Keira Knightley bans men from filming her sex scenes now
What's the story
Keira Knightley will no longer do another sex scene when the person behind the camera is a man. And her reasons range from equal exposure to women filmmakers to the "male gaze." This is part of her no-nudity rule that she has enforced since 2015 when she became a mother. She opened up about her clause during the Chanel Connects podcast.
Actress says
Vanity and male gaze reasons behind rule
"I don't have an absolute ban, but I kind of do with men. It's partly vanity and also it's the male gaze. I feel very uncomfortable now trying to portray the male gaze," she told filmmaker Lulu Wang and writer Diane Solway. Knightley is popular for her sex scene in the 2007 movie Atonement directed by Joe Wright. It's Wright's direction that she approves of.
Impression
Praising how Wright directed the sex scene right
Calling that sequence her best sex scene to shoot, Knightley said Wright "choreographed the scene within an inch of its life." "It was absolutely, 'Foot goes up there, hand goes up there.' So both me and James [McAvoy] felt utterly comfortable and not exposed, and like we could deal with it," she said. She also talked about discomfort with directors like The Aftermath's James Kent.
Claim
Uncomfortable when the director assumes that the actors know 'sex'
The actor then went on to elaborate on how Kent's approach to the sex scene between herself and Alexander Skarsgård for The Aftermath created discomfort. "What never helps is when a director goes, 'Oh, you guys know what you're doing,' and you're like, 'Uh, I've never met this person, I have no idea what I'm doing in this room full of men," she said.
Choice of topics
Motherhood, body acceptance preferred for sex scenes
"If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body acceptance, I feel like, I'm sorry, but that would have to be with a female filmmaker," Knightley said. She explained her preference for the female perspective. "The body has had two children now, and I'd just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked," she added.