Wednesday 18 July 2012

Why I hate Keira Knightley

Sometimes you meet people in life who you just can't stand. Perhaps they show off a bit too much, they talk AT you rather than to you, or you have nothing in common with them.

Sometimes you don't even have to meet these people to develop a real hatred. That is what I have found with the actress Keira Knightley. Every time she appears on screen I have to resist the urge to get up and walk out, or worse, lunge at the screen. Ever since I heard her utter the words "I look quite pretty" in her annoyingly posh accent in Love Actually, I have felt an intense dislike for the woman. I also have friends who agree with me.

Now some of you may say this is jealousy, and at first I would have said you are right. She is undeniably a good looking person, and is rich and famous and attends red carpet dos, yadda yadda yadda. But, so do Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johanson and Zooey Deschanel, 3 women who are gorgeous, rich and who I don't hate. In fact, I think they're all lovely, and I think they're all better looking than Keira Knightley.

I think the reason I hate Keira so much is that she doesn't seem to deserves what she has. I haven't seen a film where I have wanted to praise her acting talents, she doesn't seem to be able to deviate from the smug, posh, skinny British character. Always playing this part makes me think she probably is just smug, posh and British. She doesn't even seem to have a fun personality and enjoy her fame. Zooey Deschanel in comparison plays characters with a bit of humour, quirkiness and seems to be smiling in a lot more of her publicity shots.

Type both of these actresses into Google images now. Zooey Deschanel's photos are likeable, smiley, and natural. Keira's photos seem to be contrived and pouty.

keira knightley hate
 Keira above, Zooey below.
zooey deschanel sweet


Now don't misunderstand me, my life is not taken up by fussing over the lives of celebrities, in fact, I probably know less than most. I don't even dislike people in real life very often: being a teacher I tend to find something I like in most people otherwise I would never make it through the day. But if one of my favourite books was turned into a film (like the Great Gatsby has been and will be out soon... can't wait!) and I found out Keira Knightley was in it, I would be very disappointed, and would probably think twice about seeing it.

How do you feel about Keira?

74 comments:

Didi said...

Yeah, she is really beautiful and all, but I do get your point! I dont see her creativity with life and I miss that! Maybe we can have a big surprise someday!

I hope she finds her way!

Unknown said...

Me too. I guess I should give her a few more chances in case she pulls it out the bag!

Anonymous said...

I loathe her too, so much so that I had to search online for others who share the same intense revulsion

Unknown said...

Hooray, people who share my sentiments!

Anonymous said...

I think she is great. I am fat but not jealous. She can't help it if she is skinny. And I wish my teeth looked that good. She was probably one of those girls in school who only had guy friends. Sorry to rain on your hate parade

Anonymous said...

I thought the same Lady Lazarus, when I sat through her appallingly wooden performance in Love Actually...but nearly ten years later she hasn't improved. Still loathe her. *Sigh*

Unknown said...

She really hasn't. I hate when she says "I look quite pretty" in Love Actually. So wooden.

Unknown said...

"enjoys her fame"??
you mean how she dont porks around people and do drugs and get embroiled in controversy
i agree her acting is bad..ok,pretty seriously bad..but thats no criteria to "hate" someone..bytch

Anonymous said...

Ditto! That's exactly what I'm doing.

Anonymous said...

I feel the same way, and I am the only person in my peer group who seems to see through the pout and wanna-be-sex-kitten-overkill to notice how irritating she and most of her roles are... Half the time she hijacks the movie and walks off with the plot! Re: Edge of Love. Thank you for posting these sentiments in an articulate and persuasive manner. Glad to know there are teachers like you out there.

Anonymous said...

I think she's not a good actress, she has just two expressions, and she ruined the movie Anna Karenina. Her fame is really disappointing to me.

Anonymous said...

I just truly dislike her for the way she speaks. Not the accent, but the protruding chin and thin mouth she pulls.

(And for a teacher, I'm disappointed you don't know how to spell disappointed. ;D.)

Squirrel Nutkin said...

I typed into Google "I hate Keira Knightley" and was gratified to find there are others! I don't like her Telltubby eyes. She looks like she's half-Pakistani.

Anonymous said...

I hate her pout! She can never just look normal! She has to ruin EVERYTHING with pouting and trying to look kissable!

Anonymous said...

totheI'm glad my child isn't being taught by someone who hates complete strangers

Anonymous said...

What hope the future has when teachers publically share their irrational hatred of a person they have never met, on the basis of them having a 'smug' face and 'posh' accent.
Thankfully, you didn't decide that her looking 'half-Pakistani' is a reason to hate, unlike racist Beatrix Potter fan *Squirrel Nutkin* up there. The world is a weird place.

Unknown said...

Oh calm down. It's not like I'm burning images of her outside her house. I think you'll find students like having a teacher with a bit of personality!

Anonymous said...

It's her chin. I HATE her stupid chinny smile. I'm a straight, 25 year old male so it isn't jealousy, just pure chin hate.

Anonymous said...

Very late to this post but since its showing up on google search, ill just say that Keira Knightley is a goddess just temporarily slumming it on earth. Every woman who is put off by her has no taste in beauty

Anonymous said...

She has no acting talent. She over dramatizes every line she speaks and she is not beautiful enough to win these lead roles.

Anonymous said...

coz of her leading roles in almost her films seem like an hidden campaign saying 'i'm Ms.Sex'... it's okay to be that hot-gorgeous-famous-sexy-skinny lucky girl, but somehow i wish i could see her in a film with her playing smart or psycho, not always picturing herself being too fancied by (any)males from the last movie script to the next one ... perhaps... its the scripts she is used to.

Anonymous said...

I am glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way. I hate her. I can't stand any movie she is in. They seriously need to stop casting her in any role. She is not about talent at all. Hate her to the core!!!

Anonymous said...

I also can't stand her. Unlike others though, I do not think she is attractive. She seems to have found a few specific facial expressions which she believes are cute (the Cheshire Cat toothy grin) or pouty and sensual (flexing her nose muscles to try and make her weird nose longer and thinner, while her weird lips poke out) and she does these with her face over and over again. I think she probably spends hours each day staring at herself in the mirror practicing these expressions - and then throughout the day she is constantly thinking about herself and how she looks, and then doing those weird things with her face. Maybe I can't stand her for the same reasons I can't stand anyone who is so caught up and obsessed with themselves. I don't think she is capable of existing for any 10 second period of life without thinking about herself, making sure she is putting on one of her "special looks". I think she is a narcissistic psychopath, and ever scene she is in screams "AWKWARD!!!" because no one should be thinking about themselves as much as she does, and every time I throw up a little in my mouth.

Anonymous said...

I cant look keira, she looks so unatural brrr

Anonymous said...

I am not a Keira fan at all, but you guys are pushing it a bit too far- what if she reads this stuff? You can't hate someone personally based on hating their acting, or their looks, mannerisms, etc it would be better if u said I hate her acting etc not attacking the person you never know she may see this.

Anonymous said...

How bad is Keira as an actress? There's something of an objective measure: Look her up on Metacritic and find her average career score (58). This reflects what critics feel about the movies she is in, not what they think of her performances, but needless to say a bad performance by a leading actress will sink a film's rating, and a good performance will tend to help it. You will probably be surprised at how she stacks up against actresses you might think should do well.

Among the best actresses, Jennifer Lawrence's 69 is outstanding, Scarlett Johannson's 61 is strong. Portman's 55 is above average. Keira by this measure may not be the best in the world, but there are not many who are at her level.

As for what she says in "Love ActuallY", are you criticizing her for following the script?

Anonymous said...

I found this post whilst looking for someone who dislikes Keira Knightely as much as I do. I now think that maybe we should just let her be. She does play annoying roles but its made her rich so credit to her for being clever. Will just have to avoid all her movies and hope she doesnt feature in any movie you would really want to watch.

Anonymous said...

I don't like her and I'm skeptical of those who do. I am not able to enjoy any movie in which she appears. She always seems synthetic or alien. It is odd for me to be compelled to make such a comment, so I must feel strongly about this.

Anonymous said...

I sure know what you mean. She's all of the following:

1. Beautiful
2. Intelligent
3. Witty
4. Down to earth with her head screwed on right
5. Hard working on the set
6. Extremely talented



Unfortunately, she also

7. manages her fame well, maintaining a rigid privacy
8. has the respect of her directors and fellow artists
9. is garnering rave reviews
10. boldly accepts new and difficult challenges

How can anybody like such a person?


Anonymous said...

I fucking hate her! Talentless, ugly and have a body of an 11 year old. Oh I am a male.

Unknown said...

Hello, I'm doing a dissertation on the scrutiny that public figures face today, and I would like to know if I could use this page? Also, this post is a couple of years old, so could you clarify if you still dislike this actress? The research paper will only be submitted to my prof, so I'm not making any money off it or anything. Thank you.

On a personal note, Keira's better than most of the Hollywood starlets. And she isn't a complete famewhore so I guess she's alright.
She's also one of those people whose name comes up the least when it comes to dislike or hate in my research, so I'm really curious about unorthodox hate choices.

Scarlett said...

Lol @the posts here. (3yrs after the original post) I know little about her other than seeing her in films here and there. I love Jack Ryan movies and I literally stopped Shadow Recruit 30 mins in to google "hate Keira". Let me say that this is not about jealousy. I like most can appreciate an attractive actress, especially if she's a good actress. In KK's case every time I see her I get an incredible urge to hurl something at the screen. She's a poor actress. I hate her face and when she suddenly breaks into that toothy smile... which I can only describe as "severe". Plus she always looks like she just stumbled out of a concentration camp. Apparently others feel the same so I really don't understand why she continues to get leading roles. *rant over*

Akshaya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

i don know... i don like her too. just she feels so artificiall.....

Anonymous said...

there is one girl that I absolutely hate, she believs that that she is beautiful like Keira , I will re-direct her to your blog! I love it! Thank you all x

Anonymous said...

I dislike Keira Kneightley because she RUINED Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice." Hard to forgive that!

I actually liked her in "Begin Again," so I thought maybe I should give her another chance.... but then I saw "Anna Karenina." Augh!

I can't be the only person out here who HATES that thing Keira Kneightley does -- which you know good and well that neither Lizzie Bennet nor Anna Karenina ever did -- which is this little scrunching-up of her nose and eyes in some misguided attempt to look pert/perky. Someone needs to tell her that there is a different, less silly and annoying way to show amusement/delight/mischievousness/pleasure. If she did it in "Begin Again" or "Bend It Like Beckham," it didn't matter so much, because those movies are set in our own time, and that little facial expression is what some modern, flighty, shallow young ladies do nowadays. But it's totally out of place in a story written by Jane Austen or Leo Tolstoy in the nineteenth century. When Keira Kneightly does it onscreen, it breaks the spell of the movie; you're suddenly, involuntarily reminded that you are watching an actress ACT -- and very self-consciously -- instead of being immersed in the world of the story. The mark of a good actor is that you FORGET you're only watching an actor.

Unlike some commenters here, I'm willing to imagine that Kneightley might have potential in the future -- but she has simply GOT to get rid of that nose-scrunchy thing.

Thank you for starting a thread on this topic. It's nice to know I'm not the only one out here who's not smitten with Keira Kneightley!

Anonymous said...

Oh and p.s....

I couldn't disagree with you more about Scarlett Johansson. For all that I just criticized Keira Kneightley, she's a much better actress than Scarlett Johansson, in my opinion.

I said that the mark of a good actor is that you forget you're watching an actor. Well, Keira Kneightley only breaks the spell for me when she does that nose-scrunchy thing. With Scarlett Johansson, on the other hand, I'm conscious that I'm watching an actress act at almost every second of every scene of every movie she's in!

No name said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
No name said...

I used to like Keira Knightley since she was on the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie even though she was a bad actress, fans of the sequel tolerate her as Elizabeth Swan.

Now most of the Pirates of the Caribbean fans hate her because she rejected to be on the 5th movie yust because she wants to be the center of the fucking movie and better than Johnny Depp. So now after the public gave her fame and recognition all over the world right next to Johnny. Now she seem it as too little for her now.

Way to go Keira I hope you read this.
NOW WE HATE YOU ARROGANT BITCH!!!

Alexis Hope said...

Why do people hate someone they have never met? Do consider that all the films she has been in she has been asked to be in, and while doing so told to act a certain way. She doesn't choose the lines and takes directions on how to deliver them. Hate the typecast not the person you don't know. In saying that, I'm big fan of Zooey Deschanel, while maybe not more aesthetically attractive, she seems down right awesome.

Anonymous said...

To be honest, I never liked Keira Knightley, her acting is not good its so TRASHY!!! I prefer Rachel Weisz over her!!! Ever since I watched Keira as Elizabeth Swann, it made me really pissed off because she is a manipulate whore evil lady.. The director of Pirates of the Caribbean, DIDN'T plan the "kiss" between Kiera and Johnny, it was HER that did. For my thoughts, Keira is a SLUTTY BITCH as well!!! Her character Elizabeth Swann is MORE LIKE Meela/Anck-su-namun from The Mummy and The Mummy Returns!! How funny is that Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann) and Patricia Velasquez (Meela/Anck-su-namun) have similar features if you look very closely!!! Maybe Keira Knightley can be the NEW Meela/Anck-su-namun in this time of era because The Mummy reboot is going to suck anyways and Keira is more of the evil side. I have to say that Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom way better than Kiera Knightley!!!

Anonymous said...

Anck-su-nabeth haha ;D Thumbs up!!! Anck-su-namun and Elizabeth Swann fusion together.. Kiera-su-namun!!! Lol SORRY NO WILL TURNER AND ELIZABETH SWANN, ITS REALLY IMHOTEP AND ELIZABETH SWANN NOW. Will Turner, WATCH OUT, Elizabeth Swann DOESN'T really love you, she LOVES Imhotep and she is ALWAYS a TRAITOR and MANIPULATOR EVIL SLUT.. Elizabeth has been in relationship with Imhotep before you Will Turner. TRUTH IS TRUTH!!!

Kai said...

I was typing "Why I hate Keira Knightley" in google because it just came up randomly to me. And I saw this! There has always been something off about Keira Knightley to me and I think you nailed it! She's snobbish and posh to the T. Comes across as conceited. Hahhaha! A representation of women of that hateful sort - cuts across races. Or maybe I'm just jealous because Chris Pine was happy to have kissed her in one of his movies. LOL... that one, I didn't sit through.

Kai said...

I was typing "Why I hate Keira Knightley" in google because it just came up randomly to me. And I saw this! There has always been something off about Keira Knightley to me and I think you nailed it! She's smug and posh to the T. Comes across as conceited. Hahhaha! A representation of women of that hateful sort - cuts across races. Or maybe I'm just jealous because Chris Pine was happy to have kissed her in one of his movies. LOL... that one, I didn't sit through.

Stephanie said...

Another posh-hating and class obsessed British person, eh? Get a life.

Anonymous said...

She is not posh in the slightest, she is lower middle class, she went to a second rate comprehensive school in London, her mother is Scottish and her dad a regular English actor no one has heard of! She puts on her accent as she is an actress, it is stilted and dreadful like her wooden acting. Stop calling her posh, only people who are not posh use that word anyway! Her chin is ridiculously large too, dull all round!

Anonymous said...

Moron....She is Not Posh.

Guarding treasure said...

It's interesting how some particular person can just repulse you. I have found, that it is often because they reflect a charateristic/feature, that you hate about yourself. For example "trying to be something she is not" or "liking her own appearence". Oh and fun fact: she pouts all the time because she's been told over and over that her smile is ugly.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree. How a bloke can like her us just weird!

Anonymous said...

For me she is just so overrated she is not beautiful, Im convinced she's a man. She is not posh she is fake and her figure is too much. Her facial expressions make me sick and the less said about her acting the better.

Anonymous said...

You guys are speaking the worst about a person you DO NOT EVEN KNOW. Are you actually aware of that fact? How do you know she's posh or arrogant? Oh, of course, because you obviously have spoken to her, had a conversation with her and got to know her. YES! Long live maturity! How old are you? Please, get a life.

Btw if you think she has no idea about acting, try doing the job yourselves. Come on, it's very very easy!

As I said, apart from the acting thing, you are SPEAKING ABOUT A PERSON YOU DO NOT KNOW. It's ridiculous. Get a life, please. Grow up.

Anonymous said...

I know nothing about what Keira Knightley is like as a person. I just resent her because she can't bloody act. She has a total of two expressions: contrived pout and scream. No, I'm not an actress and I don't need to be. Just as I don't need to be a pilot to know someone fucked up when I see a helicopter in a tree, I don't need to have gone to RADA to be able to see that this woman CAN'T ACT. Jennifer Lawrence has more talent in one fingernail and I don't hate her.

As for those who are saying we're hating on total strangers, you're missing the point. She's not a total stranger. We live in a culture where the personal lives of celebrities like her are rammed down our throats all the time. We have every right to vent if that annoys us.

Anonymous said...

Shame on you for this post

Anonymous said...

I think she's attractive and maybe can't help the way her facial expressions happen BUT I do think she has a strangely tight face and perhaps the muscles and bone structure are the reasons why her lips and the area around them move in that way.
But anyway I came here because I got really turned off when I read something Kiera Knightley had written which was a seriously weird, grossly detailed and angry diatribe on her birthing process. In shrieking like fashion, it's almost as if her version of giving birth somehow elevated her to speak for all mere mortals as opposed to how Kate Middleton does it *gives birth." Basically she suggested that Middleton is a fraud who somehow should better represent the reality of what experience of giving birth is. Meanwhile, suggesting that Kate Middleton was somehow a pretentious and awful person for making an appearance hours after giving birth with her baby on the steps. Other people who have been around her during film Q and A's have also found her behavior snobbish and downright rude. Knightley might actually believe she is superior to others, which comes across in her films though I would have to disagree with most of the posters who didn't like her in Love Actually...I thought she seemed sweet and that line about her looking rather pretty was a good one. That was moons ago though and it appears she's now typical of an elite set of people who looks down their nose at others and takes the opportunity to let everyone know how much more superior she is to them. She's bitchy at best and oddly jealous of a royal but it's she who has compared herself while trying to shame another womans experience.

Anonymous said...

Obnoxious bitch!!...yes that felt good

Anonymous said...

One of the most unique, talented, scintillating, and outspoken personalities alive today. A true original, brimming with intelligence and good humor in her interviews. I would suggest that most of the negative comments here are remarkably petty and/or ill-informed, And easily refuted if you bother to do the research.

For example, a recent poster claims she suggested Kate Middleton was an awful person. Really? Read Keira'a actual essay. It is not anything close to what some of the press have suggested. It is instead a graphic, visceral, description of childbirth, in effect ripping the covers off the bedsheets to expose what really happens, as opposed to the view of soft, sanitized motherhood that we would like to think it is. Her hormones rage, she will die for her child, kill for her child. Keira reflects the animal in the human mother, not the refined, cultivated image that society expects motherhood to be.

It's a brilliant piece of writing.

Watch her films, especially the art house releases. Her fierceness, intensity, and sheer courage are unparalleled in the industry.

Anonymous said...

Go fuck yourself

Anonymous said...

I like Keira Knightley a lot, and I don't like the author of this post at all. What incredibly petty, silly reasons to dislike someone. It screams jealousy. And in today's world of lowest common denominator, everything, coming across as posh and dignified is not a bad thing. But then again I am posh and dignified and athletic, educated, and attractive so I guess I'm just not jealous of her...

Anonymous said...

Who are these ppl swooping in to defend her? What exactly did you type in your search engine yo get here? She can't act at all and she can't do and other accents so it's cringe to listen when she tries, plus she pout too much. She is certainly more famous that others who started in Bend it like Beckham and were much better actors.

Anonymous said...

Why do people swoop in to defend her?

It's called chivalry, love.

If you are riding through the savanna and see a pack of hyenas attacking a lady fair, I think you have a binary choice. You can become a hyena yourself and join the attack. Or, you can lower your lance and charge the jackals.

Personally, I would rather be a knight than a hyena, but the choice is yours.

Peach said...

Me too...she's more wooden than my kitchen table and...what with that chin?

Anonymous said...

Over 400 years ago Sir Walter Ralegh made a relevant comment poetically:

. . . worthiest wights yield praise for every pain;
But envious brains do nought, or light, esteem
Such stately steps as they cannot attain.
For whoso reaps renown above the rest
With heaps of hate shall surely be oppressed.

Anonymous said...

I liked her in Bend It Like Beckham. When I saw her later on something else, it was obvious she had done something to her upper lip. (She mentioned it once, so there was honesty on her part.) However, I think it affected the acting potential she had shown on Bend It Like Beckham. As soon as she had that thing done on her mouth, her acting became "posing" instead of acting. She has lines of dialogue, and her face/mouth should reflect what is happening. No matter what the scene requires, her mouth acting never changes. She seems to not want to move it. It always reminds me of an older actress, who reached a certain age, and no longer wanted to move her mouth a lot when talking. Her reason was to avoid laugh lines. I don't know what's the deal with Keira. I can try to understand someone older, but Keira is young. So, her mouth posing kind of acting is distracting, therefore, annoying. Like someone wrote, you want to forget the actor/actress and just think character. She's not the only one that does this. Alyssa Milano and Hillary Duff do it too.

Valiumtina said...

Keira is probably my favourite actress of all time, and as much as the haters can't explain their dislike for her, I can't quite justify my utter infatuation. I recognise that she is good but not great, and stuck in a particular type of character. But maybe that's where the fascination comes from. A bit like with Leo Di Caprio, who is also my favourite actor.

Unknown said...

She is faking her smile and the way she look with her eyes
She is changing her facial features her eyes her mouth in an attempt to make it look beautiful
It doesn't look real
Every time I watch her I feel like I'm the one who is making the effort not her
If she was acting her nature and made her facial features look natural without faking up, maybe I would love her

Esther C said...

That’s quite racist

Anonymous said...

FFS. Really your poat is just confirmation of the 'if you haven't got something nice to say then keep your mouth shut' school of thought. Good of you to pour scorn on someone you've never met. Who cares if she's thin, or posh, or attractions. Films are full of thin, talentless people. But when I've heard her interviewed she comes across as a nice person.

Anonymous said...

Lol guilty!

Anonymous said...

Right?

Anonymous said...

Please stay away from the racist remarks: 1. So you have compassion (btw Pakistani women are quite beautiful), and 2. So your point doesn’t lose clout or validity.

Anonymous said...

I read somewhere (not sure if it is true though) that she has that issue where your lower jaw juts forward a bit too much. But even if she has that issue, she still pouts on top of it which doesn’t look good and annoys me so much that I ended up in this thread reading others’ complaints about it. She should stop pouting. Actresses shouldn’t make model photo shoot faces in movies.

Anonymous said...

Watching "The Duchess" and noticed the modern day mannerisms (twitches, smirks, pouts) in her acting that seem to appear over and over again in a strange default way that does not feel quite appropriate for the scene. I think I agree with those that she does better in modern day plots and less so in the period films she's so often the star of.

Anonymous said...

"Keira knightly is annoying" actually I wrote "Kyra" because I had no idea how to spell her name. She said something while playing Elizabeth Swann and I immediately looked up if anyone thought she was annoying too. I don't even remember what she said but oh my God it was like nails on a chalkboard in her terrible accent and how she moves her mouth. Lol good to see I'm not entirely crazy with my opinion I don't hate her but I don't like watching these movies because of her lol

Andrea Robin said...

I really tried to see the beauty that the industry or her publicist attempted to convince the public that she had but sorry, no! She is an average looking woman with some oddly annoying features to boot. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and my eyes have beheld no beauty in her face whatsoever. Nowadays the bar has been extremely lowered for what and who is viewed as beautiful and truthfully most of the actresses today cannot hold a candle to the movie stars of long ago. As for Knightley's acting ability...I have never seen anything she has done that has made a particularly great impression.