John Carney says he won't work with Keira Knightley again

Sing Street director has criticised Keira Knightley, saying that he wouldn’t like to work with her again.

While promoting his latest film, he told the Independent, “I’ll never make a film with supermodels again” after having worked with her on Begin Again. Knightley made a name for herself in movies, but has also appeared in ad campaigns and on the cover of major fashion magazines.

In Begin Again, Knightley played a songwriter dumped by her musician boyfriend, played by Adam Levine. Carney praised Levine and Mark Ruffalo, but had less fond memories of working with Knightley.

“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. “I think that that’s what you need as an actor; you need to not be afraid to find out who you really are when the camera’s rolling. Keira’s thing is to hide who you are and I don’t think you can be an actor and do that.”

Carney also said that Knightley’s entourage made it difficult to “get any real work done,” and stated a difference between working with “proper film actors” and “movie stars.”

“It’s not like I hate the Hollywood thing, but I like to work with curious, proper film actors as opposed to movie stars,” he explained. “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.”