Keira Knightley: ‘There’s too much rape in modern movie dramas’

Keira Knightley refuses to make modern movie dramas because female characters always seem to get raped.
In a new Variety interview, the 32-year-old actress who is famous for period roles in films like Atonement and Pride & Prejudice, admits she has very little interest in modern dramas.
“With the rise of Netflix and Amazon we’re seeing some strong female characters and female stories on streaming services; I don’t know about films as much,” she tells the publication. “I don’t really do films set in the modern day because
 the female characters nearly always get raped.
“I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas I’ve always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces.
“There’s been some improvement. I’m suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren’t raped in the first five pages, and aren’t simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife.”
Like many Hollywood stars, Keira has been empowered by the #MeToo and @timesup movements, sparked by the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal. The actress has worked with the disgraced producer in the past, but admits he was never in appropriate around her.
“My experience with Harvey Weinstein was always very professional,” she adds. “He was very good on the films we made. I was aware of his reputation of being a bully. He was famous for phoning people in the middle of the night and screaming at them. He didn’t do that to me, and he certainly never asked me for massages or anything like that.
“I wasn’t aware of any allegations or rape or sexual assault against him. For the first time people are sharing their stories. People have been absolutely terrified to talk about it and were scared of retribution, so I don’t think everybody knew the extent of what was going on.”