Keira Knightley is finally lightening up in her new film Begin Again. It’s about time.

After a decade-long flood of period films like Atonement and Anna Karenina, Keira Knightley was really due for a lighter role wherein she doesn’t die.

“I was actually told,” Knightley said of the gloomy stretch, “that in the last five years I’ve made 10 films and I died in seven of them! So I sort of thought at the end of Anna Karenina that I should maybe do something that had at least a little hope in it.”

That’s a lot of dying! However, in Begin Again, Keira Knightley stars opposite Mark Ruffalo as a young songstress who gets discovered by a has-been record producer.

Keira Knightley even had to learn a little fancy guitar work in order to be believable. “I learned how to play the right chords at about the right time,” she said. “I couldn’t sing and play the chords at the right time. But at least it looked like I could actually play the songs, [which is] the thing about acting! Yeah, that’s it in a nutshell!”

Keira Knightley did actually sing all of the songs it the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYFcwejvNOo

Keira Knightley has had plenty of practice at acting. She began her career as a child, even before she starred in Bend It Like Beckham. Yet somehow, she managed to not go crazy like many other child actors.

“Being a very introverted 18-year-old girl meant it was a very different experience. It wasn’t like having years of going, ‘Why isn’t anybody taking notice, why don’t they realize?’ It was more a sort of, ‘Oh f***, that’s just happened, and how do I deal with that? I can’t go outside any more!’.” Keira Knightly said of growing up in the spotlight.

“Luckily, it was so long ago, I don’t remember. But I’m still alive, I’m still here and I’m not a drug addict, so I must have been all right!”, Knightley added.

She definitely did a lot better than many do!

Image via YouTube