Keira Knightley Loved Playing Anna Karenina, a Character You Might "Hate"

Keira Knightley donned a floor-length Valentino number to premiere Anna Karenina in a blustery Big Apple last night. She was accompanied by her director, Joe Wright, and costars Alicia Vikander and Domhnall Gleeson for the stateside screening of the much-anticipated adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel. Keira and Joe are close after working together previously on Atonement and Pride and Prejudice. Joe spoke to us about collaborating with Keira for a third time, saying, "We both went on our journeys and I found, when I saw her again, that she had been through some stuff, been through some dark stuff, and she had become even stronger and more powerful."

The NYC screening of the film came for Keira after a UK world premiere and a stop at the Toronto International Film Festival, where she and costar Jude Law hit the red carpet together. At last night's premiere, we caught up with Keira at NYC's Florence Gould Hall. She spoke about her favorite part of shooting the film, what attracted her to the role of Anna, and her exciting upcoming projects. Here's more from Keira:

• On her favorite part of shooting the film: "The whole characterization and trying to figure out what made this person tick, which is always my favorite part of any job, particularly when you're dealing with someone strange and complex. It's always interesting to try to fit the pieces together."
• What attracted her to the role of Anna: "You would be drawn to play her because she doesn't adapt ' you don't totally fall in love with her; you don't totally like her. You also hate her. You also think that sometimes she is ridiculous, but you always kind of understand her. I thought that was an extraordinary group of things, and that it was very true to life. I think most of us are like that most of the time."
• On her "fun" upcoming projects: "I realized at the end of Anna Karenina that I had been doing films for the last five years where I died in pretty much all of them or there was something horrible that happened. I wanted to spend this year doing lighter fare. So, Can a Song Save Your Life? is entirely about friendship, and making an album, and hope. I thought that was quite a nice thing to do at the end of a period of films that had been very dark. Then, I am doing a Hollywood thriller that is not necessarily about hope, but it's a Hollywood thriller ' so it's fun!"