Tolstoy's Anna Karenina has been adapted for TV or film at least 25 times. It's a title role made great by screen legends Greta Garbo and Vivian Leigh, and now, it's Keira Knightley's turn.
She reunites with Pride And Prejudice director Joe Wright in a new adaptation of the film. Knightley talks to Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered, about bringing the character of Anna Karenina to life.
Interview Highlights
On the opening sequence
"Anna finds herself in the role of the perfect wife and the role of the perfect mother. And suddenly that role doesn't fit. So I think the first thing we did talk about was this idea of her, in the opening sequence, her dressing for the role of Anna Karenina. There was even talk very early on of do you take it one step further and do you actually see me, Keira Knightly, dressing as the actress dressing as the role of Anna Karenina. We thought that would be taking it just one step too far."
On reading the novel
"I think I first read it when I was about 19. Definitely late teens, early 20s. And it's really strange, cause it's the first novel I've ever reread and I was totally floored by how different I found it. I remembered it as being obviously very lush and tragically romantic and sweeping and all the rest of it. But I distinctly remember her as being innocent. I was entirely on her side. And I was really, really shocked when I came to it again last summer before we started shooting and totally didn't see her as innocent. And found her very difficult. And found Tolstoy's or what I perceived to be Tolstoy's opinion of her very difficult."
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Knightley earned Golden Globe nominations for her roles in Atonement and Pride & Prejudice, her other collaborations with Wright. Could the third time be a charm?