Keira Knightley for UK GQ Magazine

Posted on Jan 31, 2012 in Fashion

Keira straps on her sexy face (and a whole lot of lipstick) for UK GQ:

Keira Knightley featured in the March 2012 issue of UK GQ magazine photographed by Norman Jean Roy.

“I’m actually loving this bit right now – doing the work I’m doing, having the life I can have around it. Right now, it’s really good.”

What a refreshing sound bite. Would that more celebs said things like “My life is totally awesome right now, not gonna lie,” rather than complaining about scripts or early call times or mean people on the internet. Suck it up, whiners. You might work hard for your money, but the perqs are through the roof.

Sexyface doesn’t really strike us as within Keira’s wheelhouse. She’s more the icy, elegant type.

Not that she looks bad in any of these shots, of course.

“The Americans are generally a lot more supportive. They generally like the work a lot more than they do here. It is what it is, I suppose. It could just be that I’m not to a lot of people’s tastes. Which is fine. Well it’s not, obviously. You want to be to everyone’s taste… But. I think it’s better to do your own thing rather than try to please everyone and just be this mushy thing in the middle…”

Well gee, that sounds a little defensive. Is she not liked among her own kind or is she just reverting to that whiny actress thing?

[Photo Credit: Norman Jean Roy for gq-magazine.co.uk]

Tags:

http://twitter.com/foodycatAlicia foodycatAlicia

I think the poor woman has probably read too much press. She certainly seems to put a lot of people off. I loved her in Bend it like Beckham, so I have forgiven her most of the rest of it. Anyway, I wonder why they made her lipstick more purple on the cover? It isn’t nearly as flattering as the darker red in the rest of the pictures.
Anonymous

Doesn’t it seem odd that they hire celebrities for these photo shoots and then make them look like someone else? Why don’t they hire someone who looks like that in the first place?
- Anonymous
  
  Amen to that! No matter how long I look at these photos, I don’t see Keira Knightley. She looks like a different person entirely.
  - Anonymous
    
    Yep. If she hadn’t been identified as Keira Knightley, I wouldn’t have recognized her.
  - Anonymous
    
    I agree. I was thinking maybe it was because she pretty much never goes for a strong lip; it’s making her whole facial structure look different because her mouth comes at you so much more. But obviously, photoshop is a thing.
    
    I think she looks more like herself in the last two pictures; it’s like without her cheekbone shadows I don’t recognize her at all? Weird.
Isadora Paiva

I actually liked the secon soundbte. The they don’t like me, but it’s fine. ”Well it’s not, obviously. You want to be to everyone’s taste… ” HAHA, she sounds honest, like she really changed her mind in the middle of talking, instead of saying the lines she had previously rehearsed with her publicist.
- Anonymous
  
  I agree- I think she comes off great in both bites!
Anonymous

Did they glue her hand to her head?
- Anonymous
  
  I thought the same thing! Or a piece of jewelry stuck to her roots?
Anonymous

Not to defend whiny actors/actresses, but it could also be that they interviewed her for a long time, asked questions to tease out certain answers, and then printed the soundbites that they thought would get the most reaction. It happens in reality TV, so I’d bet it does in magazine interviews too.

She looks good. She looks like she put on a wee bit of weight, which is good. She was so thin for a while there.
- Anonymous
  
  I saw A Dangerous Method. She’s still too thin.
Anonymous

What a relief that they “airbrushed” all the horrible flaws from her terrible face and body. It’s so much better to look at pictures that have been corrected so that the person doesn’t look anything like themselves or like anyone in particular, don’t you think?
BuffaloBarbara

I wouldn’t have recognized that cover shot if you hadn’t said who it was… that can’t be the best bet for selling magazines.

I wouldn’t take any offense at the second. Sounds like she’s just more popular over here, and she’s kind of shrugging at it.
Anonymous

I want that blue sweater and those silver pumps. I would wear a pair of pants inbetween them, though.
Isadora Paiva

Yeah, I see a lot of people who hate her and say she’s the same in every part. Which I think is a bit true really, she does mostly period films in which she is a woman that is too forward thinking for the times, yadda yadda. I still think she plays that particular part well. And people seem to forget stuff like Bend It Like Beckham, which is a different part and I really liked it too.
Then again, I must say I was as annoyed as most of the people I happened to discuss it with when I saw that she would be playing Anna Karenina. It’s like she has to be in every single period movie ever. Terrible casting, really.
- http://twitter.com/foodycatAlicia foodycatAlicia
  
  Lazy casting really – do they just have a list of the 10 best-sellers and only offer parts to them? I refused to see the version of Pride and Prejudice because I thought she was a poor choice.
  - Greg Yoder
    
    You really deprived yourself, then. I was skeptical when I saw that she’d been cast as Elizabeth Bennet, but she was amazing in that role. And it was a terrific film. P&P is one of my three favorite novels, and I generally don’t see the need to put it on screen, but that version was great.
    - Anonymous
      
      100% yes. That’s one of those movies that I will stop and watch any time I find it on TV (even though I own it). I felt the cast as a whole was mostly incredible (Jenna Malone was just ok, but her greasy hair seriously distracted me) and I thought Knightley did an excellent job.
    - http://profiles.google.com/misslauraschultz Laura Schultz
      
      utterly disagree. I think she was completely miscast.
    - Joyce Martin
      
      I thought she was horribly miscast. She was so… manic at times and had this sort of obnoxious forced gaiety in several scenes. I didn’t get the sense of sardonic and incisive, but somehow kind of gentle, amusement that I loved from Jennifer Ehle’s performance. With Ehle, you really got the feeling that this was a really smart woman who was keeping her sense of humor under her hat but couldn’t always resist voicing a particularly amusing observation.
      
      And, I don’t mean to bodysnark, though this may count as such, but Keira was also distractingly gaunt in P&P. I think she was about to start with or had just finished Domino, and you could tell she was very muscular and thin underneath the period clothing which was terribly jarring for the timeframe.Rosamund Pike as Jane was fan-tas-tic though.
      - Anonymous
        
        She jars in The Duchess for the very same reasons.
      - Anonymous
        
        I loved her in Bend It Like Beckham, but loathed her in P&P. Her range is fairly limited.
    - http://twitter.com/foodycatAlicia foodycatAlicia
      
      Really? OK, in that case I will check it out. If I disagree I will hunt you down!
  - Isadora Paiva
    
    I thought Pride and Prejudice was pretty good. Us fans know that nothing will ever be as good as the 1995 version with Colin Firth… hmmm… what was I saying?
    
    Oh yes, considering it had the time constraints of a movie and it didn’t have Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in it, I thought it was a good movie. Having said that, I COMPLETELY agree with you on the “lazy casting”, especially when it comes to period-dramas, I feel it’s always the same actors, which is particularly weird considering Keira’s very thin body, which always looks a bit off to me on a period setting. She would not have been considered pretty then.
  - http://profiles.google.com/misslauraschultz Laura Schultz
    
    She RUINED Pride and Prejudice. DO NOT SEE. Stick with the Colin Firth version.
  - Anonymous
    
    The Firth/Ehle version is better but it has it’s ok points. However it also has it’s really annoying bits. Mathew McFadyen (whom I normally like) just lacks something as Darcy and Keira pouts and does her frowny eyebrow face a lot. Best bit is that they cast Jane better, she should be the pretty sister and Rosamund Pike is perfect.
- Anonymous
  
  It beats that horrible point in history when Keanu Reeves had to be in every period film (Dangerous Liaisons?? As You Like It???).
Anonymous

” Which is fine. Well it’s not, obviously.” I love that. “Which is fine” is what you’re supposed to say. I love that she realizes she’s lying!
MilaXX

I like Kiera, but I paid $8 to see Domino years ago and I still want my money back.
- Anonymous
  
  God, wasn’t that awful?
Anonymous

One thing to remember – across the Atlantic in Britain and, to a slightly lesser extent, Ireland, they love to take down the successful. Sure, they have Hello! magazine, but you don’t see the same kind of fawning over celebrity (and pseudo-celebrity) that you do here. I also find her comments refreshing. They remind me of Michael Fassbender’s appearance on Fresh Air. Asked by Terri Gross if he ever imagined getting so much award consideration, he answered: “Yes.” It felt like a blast of cold water, but in a good way. No false humility. Instead he explained that part of his motivation, coming up as a young actor, was the belief that he was deserving of the work.
http://asskickingadviser.com/ Ass Kicking Adviser

Is she holding her head on her body? Or does she not like her hair and keeps covering it up? Sorry, but by the third picture I was snapping at her ‘put your hands down!’
She’s a good actress. Second picture’s the best.
Lori

I have no problem with Keira and agree that her interview answers seem refreshingly real, rather than PR boilerplate. I have major problems with these photos though. Among other things, in the cover shot her hair looks positively crunchy. How much product did they use? Worse, what in the world did they do to her left breast in the 3rd shot? That pose should be all kinds of sexy and all I can think is, “What is going on there?”
- Anonymous
  
  Totally agree, I thought it was a great shot until I noticed her breast and that ruined it.
- Anonymous
  
  well, she is pretty flat….. so at least i’m glad they didn’t try to give her some more…..
  - Lori
    
    The issue isn’t that she’s small-busted. The issue is that her left breast is mashed down in a very strange way. Compare it to the right one, which is perfectly normal. Rather enviably perky actually. They had to have taken dozens of photos of this clothing/setting combo and I find it really difficult to believe that this was the best of the lot.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZGSQMHRCO7LAIOWG2HD74V6XU Marcie Dreyfuss

Love her. She was wonderful in Atonement. Exactly the Cecilia Tallis that I had imagined from reading the book.
Anonymous

The lipstick color is too jarring on her. She looks like they pasted her lips on her face.

Killer legs, though.
Anonymous

She’s doesn’t look like herself in any of these pictures– and I loathe the open-mouthed “I’m dumb” look she’s giving in every shot. I always thought Keira seemed like a feisty, intelligent sort and this turn doesn’t work at all, IMHO.
Anonymous

I like her, and I think she is so striking, she doesn’t need all the makeup. But it is an editorial in a men’s magazine.

Is there a British Dice Man? I thought that was Andrew Clay.
Anonymous

Why did they put the worst shot on the cover? I have sadface.
http://twitter.com/Nancer Nancer

Beautiful woman, bad photography. The only one I really like is the one on the chair. What a shame that they put her into such awkward positions and overdid the makeup!
Anonymous

The overused dead-fish expression is pretty irritating–aren’t we done with that yet?–especially because her sound bites are so NOT typical. And why does she have her hands on her hair or face in every shot? This editorial just reads “lazy” to me.

Of course she is beautiful, and I think I like the third shot the best. The pose and expression are the least forced.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EDI2DLE7DE3YPW2ONIHBWOVHMA ecallaw

She is one of those that I used to irrationally dislike, and over time I’ve changed my opinion. I quite like her now. She always seems pretty forthright and not too into herself.
glennethph

I watched the Australian Open so I still have tennis on the brain. She kinda looks like Martina Hingis here.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jessica-TallGirl-Freeman/1043623567 Jessica TallGirl Freeman

Close your mouth dear.
- Anonymous
  
  We are not a fish.
- Denny Li
  
  Maybe she isn’t able? Keira Knightley always makes me think she’s bravely trying to keep the extra set of teeth she has from exploding out her mouth by keeping her lips as close together as she can -which is not very.
Terence Ng

She seems pretty honest with her answer there, not defensive. So she finds that Americans like her more, which probably means they don’t print bad press about her as much as the UK, or that the US prints more glowing press than the UK. Obviously this would mean that it could be because people in the UK don’t enjoy her acting or her projects as much, which is a objective possibility. She then expresses that ideally, of course, people, including herself, want to be liked by everyone, but she accepts that it’s not an actual possibility. So in the end, you can only be yourself instead of getting worked up about pleasing everybody.

It’s pretty much a cookie cutter answer, but it’s also a life truth that everyone, actor or otherwise, has to accept, starting from Day 1 on grade school.
- Anonymous
  
  Ooops I just posted an almost a version of what you said, except with numbers in it! Great minds think alike! :)
  - Terence Ng
Wrenaria

She’s beautiful. I love her. And the sound bites are great. They sound like a real person.

Also I 2nd whoever said they wanted that blue sweater + silver shoes. Pretty, pretty.
Anonymous

She has a blow up doll face in the first one. Don’t celebs have any say as to what gets printed?
- http://profiles.google.com/misslauraschultz Laura Schultz
  
  no they do not
Anonymous

I still think her best look was in Atonement. She’s a period actress and that is not a bad thing. not when shows like Downtown Abbey and movies like Pirates do so well.
http://twitter.com/mirrormirrorxx Paola Thomas

Keira’s the sort of actress who doesn’t appeal much to the British – not particularly talented, got where she is mostly on her looks, takes herself very seriously, never so much as cracks a smile. In general we seem to prefer earthy, sexy, funny women full of talent who don’t seem take themselves too seriously – eg. Queen Helen, Helena B-C, Carey Mulligan, Emma Watson etc
- Anonymous
  
  That’s exactly it. She gives the impression of being a bit up herself, which never goes down well.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EDI2DLE7DE3YPW2ONIHBWOVHMA ecallaw
  
  Huh. I never get the vibe that she takes herself too seriously, and most candid shots of her in magazines are of her smiling. I can’t help but find myself a bit offended at what you seem to be implying about what appeals to America. In America, we also appreciate the likes of Queen Helen and the others you mentioned. And I think the British have their fair share of Katie Price/Lauren Pope trashy types that they can’t seem to get enough of.
  - oohsparkley!
    
    I agree and whenever I’ve seen her interviewed, etc. she seems to have a great sense of humor about herself and everything. Not conceited, just confident.
http://twitter.com/deusxmac kim bunchalastnames

LOVE. THOSE. SHOES. in the last shot. LOVE.
Anonymous

Oh dear. These shots remind me of a line that’s stayed with me since childhood, I think from a Judy Blume book (pretty sure it might be AYTG?IMM) where one of the girls complains about how lipstick leaves her feeling like she has “jam on my mouth.”

Jeez, it’s called BLOTTING.
http://profiles.google.com/misslauraschultz Laura Schultz

Not a fan, at ALL. At least she’s a little less pouty-face than usual. Do not like the heavy lipstick.
http://pissiechrissie.tumblr.com/ Chrissie

I like Keira, but I don’t really like these photos. They’re kinda harsh. I’m fine with her soundbytes though.
jeneria

I love this woman!
Anonymous

Oy. I know it’s a guy’s magazine and all, but geez, are guys incapable of finding women attractive if they’re not in pin-up poses?
Anonymous

I think the Brits hate her. I’m working with a small sample, admittedly, but I’ve been surprised at how vehemently negative the Brits I know can be when the subject of KK comes up.
- Anonymous
  
  But then the Brits are like that about anyone who is too successful. (I’m a Brit so I think I can say that LOL)
  - Anonymous
    
    I admit I hadn’t thought of that. Viciously funny.
Anonymous

First of all, she’s not that beautiful. Pretty, yes, very thin, yes. Talented, maybe.
Anonymous

I like her but agree this makeup is too harsh for her features. I have enjoyed her as an actress, but I just saw A Dangerous Method and her portrayal was cringe inducing.
Anonymous

Those first photos are her Sexy Face? Simpleton Express Face.
Presumptuous Insect

Oh dear. She looks awful here. The makeup blows.
Anonymous

She looks like a 13 year old boy in drag.
oohsparkley!

Yikes, the first two pics look like she’s wearing candy wax lips.
Beth G

Well…. you can’t accuse her a breast implants……

She’s… not my style…..
Renee Thomas

These shots look like they were styled for a buxom actress and they didn’t change it when said actress dropped out. The first and second shots in particular look like they were meant to have loads of boobage. But Keira, bless her, has a boyish figure and hasn’t messed with it by getting implants. The shots where they highlight her legs make more sense.
http://twitter.com/#!/Space_Kitty Space Kitty

I have to wonder what goes into choosing a cover. Any one of those pictures would have been preferable to the one they picked. She’s never been my thing, but she looks really beautiful in the last three shots.
Warmheartedgirl Seattle

I love Keira Knightley, but you’re right – sexyface is not her wheelhouse. She is stunningly beautiful, though. Loved her so much in
Bend it Like Beckham and especially in Love Actually. Not a big fan of this photo spread.
Anonymous

Sick of the duck lips.
Anonymous

I guess GQ isn’t going to address where those sweaters came from, huh?
Anonymous

She looks so beautiful. Anyway, once a person learns his/her first language, s/he is never really “him/herself” (or whatever other phrase that signifies ‘genuineness’, ‘stability’, ‘reality’). So, yeah, get over the fact that images are constructed and K.K. is what she seems to be because of what she presents herself to be – just like anyone else.
Anonymous

She does not sound defensive at all. She sounds honest. 1) She knows some people (Americans) like her more than others 2) She is sad that she is not liked by everyone 3) She thinks out loud about how being who she really is, versus trying to please everyone has it’s drawbacks but 4) Decides she’d rather do that than make herself marketable to the world. Where is the defensiveness?
- http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo
  
  “Where is the defensiveness?”
  
  Found it!
  - Anonymous
    
    Ha! I confess! I was the one feeling all defensive for her! Well played gentlemen! :)
Anonymous

the ice blue shot is lovely!
Anonymous

looks like she either put her lipstick on in the back of a bumpy car, or stuck it between her boobs and applied it, a la molly ringwald.
http://twitter.com/applecocola Stacy

I love Keira Knightley. I do wish they’d stop casting her in period films, because I think she has so much untapped potential. She looks great in modern clothes too. I actually find her completely lovable in a goofy, subtly snarky way, especially when she went on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart! Jon asks her what’s wrong with Americans, and she answers, “you don’t swear enough.”
Anonymous

She always seems to be jutting her lower jaw, which gives her an unnatural, slightly stilted look. Why do fashion editorials insist on making women look miserable while wearing clothes? You’d think wearing pretty things would make them happy.
Anonymous

get your hands out of your hair, girl. is something living up there?
http://twitter.com/Alloyjane Alloy Jane

How dare they make her look this terrible. Love Keira Knightly enough to forgive her for playing Eliza Bennett. And the second sound bite was honest and kinda funny. I didn’t think it sounded whiny actress at all.
Anonymous

I would go on safari and kill all of MK’s models for those legs.
Anonymous

Invest in barrettes, girl.

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Keira Knightley for UK GQ Magazine

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