Keira Knightley has admitted that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise led to a negative perception of her acting skills.
The British star played Elizabeth Swann, the love interest of Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner, in three of the swashbuckling adventure films from 2003 to 2007. The pair returned as a cameo in the 2017 sequel Dead Men Tell No Tales.
While the franchise made a global star of Knightley, the Atonement actor said in 2024 that it wasn’t all fun and games starring in the films, as she felt the franchise was simultaneously “making and breaking” her.
Knightley has now said the films, which starred Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, led many to believe her to be a bad actor.
In a new Vanity Fair interview alongside Rosamund Pike, reflecting on their role in Joe Wright’s 2005 film Pride & Prejudice, Knightley said: ”Pirates of the Caribbean had already come out, but I think in the public consciousness, I was seen as a terrible actress.
“I had this phenomenally big success with Pirates and I think Pride & Prejudice was the first one that was a phenomenally big success, but was also critically acclaimed.”
Knightley continued: “I remember it coming out maybe the same year, maybe around the same time, as Pirates 2 – and I got the worst reviews ever for that. Then also being nominated for an Oscar at the same time, it was, in my 21-year-old head, quite confusing.”
The second Pirates film, Dead Man’s Chest, was released in July 2006, months after Knightley received her first Best Actress Oscar nomination for playing Elizabeth Bennet in the Jane Austen adaptation Pride & Prejudice.
Last year, Knightley said of the Pirates franchise, which has grossed more than $1bn at the global box office: “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 a very confused place in my head.”
Addressing Knightley’s comments earlier this year, Bloom told Entertainment Weekly: “I definitely understand where Keira was coming from, and she does wonderful things [in the films].
Bloom said that he has “a lot of positive takeaways” from his time starring in the blockbusters.
He continued: “It was such a huge moment in time that it feels almost like another lifetime now. But it certainly was unique and, you know, I’m always grateful.”
A sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film is in the works, with producer Jerry Bruckheimer appearing to confirm in 2024 that lead star Johnny Depp would not be involved.
The producing maestro, whose sequel Top Gun: Maverick had huge box office success in 2022, told ComicBook.com: “With Top Gun, you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant [Tom Cruise]. But we’re gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.”
The possibility of Depp returning to the Pirates franchise was the subject of testimony during his defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Depp was asked by Heard’s lawyer: “If Disney came to you with $300m dollars and a million alpacas, nothing on this Earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film?”
“That is true,” Depp answered.
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