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Begin Again director criticizes Keira Knightley's acting (1 Viewer)

TravisR

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I thought Knightley was pretty good in Begin Again. Maybe her performance was 'fixed' in editing or maybe they just didn't get along on a personal level but I don't remember any of her performances being the way that he's describing.
 

Robert Crawford

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I love this film and thought her performance was just fine. Perhaps, they just didn't get along and I find his comments a cheap shot at her. Also, she has a nice singing voice.
 

SamT

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What surprised me is that I don't remember a director openly say something like that about an A-List star. They want to work again, don't they?
 

Adam Lenhardt

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What surprised me is that I don't remember a director openly say something like that about an A-List star. They want to work again, don't they?
Exactly. Why would a "name" actress ever work with Carney again after he talked out of school like this about Keira Knightley? Actors put a lot of trust in their directors when making a film, and if they suspect that the director with then go and judge them afterwards in the press, it becomes a lot more difficult to sustain that trust. It almost always reflects more poorly on the director than the actor he or she is gossiping about.

It reminds me a bit of when Kevin Smith was singing Bruce Willis's praises through the production of Cop Out, but then as soon as the film bombed he started just savaging him in the press. Now, Willis might very well have been a nightmare to work with. But it still looked petty on Smith's part.

Given that Knightley has worked multiple times with Joe Wright and has had directors like David Cronenberg sing her praises (not to mention the Oscar nominations), I'd say the issue is specific to Carney and how he likes to work.
 

David_B_K

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What I got out of the comments is that Carney only likes to work with actors who "bare their souls" and "act their guts out". I got the impression he does not care for movie-star types. He probably would say the same thing about most of the greatest stars of Hollywood.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Well that article ends with this...

“I had allotted a lot of time for those early scenes because I didn‘t know what she would need. I hadn’t directed her before. And those extreme scenes were the first scenes we shot. But she was fantastic. She needed very few takes. We were all just awestruck. She was incredibly well-prepared,” Cronenberg told Film Comment. “She would do these amazing things, which leads me to say that she’s among the best actresses I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve worked with the best.”

I'd take Cronenberg's word over that other clown any day.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Are you sure the "supermodel" comment wasn't directed at Mark Ruffalo?

I saw this movie but cannot remember a single thing about it.
 

SamT

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-carney-keira-knightley-criticism-898830

Well that doesn't do it. How could someone change his opinion 180 like that. That actually doesn't help him at all for the future. It's not genuine. Either he was forced to apologize or he is sincere which means he does not think when he talks and his opinions do not matter. In both cases I'm not sure if an A-Lister wants to work with him in the future.
 
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David_B_K

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-carney-keira-knightley-criticism-898830

Well that doesn't do it. How could someone change his opinion 180 like that. That actually doesn't help him at all for the future. It's not genuine. Either he was forced to apologize or he is sincere which means he does not think when he talks and his opinions do not matter. In both cases I'm not sure if an A-Lister wants to work with him in the future.

I agree. He wasn't taken out of context, but continued to blather on about her in several interviews. Either he believes his own words, or his words are BS and should be ignored. I have not seen the film, but it looks like it was a low-budget affair. Carney was lucky IMO to have some recognizable stars in it. I guess he wanted to make a purely art-house type of film and the presence of a star with an entourage was something that ran counter to his method of work. Or, he didn't think she worked hard enough by his standards to give the performance he wanted.

In any case, his remarks were the sort of thing one does not say in the movie business until one is retired and giving interviews or writing memoirs in one's old age. IMO the only apology that would make sense is to say he had hit on her and she shot him down and that he acted in a childish manner. I'm not saying that anything like that happened, but it's better than saying a lot of mean stuff about working with her and later saying that what you said was not true. The only excuse (and it is admittedly a weak one) for saying things that are untrue is if your feelings were hurt and you acted in a childish manner.
 

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