While Keira Knightley is conquering Hollywood, her father Will is more at home on the stage. Rin Simpson finds out about the actor’s latest project

WITH an award-winning playwright for a wife, a Hollywood star as a daughter and a son who works for the BBC, actor Will Knightley has the perfect showbiz family.

But when the 61-year-old started his career in the ‘60s he was a pioneer, with no family connections in the industry and nothing but his talent to get him ahead.

“I was an adolescent with my head in the clouds and it was just something I wanted to do,” he says.

“I had my heart set on being a cross between Paul Newman and Laurence Olivier.”

The big screen was not his destiny, however, and, after studying at Central School of Speech and Drama, Knightley found himself on the stage, where his career took off.

Since then, he has appeared in notable TV series, including Midsomer Murders, Rosemary & Thyme and The Bill, but the stage has remained his true home.

“Life’s peculiar like that. I became an actor because I wanted to be in the movies, I had never been to the theatre,” he says.

“Then I started to make a career in the theatre and I have to say in some way it’s more satisfying for an actor on the stage.”

Hollywood has played a part in his life, however, though not in the way he expected. When he visited a film set for the first time it was to watch his then 17-year-old daughter Keira in her big break, playing Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

“It was more than bizarre, it was the most extraordinarily rocky ride,” he admits.

“What happened to Keira is almost unprecedented, it just happened so quickly. It was difficult for the whole family to quite get their heads around it, what was going on.

“Hollywood is a difficult place to go at any age but at 17, especially with Pirates and being almost the only girl on set, it was obviously very hard.
“She wasn’t by herself, someone was with her – usually my wife (the screenwriter Sharman Macdonald) – and I paid her flying visits. It was a bit daunting not having been on a film set before, it was like visiting a private army, it was so massive.”

Pirates made Keira, now 22, a star, but for many, the path to the big time is fraught with disappointments and more hard work than some people can handle, a fact that Knightley never hid from his daughter.

“I think every actor tries to put their child off going into the theatre, saying, ‘It’s far too tough, don’t do it’,” he says.

“It does seem a very attractive business when you’re a child, you don’t realise the hardship involved in it. You need to be driven because that keeps you going, especially through the hard times.

“I’ve been through everything that every actor ever does. You go through great spells of work where everything falls into your lap and then it all stops and you think it will start again and it doesn’t.”

Today, however, that isn’t a problem. Knightley is currently touring with the Out of Joint theatre company, with the latest play from young writer David Watson – who at 22 is the same age as his daughter – called Flight Path.

The story follows the life of 18-year-old Jonathan. His father’s just left home, his mother has a busy career, and Jonathan finds himself torn between alternative worlds – studying and looking after his brother who has Down’s syndrome; and helping his mate out with a spot of burglary.

“It’s about a family break- up,” says Knightley. “There seem to be quite a lot of new plays about on this theme.

“Although I’ve heard David speak about it and the idea of break-up wasn’t the idea that first came into his head. It was the character of Jonathan, coming to terms with everything we have to come to terms with.
“It’s a coming-of-age story about people finding their paths in life and in this case of course it’s set in a broken home. It sounds grim but it’s actually very funny. My character is the absent part really, he’s the father who’s not there. He’s someone who tends to offload responsibility, it’s all very recognisable. There’s no baddies in the piece, life is what it is.”

For Knightley, life is the stage and not the big screen. So is he disappointed that his dream of being the next Paul Newman has not panned out? Is there, dare I ask, any jealousy of his daughter’s success?

“The stage is an actor’s space,” he says. “The movie side is not like that, you’re waiting around for hours and hours and hours and you’re constantly at the demand of other people, lighting people, cameramen.

“Yes, there’s enormous amounts of fame and money, but in terms of what an actor’s space is, the theatre is the place that belongs to the actor and that’s it.
“So do I have any jealousy? No. Am I delighted about what’s happened to Keira? Yes, absolutely.

“I would love for her to do something in the theatre but she’s having such a good time making film I don’t imagine that would be any time soon.”

Flight Path will be at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff from October 18 to 20. For further information or tickets call 029 2064 6900 or visit www. shermantheatre.co.uk

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