I wasn't allowed to do commercials. I wasn't allowed to do TV series. I wasn't allowed to do soaps or basically anything that would mean I missed too much school.

The costume film premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival to a positive reception while Knightley who had almost backed out of the movie due to its explicit scenes earned generally favourable reviews by critics with Andrew O'Hehir of Salon. Knightley appeared nude along with Scarlett Johansson on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine's March 2006 "Hollywood" issue. The film a dark comedy was written by Noah Baumbach and will be directed by Scott Cooper.

Knightley has also appeared in a variety of genres of Hollywood films including the romantic comedy Love Actually (2003) the historical action King Arthur (2004) the psychological thriller The Jacket (2005) biographical action Domino (2005) the drama The Edge of Love (2008) the film noir London Boulevard (2010) the dystopian science fiction Never Let Me Go (2010) the romantic drama Last Night (2010) and the dark comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012). She began acting as a child on television and made her film debut in 1995. Since the Pirates of the Caribbean films Knightley has become best known for starring in period drama films such as Pride & Prejudice (2005) Atonement (2007) Silk (2007) The Duchess (2008) A Dangerous Method (2011) and Anna Karenina (2012).