films from 2003-2007, opposite Edward Scissorhand’s Johnny Depp, who played Captain Jack Sparrow, and Lord of the Ring’s Orlando Bloom, who played her character’s love interest, Will Turner.

However, fans on social media are only just discovering how old the actor was when she was shooting the first Pirates film, and have understandably been left with their jaws on the floor.

Keira Knightley wasn't even legal drinking age when they shot Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney)

Keira Knightley wasn’t even legal drinking age when they shot Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney)

One fan took to X, writing: “Keira Knightley being like 17 when she filmed Pirates of the Caribbean shakes me to my core.”

Another said: “She looked 25 at 17 and stayed looking 25 to this very day.”

A third chimed in: “This really just impresses upon me how f**king talented she is as an actress. Like god damn girl you haven’t even been alive long enough to have this type of range.”

However, being catapulted to fame at such a young age isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as the star has previously spoken out about her struggles with the attention as a young woman.

Speaking about the ‘many years of therapy’ that she underwent to help deal with her newfound success at the time, Knightley said that she was ‘taken down so publicly’ for her involvement in the franchise.

Speaking to The Times in a recent interview, she admitted that the experience was ‘making and breaking you at the same time’.

“I was seen as s**t because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for [Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game],” she recalled. “They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly.

“So, they’re in a very confused place in my head.”

She said she was 'taken down' for her role in the franchise (Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

She said she was ‘taken down’ for her role in the franchise (Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

However, her experience following the three films left her wanting to avoid huge franchise titles for the rest of her career, labelling the hours ‘insane’.

“It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming,” Knightley highlighted.

Speaking with The Telegraph in 2019, she said: “The fame that came with them I just couldn’t handle.

“So looking back, would I do anything different? No, I wouldn’t because I’m unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that’s much less intense.”

Knightley was also aware of being known as Elizabeth Swann and not much else, explaining to Harper’s Bazaar last year: “She [Elizabeth Swann] was the object of everybody’s lust.

“Not that she doesn’t have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting coming from being really tomboyish to getting projected as quite the opposite. I felt very constrained. I felt very stuck.

“So the roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that.”I didn’t have a sense of how to articulate it. It very much felt like I was caged in a thing I didn’t understand.”

What Orlando Bloom has said about returning to Pirates movies after Keira Knightley makes heartbreaking admission

What Orlando Bloom has said about returning to Pirates movies after Keira Knightley makes heartbreaking admission

Orlando Bloom has opened up about a possible return as Will Turner in the past

As Keira Knightley recently made a heartbreaking admission about the Pirates of the Carribean films, attention will now likely turn to her co-star Orlando Bloom.

Bloom, Knightley, and Johnny Depp starred in the iconic 2000s trilogy together with Bloom and Knightley both departing the series as main characters for the fourth and fifth instalments.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Keira Knightley spoke out recently in an interview ahead of her new Netflix series Black Doves and was asked about the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and whether she’d ever return to that, or similarly large scale movies.

What Keira Knightley has said about Pirates of the Caribbean

She told The Times in an interview that she feels she was ‘taken down so publicly’ for being in the Pirates films, saying: “It’s a funny thing when you have something that was making and breaking you at the same time.

“I was seen as s**t because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for [Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game].

Knightley opened up in a recent interview (Disney)

Knightley opened up in a recent interview (Disney)

“They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly.

“So, they’re in a very confused place in my head.”

She went on to say that she had to take ‘many years of therapy’ to cope with the fame that came with the films and stated that she would not return to big franchises like Pirates any time soon.

Orlando Bloom on Pirates return

While Knightley understandably doesn’t fancy revisiting Pirates, many will wonder if Orlando Bloom wants to make a return.

Bloom has already made a small return as Will Turner in a supporting role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge alongside a cameo from Knightley.

When asked about returning again in a possible upcoming film, however, he didn’t turn down the idea.

He told a crowd at ACE Superhero Comic Con: “Look, those experiences and those movies were phenomenal. Working with that team was so great.

Bloom and Knightley starred as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan (Disney)

Bloom and Knightley starred as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan (Disney)

“Jerry [Bruckheimer] produced these amazing movies. Never say never.

“I don’t know what the premise is, I haven’t heard yet. But I think that world was phenomenal.

“We built a world there that was very unique. I definitely had a lot of fun doing that.

“If there was something really fun and cool to do, I would do that. I think they’ve got all sorts of ideas that we could see. There’s plenty of ocean out there.”

He also said when speaking to Parade: “Gosh, you know, I did get to go back and play Legolas in The Hobbit, which was 10 years later. I was like, ‘This is a lot of fun!’

“Because he’s such a great space to be in, and I think Will [Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean]—I mean Will’s so great.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing what Will looked like today in some ways, because he was such this earnest guy, but after rumbling around the bottom of the ocean for as long as he would have done at this point, it’d be interesting to see how he surfaces and what he’s like.”

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has previously stated that there are two upcoming Pirates films, with one reportedly set to star Ayo Edebiri.

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