USA: Stars Kiera Knightley, James McAvoy, and Vanessa Redgrave attend the US premiere of "Atonement"

Record ID: 219688

  • Title: USA: Stars Kiera Knightley, James McAvoy, and Vanessa Redgrave attend the US premiere of "Atonement"
  • Date: 13th December 2007
  • Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 06, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE RED CARPET AT "ATONEMENT" PREMIERE MEDIA COVERING THE EVENT ACTRESS KIERA KNIGHTLEY POSING FOR PICTURES ACTOR JAMES MCAVOY POSING FOR PICTURES ACTRESS VANESSA REDGRAVE POSING FOR PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (English) KIERA KNIGHTLY, SAYING: "Yeah, I think that's what's so terrifying about the book and the film, is it's completely plausible, you can absolutely see that a child would completely misunderstand sexual tension between two adults, why would she understand it." MEDIA COVERING THE EVENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMES MCAVOY, SAYING: "You know, whether it's British or not, I think this film transcends genre, style and fad, you know, it transcends fashion and what's cool at the moment. I think this film works at any time, and think that's the way to describe it, I think at any time this is the right film. What the hell am I talking about?" VANESSA REDGRAVE AND JAMES MCAVOY POSING FOR PICTURES KNIGHTLEY TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) VANESSA REDGRAVE, SAYING: "Ian McEwan is one of our very best writers, Joe Wright is certainly one of our very best directors, but I can't stand back from that and say that because I still feel very involved with the film, it's gone that deep into me, it's not all a past experience now, I can't step away from it, to me it's almost like a life that I've lived." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KIERA KNIGHTLY, SAYING: "You know what, I think it's a very beautiful film that hopefully will give everybody who sees it an emotional ride, so far the reception to it has been completely wonderful, and I think it will be in America as well." VARIOUS OF RED CARPET UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATION
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAEOXC9IBSMKBFWI0XT04509Z6V
  • Story Text: Film stars Kiera Knightley, James McAvoy, and Vanessa Redgrave received a warm welcome in Beverly Hills as they stepped on to the red carpet on Thursday (December 6) for the United States premiere of "Atonement." The film, which made its world debut at the 64th Venice Film Festival, where it impressed critics, is a big screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel about a girl whose fertile imagination leads her to make a false accusation that has tragic consequences.

    "Yeah, I think that's what's so terrifying about the book and the film, is it's completely plausible, you can absolutely see that a child would completely misunderstand sexual tension between two adults, why would she understand it," says actress Kiera Knightley, on the film's premise.
    In "Atonement", Knightley reunites with up-and-coming British director Joe Wright after they collaborated on "Pride and Prejudice", in which the actress played Elizabeth Bennet and won an Oscar nomination. This time the 22 year-old plays Cecilia Tallis, whose life is turned upside down when sister Briony blames her lover (McAvoy) for a crime he did not commit.
    Scottish Actor James McAvoy plays Robbie Turner, whose mother is the housekeeper at the upper-middle-class family estate of Cecilia, played by Knightley, and her younger sister Briony. McAvoy, also known for his recent critical triumph in last year's "The Last King of Scotland," was thankful for his role in the film and pleased to be considered one of an emerging new generation of British film talent.

    "You know, whether it's British or not, I think this film transcends genre, style and fad, you know, it transcends fashion and what's cool at the moment. I think this film works at any time, and think that's the way to describe it, I think at any time this is the right film," says McAvoy.
    Faithful to the novel's three-act structure, Briony is played as a 13-year-old girl by Saoirse Ronan, as a young nurse during World War Two by Romola Garai and as an aging and ailing author by Vanessa Redgrave. The first act takes place in a grandiose English country house in the 1930s, where Turner is the housekeeper's son. It moves to the grim battlefields of northern Europe in act two, as Wright recreates the chaos of the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk through an ambitious single, steadicam shot. The third act is set in a hospital for wounded soldiers and the "postscript" in a television studio where an elderly Briony is interviewed about her life and novel.

    "Ian McEwan is one of our very best writers, Joe Wright is certainly one of our very best directors, but I can't stand back from that and say that because I still feel very involved with the film, it's gone that deep into me, it's not all a past experience now, I can't step away from it, to me it's almost like a life that I've lived," says Vanessa Redgrave on her role in the film.
    The film is already building up buzz for next year's Oscar awards, with Knightley being tipped for a nomination by scores of critics, but for now, she is just pleased to debut a film she is proud of in a new market.

    "You know what, I think it's a very beautiful film that hopefully will give everybody who sees it an emotional ride, so far the reception to it has been completely wonderful, and I think it will be in America as well," says Knightley.

    "Atonement" opens across North America on December 7.
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