UNITED KINGDOM: Stars bare Russian souls at Anna Karenina world premiere in London

Record ID: 220905

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Stars bare Russian souls at Anna Karenina world premiere in London
  • Date: 4th September 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS KEIRA KNIGHTLEY (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, ACTOR, SAYING: "It was exhausting because you're trying to maker her as emotionally raw as you possibly can, and she should be, but equally it's an incredibly stylised piece of work so trying to balance that and keeping that energy level and that e
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2012 13:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVADKENX2ICTNPBGV5ZDX65NXOMN
  • Story Text: The stars of the love triangle in the new Anna Karenina film came out in London for the film's world premiere on Tuesday (September 4).
    Kiera Knightley, who plays the title role, said she relished the challenge.
    "It was exhausting because you're trying to make her as emotionally raw as you possibly can, and she should be, but equally it's an incredibly stylised piece of work so trying to balance that and keeping that energy level and that emotional level up whilst trying to twirl into a shot to time a tear to come down your face at the right time and be reflected in the mirror at the right angle is quite a tricky thing," Knightley said It's the third film where director Joe Wright has cast Kiera Knightley as his leading lady. Knightley previously was in Pride and Prejudice, and Atonement.
    "We understand each other, we have a kind of, you know, she almost finishes my sentences for me, cinematically speaking. We get each other," Wright said.
    Jude Law, who takes the role of Anna's husband, Alexei Karenin, spent time with fans signing autographs and having photos taken.
    His role is more mature than he's previously recognised for, and costume and make-up make him unrecognisable from his usual self.
    "I turn 40 this year. I'm glad I'm moving on, finally. The joyous thing about being an actor is the years you cover as a man, as a human, as a woman, are hopefully expressed in the roles you get to play, and Karenin is a little bit older than me but there's something really exciting about being asked to play something that covers territory I don't feel like I've ever covered before. There's a sort of seriousness to him, a dullness I enjoyed stepping into, a stillness I don't feel I've necessarily tackled," said Law.
    Where Jude Law would have once played the young love interest, this time Aaron Taylor-Johnson, know for his parts in 'Kickass', and 'Nowhere Boy', took the role of the dashing Count Vronsky, with whom Anna Karenina embarks on an affair that would become a scandal in the fictitious world created by Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy.
    Taylor-Johnson said the part was big for him.
    "I think every next jump that you do is always sort of progress, in a way. Yeah it's a whole other thing for me. But the film's not so serious, I don't think. It looks like it could be very dramatic, melodramatic, but it has a lot of light in it, a lot of energy and it's very joyous and fun but then it hits you real hard with the deep emotional stuff."
    Costume and setting feature heavily in the movie, including some ballroom dancing scenes between Knightley and Taylor-Johnson, something Knightley found difficult but Taylor-Johnson said was something he had experience of when he was younger: "Yeah what about all that dancing, eh. Yeah I enjoy dancing, doesn't everybody?" he said.
    Joe Wright has structured the film with the use of a theatre, partly influenced by historian Orlando Figes's book Natasha's Dance, which draws upon the idea that Russian's lived as if taking part in a stage performance.
    Wright said he had wanted to make a film in that way for some time.
    "It felt like a terrible risk and really frightening. Every morning was terrifying," he said.
    Some of the film's other stars were in London's Leicester Square, including Matthew McFadyen, who plays Anna Karenina's brother, Prince Stepan Oblonsky, and Swedish actress, Alicia Vikander who plays Oblonsky's sister in-law.
    Anna Karenina is released in UK cinemas on Friday (September 7).
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