Keira Knightley says she felt 'constrained' and 'stuck' by her 'Pirates of the Caribbean' character being 'the object of everybody's lust'

• Keira Knightley said that her "Pirates of the Caribbean" character was "the object of everybody's lust."
• The actor said she felt "very constrained" and "very stuck" during that period of her career.
• "The roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that," Knightley said. 

Keira Knightley reflected on her part as Elizabeth Swann in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise and said that she tried to avoid being cast in similar roles afterward. 

"She was the object of everybody's lust," Knightley said of her "'Pirates" character in a cover story for the April issue of Harper's Bazaar UK released on Tuesday. "Not that she doesn't have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting coming from being really tomboyish to getting projected as quite the opposite."

"I felt very constrained," she continued. "I felt very stuck. So the roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that."

Knightley first portrayed Elizabeth, the daughter of the governor and the love interest of Orlando Bloom's Will Turner, in the 2003 film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

She reprised the role in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (2007), and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" (2017).

Prior to her involvement in the franchise, she starred as the daughter of Robin Hood in the TV movie "Princess of Thieves" and played a soccer player in "Bend It Like Beckham."

Between installments of the "Pirates" films, she also took on roles in period-piece films like "Pride & Prejudice," (which earned her an Oscar nomination), "Atonement," and "Anna Karenina."

Knightley told Bazaar UK that she felt trapped and "quite powerless" in her career between 2003 and 2008.

"I didn't have a sense of how to articulate it," she said. "It very much felt like I was caged in a thing I didn't understand."

Knightley admitted that she was "incredibly hard on" herself and ambitious to her own detriment, which resulted in experiencing burnout. 

In the years after 2009, the actor pursued theater roles in London and New York City, starting in productions of "The Misanthrope," "The Children's Hour," and "Thérèse Raquin."

On the film side, she appeared in the rom-com "Begin Again," the action movie "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," and the drama "The Imitation Game."

In her most recent role, Knightley plays reporter Loretta McLaughlin in "Boston Stranger," based on the real-life series of murders. The film will be released on Hulu on March 17.