During a recent interview with Variety, Keira Knightley opened up about what's keeping her away from filming modern day films.
"I don’t know about films as much. With the rise of Netflix and Amazon we’re seeing some strong female characters and female stories on streaming services."
"I don’t really do films set in the modern day because the female characters nearly always get raped."
"I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed."
"Whereas I’ve always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces. There’s been some improvement."
"I’m suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren’t raped in the first five pages and aren’t simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife."
And while she's been able to avoid such roles, conversations about rape and sexual harassment are now being actively discussed in Hollywood.
"I’m fortunate that I’ve never been sexually abused professionally or harassed on a film set."
"But in my personal life, when I’ve been in bars, I can count four times when I’ve been what I’d say was assaulted in a minor way."
"I think everyone has battled their fair share of monsters. It’s not just actresses. It’s teachers; it’s lawyers."
"I’m not talking about rape, but I’m talking about the people who had been grabbed in pubs or their breasts had been fondled by somebody they didn’t know or they’d had someone shove a hand up their skirt."
"It must have been awful for all of those brave women who have come forward and spoken publicly about their experiences. There’s been a lot of pain and a lot of suffering."
"For too long, you really did go, ‘Oh, this is just normal.’ It’s terrifying that was our response. We need to move forward and figure out how to make sure that it doesn’t happen again."
