March Elle Magazine

Keira Knightley found time in her busy schedule to speak exclusively to Elle ahead of the release of Never Let Me Go, and looks stunning on the March 2011 cover. Check out the behind the scenes video. Keira's also on stage in the West End at the moment, and she discussed that too — here are some highlights:

• On managing her work schedule: "I was literally going from job to job to job to job and any time off in between was promoting a job, or preparing for the next job. And it was exactly what I thought I wanted at the time and then I realised that I’d sort of hit a brick wall. I knew I wasn’t taking anything in. . . There’s this strange thing where I feel incredibly privileged and I think I have an incredible amount of guilt about that. And so I thought I had to work all the time."
• On being a technophobe: "I can’t get rid of books. It’s almost like having your thoughts [around you]. I want to be able to hold it. I want to be able to see where the pages have been turned down. I grew up in a house full of books. Wall to wall. I remember when I moved out of home, that was the big thing that I couldn’t handle: there weren’t any books. Every inch of my mum’s house is covered in them and not having any was like, 'This is really weird. This is such a sterile space without any stories in it.’"
• On not owning a TV: "It’s that I’m the laziest f***er in the entire world. It’s true. And stagnation is always really, really imminent. I can literally just sit and not do anything for hours and hours and hours and if there is something completely mind-numbing to do, like surfing the internet or watching crappy TV, I’ll do it and then I’ll feel s*** about myself. So I try and get rid of it. A lot of my friends don’t have TVs, either. It might be spreading. But what’s nice is that when I do see it, it’s such a treat. I did a photoshoot in Cornwall recently and a friend of mine was on the shoot and we literally just sat in my room watching Strictly Come Dancing. We were like, 'This is amazing.' We were talking about that for weeks afterwards."
• On fashion: "I went to the Chanel show and I really enjoyed the theatre of it – this eight-mile-long catwalk, this huge orchestra and it was amazing. It was actually quite moving, and you think 'Wow, this is strange. How? Why?' But I think when you see a show like that you see the thought process behind it. And I – I’ve only been to two shows [the other was Chanel couture] – but I really enjoy that."
• On why she decided to return to the stage: "... because I really noticed [in The Misanthrope] what I couldn’t do and what I failed at. I’m just not interested in standing still. You go, 'OK, that was great and that bit was great – that’s, um, great.' But if I’m not getting better, not learning, not changing, then what’s the point of it? It must be boring for people to watch it if it’s always the same."

To read the rest of the interview pick up the March issue of Elle, out on February 2nd.