Keira Knightley - Keira Knightley 'Frightened' By Unlikable Role

Keira Knightley 'Frightened' By Unlikable Role

Keira Knightley found it ''frightening'' to play an unlikeable character.

The Oscar-nominated actress plays the titular role in JOE WRIGHT's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' - about a woman who cheats on her husband in pre-revolutionary Russia - and she admits it was not easy to sign up to such a role.

She told BANG Showbiz: ''I think it was all a big challenge and that made it more exciting. But I think there is that tightrope walk when you decide not to play a character who is entirely sympathetic.

''It's always frightening, to think you're going to lose an audience. There was a desperation to make sure they understand. There was a constant discussion.''

However, Joe was confident Keira - who stars alongside Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson - would be fine regardless.

He said: ''A lot of actors want to be loved by the audience and therefore they only play loveable characters because they perhaps underestimate an audience and think they can't tell the difference. One of the things I admire about Keira is that she wasn't afraid of that and to engage the audience.''