From itn.co.uk:

Keira Knightley has complained that people will not appreciate her films fully if they know too much about her private life.

She said: “No actor particularly likes talking about their private life, I think partly it ruins that magic of the films.
“No actor particularly likes talking about their private life, I think partly it ruins that magic of the films” - Keira Knightley

People that go and see it should get completely lost and believe that these people are real and I think it helps not to know anything about the background of the person.”

Her new film The Duchess, a lavish melodrama of aristocratic foolishness and betrayal is designed around the colourful life of an 18th century socialite, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

A feminist before the word was invented, Georgiana established a salon devoted to the artists and politicos of her day and even campaigned for Whig party candidates despite not having the vote herself.

From channel4.com:

Stephanie West talked to Keira Knightly about her new film, The Duchess, in which she plays Georgiana Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana.

Keira Knightley spoke of the “extraordinary character” of The Duchess, describing her as “a woman who is incredibly intelligent and loving of life and an idealist at the beginning of the film.”

“She’s someone who tries to grab happiness with both hands, and every single time sort of gets ripped away from it,” she says.

From Popsugar:

Recently I had the amazing opportunity to meet the stars of The Duchess and hear all about the role sex plays in the movie, from the practicalities of filming sex scenes to the sexual politics of the period. Here’s an excerpt of the Q+A with Keira Knightley (who plays the eponymous Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire), Dominic Cooper (who plays her extra-marital love interest, Earl Grey) and Hayley Atwell (who plays the third person in Georgiana’s marriage, Bess Foster). Come back to PopSugar UK later in the week to see what else the gang had to say about the film, including the Diana connection. I’ll also bring you my review before the film’s release on 5 September.

What was it like to get in to the costumes?

KK — We had to be sewn in to some of them, which they would have actually been, sewn in and cut out.
DC — Which is very difficult in a moment of passion to undo at a rapid pace without looking ridiculous [laughter] Sorry!
KK — I can’t add anything after that!

Read full article.

Thanks to the lovely chrs-vg from Red Curtain, for let us use her captures from Dr. Zhigavo, so I’ve added 2.652 of them in our gallery.
Also thanks to Amir, for giving me the tip to watch… I really loved this movie, Keira is AMAZING. If you have to opportunity to watch, do it. It is worthwhile ;)

New pictures:
Thanks to Celebutopia and Harriet, I’ve added more stills from ‘The Duchess’ in the gallery. There is also a new poster.

New videos:
Again, thanks to Harriet, I’ve added more two videos of interviews with Keira and the rest of the cast and crew.

Appearances:
Thanks to KeiraWeb.com, we know that Keira will be a guest of David Letterman on Monday September 8th AND Regis & Kelly on Tuesday 9th AND Conan O’Brien on Tuesday 9th.

Now is the time for ‘The Mirror‘ give a ‘The Duchess’ prize. Fan in the UK will have a chance to go in the world premiere on Sep 5 for free.

To celebrate the release of the highly anticipated absorbing historical drama The Duchess on September 5, Mirror.co.uk has joined forces with Pathe to give one lucky winner the chance to rub shoulders with the stars of the film at the exclusive world premiere of The Duchess on the September 3 2008.

…

For your chance of winning a pair of exclusive tickets to the star studded world premiere in London’s West End on September 3, simply answer the question here. Entires must be received by 12 noon Monday September 1 and include a daytime telephone number so the winner can be notified.

Now Magazine is giving away a ‘The Duchess’ prize to one lucky person!

To celebrate the release of the absorbing historical drama The Duchess on 5 September, we have joined forces with Pathé to give 1 lucky winner the chance to win an exclusive prize package including a signed poster and exclusive director?s chair used by Charlotte Rampling.

Based on the best-selling biography ?Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire? by Amanda Foreman, the film stars Keira Knightley as Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, who caused controversy in her extravagant political and personal lives. Like Princess Diana, her direct descendent, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire (Knightley) was beautiful, glamorous and adored by the public. But while her beauty and charisma made her a household name, one thing always seemed to escape her: love.

For your chance to win this amazing prize including the chair used by Charlotte Rampling on set, a copy of the book, a specially designed hand-held fan and signed poster, simply answer a question that you can find here.

From mtv.co.uk:

“The dresses are an absolute nightmare because you can’t breathe” revealed Keira Knightley, of her authentic 18th century costume. “But it kind of helps because if you’re feeling at all emotional then it makes it ten times worse as you can’t catch your breath, so that helps in playing the scene.” Miss Knightley continued: “The worst part is after lunch, because they’re so tight they don’t help digestion which meant that Hayley [Atwell, co-star] and I were there playing these very ladylike characters but belching all over the place!”

Like Princess Diana, her direct descendent, Keira’s character Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire is beautiful, glamorous and adored by the public.

It seems the fact that filmmakers use an image of Diana in the trailer and the words “history repeats itself” hasn’t gone down too well: “I didn’t think it was going to be made such a big deal of - perhaps stupidly” said Keira. “I really don’t know the Diana story well enough to know what the similarities are but I think Georgiana’s a fascinating character in her own right. It’s an interesting bit of trivia that they were distantly related, but for me it didn’t go any further than that.”

After finding herself stuck in a loveless marriage, Keira’s Duchess falls in love with with Charles Grey, later the Prime Minister, played by another young British actor Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia, History Boys). We asked Keira about shooting those steamy love scenes….

“I couldn’t stop laughing. He’s a very good looking guy but he’s standing there naked apart from a skin coloured nappy. It’s the most unsexy thing ever. The director even had to ask if I could be a little more supportive and I had to say no - he’s wearing a nappy!”

The Duchess is in cinemas across the UK on September 9th.