Keira Knightley, despite having major roles in films like Pirates of the Caribbean, Atonement, and Pride & Prejudice, has spent most of her career operating under the radar when it comes to controversy.
That's changed now that a clip from an interview opposite Rosamund Pike for Vanity Fair resurfaced last weekend.
In the interview, Pike and Knightley discussed various roles they'd played over the years and some of the challenges that come along with that, but Knightley also shared one experience she found very funny from her time filming Pride & Prejudice.
Also on set was the late Donald Sutherland, who played the part of Mr. Bennett, the father of Knightley's Elizabeth Bennett.
One rule that was included in Sutherland's contract was that no one would smoke or smell like smoke when they were around him.
Sutherland had quit smoking back in 1981 after claiming to have smoked four packs per day, and his requests to not be exposed to cigarette smoke go back as far as at least 1992. During these years, Sutherland also began to develop health problems, which arguably might have been exacerbated by exposure to smoke of any kind.
Donald Sutherland died in 2024 at the age of 88, and while not confirmed, it's widely accepted that he passed from persistent symptoms caused by COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). COPD decreases oxygenation in the blood, making it all the more important for the person to be in clean air as often as possible.
So during the Vanity Fair interview, Keira Knightley shared what happened on set when the cast completely disregarded Sutherland's no-smoking rule, likely viewing it as a preference instead of as a health requirement.
While laughing, Knightley reminisced:
"There was this whole thing where you weren't allowed to smoke."
"He had it in his contract that nobody on the set was allowed to smoke anywhere near him, and you couldn't smell of smoke."
"But of course, everyone smoked. Back then anyway, everyone smoked."
While miming like she was smoking many cigarettes and then fanning herself, she said:
"We'd all run off to smoke and then spray ourselves with everything to cover the smell."
"But at a party he came to, he walked right into the middle of it wearing a gas mask."
"Because he knew! He said, 'I want you all to be able to smoke, and I wanted to come to the party.'"
"So we were all smoking, and there he was in a gas mask."
You can watch the clip here:
Though Knightley clearly found this to be very funny, it went viral with very critical feedback.
You can watch the full interview here:
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
People have all kinds of preferences, and actors while performing are no exception.
But there's a big difference between simply not wanting to be around cigarettes and needing to not be exposed to the smoke for health reasons.
It's understandable that most of the cast wanted to smoke, but viewers are certain they could have gone about it in some other way.
