Keira Knightley is firmly in her pulpy, pacy thriller era. After holding the British government to account as an Iraq War whistleblower in Official Secrets, hunting down a ’60s serial killer in Boston Strangler, and leaping into the part of Black Doves’ lethal Helen Webb with guns blazing, the 40-year-old, twice-Oscar-nominated Londoner is throwing herself into another no-holds-barred, edge-of-your-seat crowdpleaser: The Woman in Cabin 10, Simon Stone’s breathless Netflix adaptation of Ruth Ware’s 2016 bestseller.
An atmospheric hair-raiser set on a chilly super yacht, it casts our heroine as the no-nonsense Laura “Lo” Blacklock, a dogged journalist dispatched to report on some frosty billionaires. One night, in the middle of the inky black sea, Lo hears a commotion in the cabin next door, and is convinced she sees someone being tossed into the water. Her malevolent hosts, though—played gleefully by everyone from Guy Pearce and Hannah Waddingham to Daniel Ings and Kaya Scodelario—try to convince her that it’s all in her head.
From that point onwards, Knightley tells me, Lo is “a dog with a bone—and she won’t let it go.” Cue nifty detective work, endless gaslighting, a murder attempt via swimming pool, and an anxiety-inducing denouement.
Speaking on Zoom—fresh-faced, with her enviable side-parted bob perfectly in place and wearing a delicate white Valentino shirt with a lace collar—Knightley is great company: candid, self-deprecating, and ebullient, someone who’s quick to laugh and kicks up her heels to show me her glittering shin-length gold boots on camera. “They’re extraordinary,” she gushes. “I’m all-in on this outfit.”
Below, ahead of the film’s release on October 10, the aughts-period-drama queen discusses her love of “silly and crazy” red carpet fashion, her and Ben Whishaw’s hopes for Black Doves Season 2, the forthcoming Bend It Like Beckham sequel, and her new children’s book, inspired by life with her two young daughters.
Vogue: Thinking about Official Secrets, Boston Strangler, Black Doves, and now The Woman in Cabin 10, you’ve played a string of characters who are looking to find and expose the truth. What’s drawn you to these sorts of projects?
Keira Knightley: It’s the entertainment factor. I’ve always liked a Miss Marple story, and I’m trying to do that in a more modern, slightly edgier way. This film reminded me of those ’70s thrillers, like The Parallax View or The Conversation—and they normally have these very cool, louche, ’70s male stars. I had that in the back of my mind. It’s my opportunity to do that.
Lo does have that tough, kind of eye-rolling, sardonic vibe.
I liked her certainty. It’s very rare to play characters who are that certain. She made me feel quite powerful, even though she’s having a horrible time throughout the entire film [laughs].
You also have a great ensemble on this super yacht, from Guy Pearce to Hannah Waddingham, who all get to be very evil. I had visions of you all partying on that boat once the cameras stopped rolling. Did that ever happen?
They’re all the nicest people and they relished getting to be so horrible [laughs]. And honestly, I had visions of that too—I thought surely we’d get to have Champagne and kick back. But we weren’t actually allowed to touch anything, sit on any of the furniture, or stand on the carpets. That yacht would be really comfortable for 12 guests, but with a 70-person film crew and 20 cast members, it was a lot of being crammed into tiny spaces. It wasn’t quite the luxurious experience that I’d envisioned.
After this, we’ll see you in the second season of Black Doves. What can we expect from the next chapter of Helen’s story?
We started filming this week! In terms of what people can expect, there’s more murder and mayhem, and more cashmere, obviously. Ben and I wanted to kill people together this time, because we didn’t get to do that last time. I’m not going to say whether or not that happens, but the action sequences are coming together nicely. And we’ve got some new characters who are really fun. We did the read-through the other day and it’s really exciting.
I should also mention Bend It Like Beckham, a film that meant so much to me growing up. And I think that’s true of a lot of women who I’m sure have spoken to you about it?
A lot of women do speak to me about it. It’s absolutely extraordinary, because at the time, when we were making it, everyone was like, “What is this?” I remember telling my friends that I was doing it, and they were like, “That sounds really embarrassing.” So the fact that it’s had this life, and means so much to so many people, is amazing. My eldest daughter has only seen two of my films, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Bend It Like Beckham. She plays football and all of her mates—they’re all like 10—they’d already seen it. So she was like [groans], “Okay, I want to see it.” And she loved it. It’s such a lovely thing to be part of something that, still to this day, speaks to so many people.
And has it been wild to see the rise of women’s football over these years? I’m thinking about the recent Euros, too.
We were watching the Lionesses this summer at the Euros, and the next morning, my daughter comes down and says, “I had the best dream last night. I dreamt that I scored the winning goal at the Euros.” It actually made me cry. I realized I’d never had that dream, and every single one of my friends who were boys had had that dream. That’s what the rise of women’s football does. My kids get to have that dream. That’s magic.
A script is being written for a Bend It Like Beckham sequel. What do you think Jess and Jules are doing now? Do you think they finally became a couple?
We did think that at the time. [Laughs.] We were like, “Obviously, we’re a couple.” We were actually spitballing yesterday, me and Simon Stone, The Woman in Cabin 10’s director. He was like, “Jules has got to be a coach now.” I was like, “Right, but what’s happened to Jess?!” He was like, “She’s the coach of the other team and they’ve got this rivalry going on.” Simon does now want payment for that idea. And are they together? Maybe they’ve split up and they get back together? I mean, who knows—25 years is a long time, there’s so much that could have happened.
I also wanted to touch on fashion. I loved your recent Erdem look for the premiere, and I feel like you’ve been having even more fun with dressing up since you turned 40?
I loved the ruff. I’ve never worn one before, which is surprising, given all the period pieces I’ve done, but it’s great for your posture. In that dress, I felt like I should’ve ridden to the premiere on a horse carrying a massive sword and chopped someone’s head off. I felt like a warrior queen, and that’s what I love about Erdem’s work. You can create this whole story in your head and believe you’re somebody else for a night. That’s what I want from fashion. It’s so fun. Now, on the red carpet, I definitely like to go a bit silly and crazy because normally, in my everyday life, I’m a very jeans-and-a-T-shirt, scrappy sort of person. So when I do this, it’s the opportunity to wear extraordinary things.
And how excited are you for Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut?
I won’t be there because I’m going to be filming Black Doves! But I will be looking online, of course. I’m so excited, I loved his work before and can’t wait to see what he does.
How soon will you get to wear new Chanel?
I hope very soon. I want to just kind of grab it as it comes off the runway. I’m like, “Guys, guys, c’mon. Just give it to me. I’ve been working with you guys for a while, so I better get some good stuff, okay?” [Laughs.]
You’ve also got a children’s book coming out called I Love You Just the Same, which is about a little girl whose life changes when she gets a sibling. How did that idea come about?
Yes, it’s something I’ve written and illustrated, so I hope people enjoy it. It was a book that I made originally for my daughter. She wasn’t sleeping, and we did this bedtime routine where I drew her a picture at night. She’d always ask for a picture, I’d draw one, and when she woke up in the middle of the night, she’d know that I’d been thinking about her because there’d be a drawing.
It started off with just a love heart, but then she was like, “Can you draw a girl like me? Can you draw my sister? Can there be a bird? And a cat?” One day, when my youngest was six months, teething and crying all day, Edie said: “Could you draw the bird taking the baby away?” [Laughs.] Which is the most genius thing I’d ever heard from a five-year-old. I was like, “Sure, I can do that.” After that, I thought, There’s a story here. And it came from that. This book is an adventure, but it’s also about sibling rivalry and a kind of separation anxiety that I think a lot of kids suffer from. But it’s also, hopefully, just a very pretty children’s book.
Have you always drawn?
I’ve always loved drawing. What’s funny is Simon Schuster, my publisher, said yes to it like the week before I started work on Black Doves, and my deadline for it was literally when I finished. So I suddenly had these two jobs, and one of them was killing everybody, and the other one was drawing lovely pigeons. I’d be doing all the crazy Helen Webb stuff and then going back to my room and drawing while covered in fake blood. It was strange but I loved it. And it worked because when you’re doing something super intense, you do need something else to take your mind off it. So I was in this meditative state and it was joyous.
Coming back to film, I do feel like we’re in the midst of a period drama resurgence right now. Would you return to that genre? What could tempt you back?
I love that genre. I love history and trying to reimagine it. But, I have done a lot of them, so I don’t like repeating myself. It has to be a character I haven’t played before. Right now, I’m looking for stuff that’s really entertaining—these proper genre thrillers—and that’s what I’ve loved about Black Doves. It’s like, you’re going to come home from a difficult day at the office, make yourself a drink, and just think, What’s going to happen next? But, who knows? Maybe I can find that in a period piece. As I said, I’ve never worn a ruff or done anything Elizabethan, so maybe that? Or could I be a Medici? They were quite murderous.
And what’s your next Netflix binge?
House of Guinness? I do love James Norton.
The Woman in Cabin 10 will be on Netflix from October 10.
