Why Keira Knightley Won't Act In Sex Scenes Directed By Men

Keira Knightley Is Pregnant with Her Second Child

Keira Knightley Is Pregnant with Her Second Child

Keira Knightley is opening up about her discomfort with shooting intimate scenes, particularly in movies made by male directors.

In a conversation with director Lulu Wang and writer-producer Diane Solway on the Chanel Connects podcast, the actress said she no longer wants to act in sex scenes directed by men.

"If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body acceptance, I feel like, I'm sorry, but that would have to be with a female film-maker," Knightley said. "I don't have an absolute ban, but I kind of do with men."

The Atonement actress went on to say that she's "uncomfortable" with the male gaze when it comes to her films.

"I don't want it to be those horrible sex scenes where you're all greased up and everybody is grunting. I'm not interested in doing that. I feel very uncomfortable now trying to portray the male gaze," she continued. "Saying that, there's times where I go, 'Yeah, I completely see where this sex would be really good in this film and you basically just need somebody to look hot. So therefore you can use somebody else because I'm too vain and the body has had two children now and I'd just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked.'"

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In an interview with Financial Times in 2020, she discussed why she became less comfortable with scenes involving nudity and sex over the years.

"It used to be that you'd do a sex scene in isolation with the film, and it would make sense," she said. "And maybe a crappy paper would put it somewhere but, ultimately, that would be it. But now, you can take the whole thing and put it in a completely different thing, and it's on some porn site."