'Begin Again' Director Slams Keira Knightley: 'Keira's Thing Is to Hide Who You Are'

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"Begin Again" Director Slams Keira Knightley: "Keira"s Thing Is to Hide Who You Are"

Photo: Getty Images

Looks like these two need to Begin Again! Director John Carney is not the biggest Keira Knightley fan. The Irish director, who is also known for his work on 2007’s Once, slammed the British star in The Independent, when talking about her work on his film Begin Again.

In the 2013 indie flick, which also starred Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine and James Corden, Knightley played the reluctant singer-songwriter Gretta.

WATCH: Keira Knightley’s Broadway Debut Disrupted by Screaming Fan

“I didn’t enjoy that experience of paparazzi and fabulous openings,” Carney told The Independent. “The movie star world is not something that ever appealed to me. I like working with actors and I wanted to come back to what I knew and enjoy film-making again – not that I didn’t enjoy Begin Again, but Keira has an entourage that follow her everywhere so it’s very hard to get any real work done.”

Carney also attacked Knightley’s abilities as a musician saying, “The real problem was that Keira wasn’t a singer and wasn’t a guitar player and it’s very hard to make music seem real if it’s not with musicians.”

Photo: Getty Images

The actress, who is married to rocker James Righton, previously admitted on The Graham Norton Show that her husband helped her learn to play the guitar for the role.

“My husband tried to teach me guitar for the role, which nearly ended in divorce and murder,” she joked, adding of her voice, “I like singing if I’m in my own in the shower or if I am really drunk, but I’m not a big fan of singing in front of people, which I didn’t realize until I said yes to the movie and found myself singing in front of rather a lot of people.”

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In his damning interview, Carney vowed to “never make a film with supermodels again,” and added that, “Keira’s thing is to hide who you are and I don’t think you can be an actor and do that. And working with the kids on this film and real instruments there was no hiding going on.”

On the flip side, Carney had nothing but nice words for Knightley’s co-stars.

“Mark Ruffalo is a fantastic actor, and Adam Levine is a joy to work with and actually quite unpretentious and not a bit scared of exposing himself on camera and exploring who he is as an individual,” he said.

He concluded his rant against Knightley saying, “I don’t want to rubbish Keira, but you know it’s hard being a film actor and it requires a certain level of honesty and self-analysis that I don’t think she’s ready for yet and I certainly don’t think she was ready for on that film.”

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"Begin Again" Director Slams Keira Knightley: "Keira"s Thing Is to Hide Who You Are"