Keira Knightley: 'I Hate Anna Karenina'

Keira Knightley may have been all smiles on the red carpet for her new movie 'Anna Karenina' tonight (September 4), but it's not always been that way, as she's admitted in the past that she has at times hated her character.

Last month when speaking to The Daily Mail: “I wanted to shake her and tell her to pull herself together. There were times when I thought, I really hate this person.”

Well, that's not very nice Keira, but it does fit in with the story, where Anna's inability to achieve happiness, despite all the advantages available to her, can make her a frustrating heroine.

Knightley summed up the feelings of many towards the character when she added: "You completely see where she’s coming from, but you want to choke her at the same time because at no point can she see what is right in front of her.”

Keira Knightly as Anna Karenina (Photo: Warner Bros)

However, despite the actress not being a huge fan of Anna, director Joe Wright had nothing but nice words for Keira, telling the Telegraph "She's grown up. I saw that she'd been through some stuff and had life experience that I hadn't seen her work with on screen before."

So while she may want to choke her, Anna has apparently improved Knightley's range as an actress, and been the subject of one of history's greatest novels, as well as a pretty good film.

PHOTOS: The world premiere of 'Anna Karenina' in London

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