- Title: A Life in Pictures 2018: Keira Knightley on Bend it Like Beckham
- Date: 17th December 2018
- Summary: A Life in Pictures
- Description:Keira Knightley was interviewed by Jason Solomons for BAFTA's A Life in Pictures series at their Piccadilly headquarters in London, U.K. on Friday 17 December 2018. KK: It was based on my friend Bunny who was my best mate at school who was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant footballer, and she?s actually?what?s funny is she?s in the background of one of the pictures is me and her at school cuddling, and she had to stop at a certain point because she wasn?t allowed to play with the boys anymore. And I mean I?d played football at school as well but I wasn?t that good, but she was really amazing and there was a little period of time where every character I played was sort of a version of Bun. But that was the main one because of the football. So she was very cool and sort of laidback and a bit like that, you know, ?whatever.? So I always tried to play her. JS: But it?s not an easy thing to do a film like that because football films are not easy to make, the technical aspect of the training and the shooting of it, you had to work quite hard at getting all of that right. KK: Yeah we did a lot of?we worked with a coach a lot. I mean I did play football at school and I was like, you know when I was nine I organised a protest where we did a sit-in across the football field because the boys wouldn?t let us play football so all of the girls protested along the side and then we were given a girl?s football team at primary school. And again I don?t think I was very good but I felt like the righteous anger of wanting it. And then when I was about twelve or thirteen I gave a speech about sexism in sport where I only came fourth at school and I was really pissed off because I thought it was a really good speech. But it was very much a topic that really, really interested me. I was sixteen when I did the film and I felt very strongly about it. But I do remember going up for it and I told people about it and it was so embarrassing, it was like ?Bend It Like Beckham? That sounds awful. What?s it about?? ?It?s about girls? football.? ?Oh my god.? You know, everyone thought it was going to be sh t and because of that when I went up for it I didn?t think I was going to get it because it was a film and I thought it was all a bit silly anyway, so I sort of didn?t care. And it?s always an amazing thing when you go up for something and you don?t care or you don?t think there?s any chance of getting it, because suddenly you?re very free and easy with it, and I suspect that?s what happened there. JS: That?s the naturalism. KK: The naturalism probably comes through, yeah. JS: Parminder as well, she was older than you? KK: Yeah she was older than me, she was in her twenties. I think our second or third audition was together because there were quite a few auditions, I think. And she?s just one of the loveliest women alive. And was very lovely to a sixteen year-old, you know, a twenty-something to a sixteen year-old, she was just instantly lovely and supportive and great. So the vibe on set?and it was also Archie Panjabi was in it as well, brilliantly playing the sister and she?s sort of one of?again, just hilarious and brilliant. So it was a great, great vibe. And a lot of the training we were playing with girls who played for very good football teams so again it just kind of really bonded everyone together. Now of course at that point I just thought that?s what films were like, you know, all these women and all these people and we were all just kind of together in this big team and that was obviously just what it was. JS: And because Gurinder, although she?d done Bhaji on the Beach she wasn?t kind of an established? KK: No, I mean Bhaji on the Beach had been huge and I knew about that one and thought that one was wonderful, but no it wasn?t the success that Bend It Like Beckham was. So it was very much that no one thought it was going to do that well. JS: Her films are quite sort of family orientated. KK: They?re family orientated. Yes exactly, they are, I didn?t know about that and you?re quite right, they are very family orientated. And she gets her mum or people to come down and make food and so suddenly we?d be shooting in places and her family would come down and there would be this amazing Indian food and all the people from the community where we were shooting would come out and they?d bring more food, and again at sixteen you just go ?oh that?s what it?s like making a film,? and of course it?s not. That was a really special experience. JS: And Beckham?s name as a brand grew because then they qualified for the World Cup with this free kick at the last minute. KK: The free kick in the last minute and do you remember actually at that time he?d broken his foot, so we had something coming up and actually when it came out it was sort of like the best bit of?all the things lined up? JS: That?s because everyone said ?oh Bend It Like Beckham?s going to be rubbish,? and then when he got injured everyone was like ?Mend it like Beckham.? KK: Mend it like Beckham, yes, that was a big headline. JS: So sports pages were kind of using your film. KK: Yes and I remember having to stand there with a picture of his foot having to hold my hand over it for a picture like ?mend the foot.? It was all?it was quite something. JS: It became a huge hit here and in America. It seems to be a key text if you like for young women. KK: I think again what?s kind of extraordinary about it is it was a huge success, a huge success here, there, North Korea it was the first Western film Kim Jong-Il allowed to be presented in North Korea, which is quite something. And what?s interesting is it didn?t spawn a million other films of such a diverse cast and about female friendship and all the rest of it. So it still sort of stands alone in a way as that kind of thing that a mother might show their teenage daughter and be like ?this is a great thing.? JS: And we often expect things to open up floodgates when there?s a ceiling-breaking film, and they somehow don?t. Although it has spawned a musical. Have you been to see the musical? KK: I haven?t! JS: You haven?t seen it yet? KS: No I was away when it was on! I didn?t see it. Was it good? JS: It was very good. It was really good. If you want to go and see it, tickets are available, I don?t know if they are. KK: I don?t think it?s on anymore. JS: The music was very good. It made you a star as I said quite quickly, I think. KK: Yeah. I mean definitely like led to Pirates of the Caribbean and it also led to Love Actually because Richard Curtis had seen my stomach and went ?Gosh that?s quite a stomach.? So the whole of the costume for Love Actually, which was the wedding dress, was about my stomach. It doesn?t look like that anymore unfortunately! I was looking at it going ?bloody hell. They?re impressive.? They?re not there anymore, oh well.
- Collection: BAFTA
- Genre:Entertainment
- Producer:BAFTA
- Keywords: BAFTA; British Academy of Film & Television; A Life in Pictures; 2018; Keira Knightley; 195 Piccadilly; Celebrity; Event; Arrives; Showbiz; Arts; Entertainment; Star Wars; acting
- City: London
- Country: United Kingdom
- Transmission Date:17/12/2018
- Decade: 2010s