Keira Knightley was worried that ‘pirate’ films ‘always fail’ (Picture: Isabel Infantes/Getty)
Keira Knightley apparently thought Pirates of the Caribbean was going to be a flop at the box office, according to Love, Actually director Richard Curtis.
The actress, 37, played the franchise’s main character Elizabeth Swann in the first three films, starring opposite Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.
She first appeared in Curse of the Black Pearl, which grossed $654million worldwide (£535m) before sequel Dead Man’s Chest topped $1billion (£817m) internationally.
Her final appearance in the franchise, 2006’s At World’s End, grossed $960m worldwide (£787m), cementing Pirates Of The Caribbean as one of the biggest franchises in history.
Two more films were then released, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales – Knightley appeared in the fifth film in a cameo role.
But before it got off the ground, Knightley was worried that it wouldn’t fare well with audiences – that is, at least, according to director and writer Curtis.
Knightley starred in three Pirates films between 2003 and 2007 (Picture: Disney)
Curtis, who was working with Knightley on Love, Actually at the time in 2003 says she wasn’t exactly convinced of its potential.
‘I remember sitting down with Keira while we were shooting,’ he told ABC News, before asking Knightley what her next project was.
Curtis continued: ‘[Knightley] said, “I don’t think it’s going to work. It’s a pirate film, and they always fail”.’
Knightley, who was 18 when she worked with Curtis on Love, Actually, went on to become a huge international star after the Pirates movies were a huge success.
Knightley was just 18 when she appeared in Love, Actually (Picture: Universal/Dna/Working Title/Kobal/Shutterstock)
After breaking through with British audiences for her role in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham, the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise made her a household name.
Although Knightley did make a brief return in a cameo appearance at the end of Dead Men Tell No Tales, she doesn’t seem to fancy returning for more.
In 2018, she was reported as saying that the films ‘took too long’ to put together and that she would rather dedicate that time to other projects.
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Earlier this year, the actress’ scene in Love, Actually – as Mark (Andrew Lincoln) pretends to be a group of carol singers while giving Knightley’s Juliet messages of love on huge placards – was expertly parodied by Rylan Clark.
Clark, the host of Strictly Come Dancing’s supplementary show It Takes Two, ‘released his inner Keira’ to replicate the famous scene.
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She apparently made the comments to Richard Curtis on the Love, Actually set.
