Keira Knightley’s actor-parents got her an agent when she was six, and she starred in several TV films and commercials. She played a minor role in The Phantom Menace due to her resemblance to Natalie Portman. However, her breakthrough came in the 2002 sports comedy film, Bend It Like Beckham. She played the tomboy footballer Jules Paxton in the film.
In a recent interview, Knightley wrongly remembered that she was bashed for the film. However, it received surprisingly good reviews from the critics. Interestingly, a few years earlier, the Pirates of the Caribbean actress called for a lesbian-themed sequel to Bend It Like Beckham.
Keira Knightley open to a Bend It Like Beckham sequel
Bend It Like Beckham came as a surprising hit, with critics praising the screenplay and its light-hearted tone. The story explored Parminder Nagra’s Jess and Keira Knightley‘s Jules, who want careers in football despite their family’s objections. The film received a good 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the film, Knightley and Nagra’s characters are shown to be straight, although Jules’ mother suspects a homosexual relationship between them. There’s even a plotline in the film where the two best friends have a fallout over Jess’s relationship with Joe, whom both girls like.
However, many viewers believed that Jules and Jess secretly had an interest in one another. There was even a rumor that the film originally intended a romantic relationship between the two central characters. When PrideSource asked Knightley about this rumor, she shared that she didn’t have any knowledge about such a version of the script. She shared:
I never read that version of the script! I mean, not as far as I know. But you might have information that I don’t have. No, the only version of the script that I ever read was the one that we shot, so it was as it was.
However, she shared that she would’ve loved to see Jess and Jules getting romantically involved in the film. She even suggested that a potential sequel of the film should explore this possibility. Knightley shared:
F**k yeah! That would’ve been amazing. I think they should’ve been too. I think that would’ve been great. We need a sequel.
The film, made on a small budget of $5.6 million, went on to gross $76.6 million at the box office. It was even adapted into a stage musical in 2015. However, it wasn’t the good parts that got etched into Knightley’s memories.
Keira Knightley wrongly remembers the reviews for Bend It Like Beckham
During an interview with Vanity Fair, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, Keira Knightley shared that the 2005 film was the “first one that was a phenomenally big success, but was also critically acclaimed.” She recalled her experience in Bend It Like Beckham, but it appears that she got it wrong about the film’s reception.
She shared that she got terrible reviews for her role as Jules. However, she also added that it could be possible that her young brain only processed the negative reviews. She shared:
I got terrible reviews for it — or at least the ones I remember, or the ones that, in your 17-year-old brain, actually sink in. Of course, it’s only the ones that are negative. So I think it [‘Pride & Prejudice’] was the first time that it had been unequivocally positive, right?
She also shared that she was nominated for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, the same year that she got terrible reviews for the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel. She shared, “It was, in my 21-year-old head, quite confusing.”
Bend It Like Beckham is now available for streaming on Disney and Hulu (USA).
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