Keira Knightley Hits NYC
Keira Knightley Hits NYC
She’s the media darling of the UK, and America loves her as well. Keira Knightley flew into JFK International Airport in New York City with her boyfriend, Rupert Friend, yesterday to promote her latest movie, “Atonement.”
In “Atonement,” Knightley plays Cecilia Tallis, a British socialite whose world is destroyed when her younger sister falsely accuses her boyfriend of a crime.
And she recently talked to press about what made her desire the role. “When I was first sent script it was for the part of the sister, Briony, but I completely fell in love with Cecelia. I love that sense that she’s about to explode. She’s not particularly nice at the beginning. She’s sort of brittle and on edge and a bit of a bitch. I like the fact that you’ve got a person who I believe is probably very good but she’s having one of those times in her life where she’s being horrible to people and can’t snap out of it. I thought that was quite interesting.”
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actress says her chemistry with director Joe Wright (she also worked with him on “Pride and Prejudice” is one of the reasons “Atonement” has such an Oscar-worthy feel to it.
She said, “I think chemistry between actor and director is as elusive as the chemistry between actors. And for some reason, I don’t know what it is, but we have great creative chemistry. He’s completely obsessed by what he does. If he’s doing a film set in 1936 he learns everything about that year, every book, every movie. That obsession is completely catching. That’s what anybody working in a creative field wants. You want to give 100 percent, whether it works out in the end or not - and most of the time it doesn’t - you want to feel you’ve at least given your all to it.”
Aishwarya Rai Biography
Aishwarya Rai was born November 1, 1973 in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. Born in a traditional south Indian family, Aishwarya started modelling at a young age. This green-blue eyed beauty stole ads for many prestigious firms, the ones which brought her into the limelight were the garden sari and the pepsi ad.
Aishwarya Rai is one of the highest-paid actresses in India’s prolific movie industry, the Julia Roberts of the Asian subcontinent. She began modeling at 14, came to fame as the gorgeous new neighbor in Indian Pepsi commercials, and won the Miss World beauty pageant in 1994.
In more than two dozen movies, Rai has never been kissed on screen. It simply isn’t done in Bollywood. Instead, when an on-screen scene reaches that moment, characters typically burst into song-and-dance sequences intended as metaphors for steamy passion. Rai has, however, attempted to broaden her fame by appearing in the English film Bride and Prejudice with Martin Henderson, a comedic singing-and-dancing adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. She has signed to co-star in Singularity with Brendan Fraser in 2005.
So at some point soon, a script may require a smooch instead of a song. “It would definitely be a topic of discussion [in India],†she says. “They’re going to enjoy (the controversy)… In our society, you don’t really see people around the street corner kissing or being extremely or overtly physically demonstrative.â€
Rai is no stranger to controversy, having dated movie star Salman Khan — he is Muslim, she is Hindu. When Rai appeared at an Indian awards ceremony sporting a black eye, there were rumors that Khan had beaten her, but Rai explained otherwise. “For some perverse reason, no one wants to believe me, that I fell down the stairs. First the media calls me the woman of the millennium, a woman of substance. Then how can the same media make me out to be such a doormat? I’m a self-respecting woman, I don’t take nonsense from anyone. No one tries caveman tactics on me. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger can fall and get hurt, so why should I be any different?â€
After they eventually broke up, there were reports that Khan stalked her, and Rai admitted that there “were times when Salman got physical with me.†Her family filed a police complaint against Khan, when he showed up drunk and started pounding on her door and screaming late one night.
Rai made her film debut in 1991′s forgettable Mamagaru . Her other early films included bombs like Iruvar and Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya , and even the Tamil-Telugu hit Jeans which was disastrously received by India’s Hindi audiences. By 1998, critics were carping about Rai’s lack of talent and “three stock wooden expressions.â€
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam , of course, changed everything, and Rai’s spirited performance as the emotionally complex Nandini made her a star instead of a joke. Her other triumphs include Mohabbatein , Chokher Bali , and the epic Devdas.
In 2003, Rai was injured on the set of Khakhi when a driver lost control of his Jeep and ran into Rai, who landed on a cactus.