According to Keira Knightley, she doesn’t “have an absolute ban” on shooting nude scenes, but she’s not comfortable doing so with male directors.
During an appearance on the Chanel Connects podcast, the actress said “It’s partly vanity and also it’s the male gaze” for why she doesn’t want to shoot such scenes under the direction of a man.
Knightley talked to “The Farewell” filmmaker Lulu Wang and writer-producer Diane Solway about Knightley’s decision to add a no nudity clause to her contract since she became a mother.
“If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body acceptance, I feel like, I’m sorry, but that would have to be with a female filmmaker,” she said.
The “Misbehaviour” star added “I don’t want it to be those horrible sex scenes where you’re all greased up and everybody is grunting. I’m not interested in doing that.”
“Saying that, there’s times where I go, ‘Yeah, I completely see where this sex would be really good in this film and you basically just need somebody to look hot,’” Knightley said. “So therefore you can use somebody else because I’m too vain and the body has had two children now and I’d just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked.”
Knightley welcomed daughter Edie in 2015 and daughter Delilah in 2019 with husband, musician James Righton.