Young British actress Keira Knightley says she's had enough of playing pirates and is happy to have portrayed a more complex character in Joe Wright's new film Atonement.
Atonement, an adaptation of Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel, was due to open the Venice film festival on Wednesday and was presented at a crowded press conference before the evening premiere.
Knightley, 22, said getting the role of Cecilia, a young woman whose life is devastated when her lover is wrongly accused of abusing a small girl, was "a gift and a challenge".
The movie recounts the lifelong efforts of the accuser, Cecilia's younger sister Briony, to make up for her terrible mistake.
Much of Atonement is set in pre-war and wartime England. Cecilia's love for Robbie, played by James McAvoy, has to overcome class boundaries and the uncertainties of war.
"I love love and I loved Cecilia immediately," said Knightley, who was originally supposed to play Briony, but persuaded the director to give her the older sister's role.
"I wanted to explore a character who loses her bearings. I like working from novels and a book like Ian McEwan's allows you to study a character in depth," she said.
Knightley was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (2005), which, like Atonement, was directed by Joe Wright.
The actress, who shot to fame with Bend it like Beckham and scored hits with the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, has said she hopes audiences will "bawl their eyes out" when they watch Atonement.
Knightley said the script made an immediate impact on her. "I read it from start to finish and started crying. If a script has that effect on you, you can't turn it down".
Asked whether she would consider making another Pirates of the Caribbean film with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, she had no doubts: "No thanks. A trilogy is enough".
