The Duchess

April 25th
The Duchess will premiere on UK TV on Monday, when it starts on Sky Box Office multiplay. Meanwhile, Pride & Prejudice will be on ITV3 this week, Love Actually on ITV2, Atonement and Pirates AWE on Sky Movies and Pirates CBP on Disney CineMagic.

April 6th
Some of The Duchess' Oscar-winning costumes are on display at Chiswick House in London, a one-time residence of Georgiana herself. Article.

February 23rd
The Duchess became an Oscar-winning movie last night as Michael O'Connor topped his run of Best Costume Design wins with an Academy Award. He thanked Keira, calling her "one classy lady". He also pays tribute to Keira in this interview from the BAFTAs.

February 10th
The BAFTA-winning Duchess costumes will be among items from the film and Georgiana's life on show at Chatsworth House - one of its filming locations - from March 11th. Article - Press release (pdf).

February 8th
The Duchess deservedly won Best Costume Design at tonight's BAFTAs. Well done Michael O'Connor.

January 22nd
The Duchess has received two Academy Award nominations: Art Direction (Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway); Costume Design (Michael O'Connor)

January 19th
As well as his BAFTA nod for Costume Design on The Duchess, Michael O'Connor has also been nominated in the Period Film category at the Costume Design Guild Awards. Article.

January 15th
The Duchess has received two nominations at the BAFTAs: Costume Design - Michael O'Connor; Make-Up & Hair - Daniel Phillips, Jan Archibald. Full list

January 8th 2009
Keira has made the longlist for Best Actress at the BAFTAs, one of nine placements for The Duchess. The final nominations - the shortlist - will be announced next Thursday 15th.
 

December 21st
The LA Times' Scott Feinberg laments Keira's so-far no-show in the 2008 award stakes. Article.

The Duchess has now closed in US cinemas, amassing $13.8m, plus another $20.2m worldwide, with some big markets such as Italy and The Netherlands still to open in the next few weeks.

December 11th
The Golden Globe nominations today turned up only one nomination for Keira-related films: Best Supporting Actor for Ralph Fiennes for The Duchess. Better luck with the BAFTA noms, out on January 15th.

November 30th
Keira attended the BIFAs in London tonight, but lost out to Vera Farmiga for Best Actress. The Duchess did not win in its other three nominated categories (Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Costume). Winners - Pics & more pics

November 18th
Amazon UK has a Duchess DVD release date of March 16th next year, however Amazon US is listing the DVD and Blu-Ray for a December 27th release. Extras details here.

November 16th
Here's an Emiri interview with Keira ahead of The Duchess release there.

November 14th
The Duchess has now topped $13m in the US, and $17m worldwide, including nearly $12m from the UK. It continues to open around the world, with South America this weekend, Italy at Christmas, then Singapore, Germany, Finland and Belgium in the New Year.

A couple of articles this week on the 'maturing' of roles of Hollywood's starlets: Variety - LA Times
And a 'BAFTA potential' run-down article, with Keira and Duchess mentions. BAFTA noms are out on January 15th, a week before the Oscar noms. Golden Globes noms are out first, on December 11th.

November 10th
Voting is now open for this year's People's Choice Awards. Keira is up against Angelina Jolie and Reece Witherspoon for Favorite Female Movie Star, and The Duchess is up for Favorite Indie Movie. Vote now.

November 18th
Amazon UK has a Duchess DVD release date of March 16th next year, however Amazon US is listing the DVD and Blu-Ray for a December 27th release. Extras details here.

November 16th
Here's an Emiri interview with Keira ahead of The Duchess release there.

November 14th
The Duchess has now topped $13m in the US, and $17m worldwide, including nearly $12m from the UK. It continues to open around the world, with South America this weekend, Italy at Christmas, then Singapore, Germany, Finland and Belgium in the New Year.

A couple of articles this week on the 'maturing' of roles of Hollywood's starlets: Variety - LA Times
And a 'BAFTA potential' run-down article, with Keira and Duchess mentions. BAFTA noms are out on January 15th, a week before the Oscar noms. Golden Globes noms are out first, on December 11th.

November 10th
Voting is now open for this year's People's Choice Awards. Keira is up against Angelina Jolie and Reece Witherspoon for Favorite Female Movie Star, and The Duchess is up for Favorite Indie Movie. Vote now.

October 28th
Keira has received a Best Actress nomination at the BIFAs, the British Independent Film Awards, one of four for The Duchess. The ceremony will take place on November 30th in London. Keira received the Variety Personality Of The Year award at the 2005 BIFAs, donating the $10,000 prize to Comic Relief.
- Best Actress - Keira Knightley
- Best Supporting Actor - Ralph Fiennes
- Best Supporting Actress - Hayley Attwell
- Best Technical Achievement - Michael O'Connor (Costume)
- Full list

October 27th
A collection of praise for Keira's role in The Duchess is now online.

The Duchess took another $1.2m at the US box office, taking its US toll to $11.2m, and over $26m worldwide.

October 15th
The Duchess expanded to 1,207 cinemas in the US at the weekend, resulting in a further $3.3m. The movie is now No.9 at the US box office and has taken over $6m total. The latest worldwide tally is now $16.5m.

Following an enquiry by a regular KeiraWeb contributor today I can confirm that Keira will NOT be attending the Rome Film Festival, quite possibly because it clashes with filming of the above.

October 8th
New Zealand's 3News has a video profile and interview with Keira.

October 7th
The Duchess has amassed another impressive debut, this time at the Australian box office, taking A$1.1m on just 190 screens, that's A$5,800 per screen. In the US, the film added another $894,000 on 127 screens for a new total of $1.95m at No.20 (that's $7,039 per screen, this week's second highest average in the Top 20). The UK tally is now £6.36m and is still at No.13 in its fifth week of release.

October 3rd
Here's the original, full-size one-sheet for The Duchess (3.5Mb), courtesy of the distributors Paramount Vantage.

October 1st
The official programme for the Rome Film Festival confirms The Duchess in competition. Media is convinced Keira will be there, and even Variety says the film will see "Keira Knightley in tow", so she may well be Italy-bound come October 22nd.

Duchess box office update. Now at No.8 in the UK, taking £5.7m in its fourth week. In the US, it has expanded to 55 screens in its second week, with a total of $830,000.

September 26th
Keira speaks to news.com in Australia. Listen here.

September 25th
Keira will be interviewed on Australia's Channel 9 show 60 Minutes this Sunday. It should appear online soon after. The Duchess opens October 2nd in Australia.
Thanks Jake, Harriet, Natalie

Despite the continued strong box office performance of Mamma Mia! and a new entry from Tropic Thunder, The Duchess has stayed at No.5 in the UK in its third week, with a total box office now of £4.8m.

September 23rd
Keira's interview for CBS' The Early Show is now online.
Thanks Jaimie

September 21st
The Duchess has opened strongly in the US. Although showing on just seven screens, it has taken $202,527, an impressive $28,932 per screen. It opens wider next Friday.

Several interviews in the North American press this weekend:
Newsweek - Boston Herald - Toronto Globe - CelebrityCafe - LA Times
And a refreshingly intelligent video interview from Charlie Rose.

September 18th
Here's the diary of one of Keira's body-doubles on The Duchess, plus a video interview with Keira later on.

September 17th
Premiere Magazine has an interview with Keira and The Duchess cast and crew.
Thanks Jenni at Premiere

Here is an in-depth audio interview with The Duchess director Saul Dibb conducted by Jim Rohner of Zoom-In.com
Thanks Jim Rohner

And another interview at ReelzChannel.

September 15th
Paramount Vantage have confirmed that after this Friday's release of The Duchess in North America, it will expand to more screens on the 26th and again on October 3rd.

September 13th
Sky Movies had a nice Keira-focussed profile of The Duchess. Keira edit: 25Mb

September 12th
Viewers in Europe can see Keira's chat to Conan O'Brien on CNBC Europe, Saturday night at 8.45pm (Sky 505 in the UK).

The Duchess press conference at TIFF can be seen here. Warning: It's over 30mins long and not terribly interesting!
Thanks Andrea

September 11th
The Duchess has debuted at No.1 after its first full week in the UK, taking £2.29m, overtaking RocknRolla which topped the 3-day weekend chart. By contrast, Atonement debuted at No.2 with £1.63m on the same number of screens and in the same calendar week.
Thanks Harriet

Keira attended the US premiere of The Duchess last night at The Public Theater in New York. Pics and pics.

Tuesday's Duchess Fashion Week party was cancelled, but she did attend the Rodarte 2009 Spring Collection launch party.

September 10th
E! News' Ben Lyons spoke to Keira at TIFF.

September 9th
Some US TV promotions -
David Letterman: Online | Download (21MB flv)
Today Show: Online | Download (17Mb flv)
AMC The Shootout 1: Online | Download (25Mb flv)
AMC The Shootout 2: Online | Download (25Mb flv)

The Duchess will get a French premiere at the Dinard Festival Of British Film, which runs October 2nd to 5th. Article.

The Duchess has debuted at No.3 in the UK Box Office, taking £1,402,200 on 426 screens since Friday. Article.

September 8th
Better late than never, but a North American distribution deal was announced at TIFF today for The Edge Of Love, with a release planned before March '09.                            Thanks Harriet

- Keira attended the TIFF premiere of The Duchess last night. Pics, pics and more pics.
- And a portrait set from TIFF can be seen here, here and here .
- Some great shots from the press conference here and here, with a different set here, here and here.
- Ed.: Is it just me, or do some of the most wonderful images of Keira come from press calls, and not from magazine shoots lately ? I wonder why that is ? Perhaps Annie and Mario should go back to basics and just photograph people instead of creating megabucks movie-style scenarios to shoot them in. The latter may be responsible for the mags clearly not translating into news-stand sales recently, or positive criticism.

September 7th
Keira has arrived in Toronto for the TIFF premiere of The Duchess. She attended a press conference with cast and director earlier today.

September 5th
Keira was interviewed on my local news this evening, as Duchess locations Chatsworth House and Kedleston Hall are in the region. Some new behind the scenes footage included: 17Mb

September 4th
Here are some vids from the London premiere - including copies of mine already! And more on the dress & designer.

Another interview at Sky and EntertainmentWise.

September 3rd
Keira has attended the UK premiere of The Duchess in London's Leicester Square. She wore a blue strapless dress by Alexis Mabille.
- UK premiere & pics: Daily Mail - BBC - KKFan - SweetKeira - SP
- UK premiere TV coverage: BBC (18Mb) - ITV London (22Mb)
- Were you at the prem tonight? Upload your movies to Sendspace.com for free and send me the links which will appear here! Same goes for those of you attending Toronto or NYC prems next week.

Today's breakfast show interview: GMTV
Radio 1: Sara Cox - Radio 5: Simon Mayo - Radio 4: Woman's Hour
Thanks Jeb, Karen, Amy

September 2nd
ITN have a number of Duchess cast interviews.
Look out for a TimeOut London interview re: these pics.

September 1st
Two UK TV news interviews: Channel 4 - ITN
Reviews: Reuters - DS
Interview: PopSugar - FemaleFirst
Articles: ITN - PA

August 31st
Keira gave this interview to the Canadian press ahead of Toronto, and gave as good as she got to this Guardian journalist. Another article in the Daily Mail too. The marketing is certainly shaping up the way P&P and Atonement did. Scotland On Sunday have it as their film of the week.

Some UK promos:
GMTV, ITV1, Wed. 3rd (Keira's in the studio)
ITV At The Movies, ITV2, Fri 5th at 12.30pm & Sat 6th at 4pm (feature)
Film Programme, Radio 4, Fri 5th, 4.30pm (Fiennes interview)
Also keep an eye on the usual news programmes on 4, five, Sky etc.

The Keira-featured Duchess book and soundtrack tie-ins are available now or soon (the US and UK book covers have different images). See the links on the right. Oh, and do feel free to buy, of course!

August 26th
So it would appear the 'controversy' of the Princess Diana parallels is going to be the Big Sell for The Duchess. It's all over the press that Keira has slammed the move by the marketing people, which of course she's done no such thing, merely commenting that she was aware of Georgiana's distant ancestry to Diana but that she didn't know they'd make such a fuss about it (quite probably the marketers' intention anyway). Ah well, all publicity's good publicity - I'm sure I've said that before at promo time.

Don't forget it's Duchess Premiere Wednesdays for the next two weeks: London Leicester Square on the 3rd , New York Plaza on the 10th, with Toronto TIFF inbetween on the 7th. Italy will see the movie out on December 23rd, and the Australian release has been pulled forward to October 2nd (see under the pic for known dates so far).
Thanks Amy

August 20th
The Duchess news round-up:
- The Duchess will form part of the Rome Film Festival, and Variety reports Keira is expected to attend.
- Channel 4 News had a report this evening on the film, and the marketers' decision to draw parallels with Diana. Keira is interviewed. Daily Mail's take on the story here.
- TimeOut has an interview with directorSaul Dibb, as does The Independent.
- US/Canada competition to win a Duchess trip to England and visit Chatsworth.
- Tourism tie-in articles: Kedleston Hall -  Clandon Park - Derby Cathedral.

August 16th
Althorp House, childhood home of Princess Diana and now her burial place, is to host a Georgiana Weekend in September, to tie in with the release of The Duchess. More details.

Two major Duchess features in today's British press: Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, the latter with links to two photo galleries.

The Duchess will get a New York premiere on September 10th, with Keira in attendance.

Paramount Vantage will hold a Duchess Party at The Plaza in New York on September 9th, to coincide with New York Fashion Week (as Georgiana was the setter of trends and styles among her followers, which is the general purpose of fashion shows I guess). Article.

August 10th
BoxOfficeProphets foresees a bright future for The Duchess.

August 4th
The UK official site for The Duchess is now online, and very nice it looks too.

August 1st
A new Duchess making-of video is online, with a short chat with Keira. It's the first in-costume interview she's done since King Arthur I think.

July 28th
Keira is apparently preventing studio bosses from "doing a King Arthur" on her cleavage, on the publicity shots for The Duchess. You'll remember they enhanced Guinevere's bustline for the posters. Article.

July 23rd
The Duchess will get its UK premiere at The Odeon in Leicester Square, London on Wednesday September 3rd.
A new trailer has also appeared - watch it here.

July 21st
Keira's Duchess co-star Hayley Atwell reveals in an interview that Keira had a wig-rest on set to take the weight off her neck from her high wig!

July 15th
ComingSoon have a one-sheet for The Duchess.

July 10th
The Duchess has been confirmed for its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Keira should be in attendance. Article.

July 6th
Keira will be on and in September's US Vogue, according to this feature on Mario Testino. The mag will be out in August, to coincide with The Duchess promotions.

June 25th
The Sun have an article on The Duchess - from their usual newsworthy angle.

June 13th
The Daily Mail's one decent columnist, Baz Bamigboye, has more good things to say about Keira's Duchess.

June 11th
Here's the artwork for The Duchess.
Thanks Mike

June 9th
A second trailer for The Duchess is now available.

June 4th
The UK Duchess site is online-ish. The tagline "There Are Three People In Her Marriage" clearly alludes to Princess Diana's identical comments during a 1995 BBC interview, when referring to Charles' extra-marital relationship with Camilla. Georgiana is a distant relative of Diana's family, the Spencers, so it's no coincidence.

May 27th
Australian fans will have to wait another seven weeks for The Duchess. Release date has gone from November 6th to December 26th.
Thanks Amy

May 22nd
The Hollywood Reporter hints at Keira's return to the Venice Film Festival in August to promote The Duchess.

May 18th
As predicted, the UK release of The Duchess has been pushed back a week to September 5th. US release is now being listed (IMDB, BOMojo) as the week after, September 12th.

May 10th
Although The Edge Of Love is released first, it's the official web site for The Duchess that's gone online first.
Thanks Mike

May 3rd
The Sunday Times has The Duchess among its top picks for the summer.

April 7th
The Edge of Love will be out in UK cinemas on June 20th. The release calendar now looks like this (subject to change):
The Edge Of Love - June 20th (UK)
The Duchess - August 29th (UK); Sept 12th (US limited): Nov 6th (Australia); Nov 19th (Belgium, France); Dec 11th (Netherlands).

April 5th
Variety reports The Duchess will get a limited US release from September 12th.

March 28th
Both The Duchess and Edge Of Love are muted as Cannes possibles for this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

And here's an in-depth article on the Dukes of Devonshire, of whom the current title-holder still lives at Chatsworth House, used in the film and in P&P.

March 27th
- The Duchess co-producers Pathe have a section on the movie in their web site's Coming Soon section.
- Fellow co-producers BBC Films have a page here.
- And there's a page on the costumes here.
- I was fortunate enough to read the script of The Duchess today. Having not read Amanda Foreman's biography I can't say how much of the screenplay is based on it, but blimey it's saucy ! No wonder it's not getting a summer release - it's far too much a sizzler for that time of year :) But seriously, it's a brilliant role for Keira. She's a girl ahead of her time, with opinions and attitudes 'unbecoming' for the age. Happiness and sadness enter her life in equal measure but there are certain parallels with modern celebrity culture, Keira included, from which you can't help but conclude that Georgiana was indeed the first true 'celebrity'. As with P&P, Keira is in nearly every scene, and there were comparisons, IMO, with Keira's Lara in Doctor Zhivago (still my favourite Keira role to date), so I can't wait to see the finished product.

March 8th
UK release of The Duchess is pencilled in for August 29th. With a likely shuffle to early September this will place it in the same week as the release of Atonement and Pride & Prejudice, raising the likelihood of a November US release in time for Oscar voting.

February 25th
The Telegraph has an article on the upcoming movies all featuring historical female figures from Britain's past. The mention of the 'Sapphic' storyline between Bess and Keira's character Georgiana in The Duchess has not entirely been omitted, according to my 'insider' who has read the script !

February 23rd
BAFTA have a number of video interviews with The Duchess crew, featuring behind the scenes footage galore. Watch.

BBC Films have a page for The Duchess, as it's a co-production of the BBC's film-making company. Looks like being a September release at the moment.

February 21st
Ralph Fiennes talks about The Duchess in this article.

February 9th
Keira gave a birthday surprise to a young co-star on the set of The Duchess. Bless.

January 6th
The Duchess is already on the Oscar buzz list for 2009. Article.

December 27th
The first teaser for The Duchess is online here (or if you have access problems as I did, it's on YouTube here).
Thanks Harriet

November 23rd
The Daily Mail have got their 'Keira fan' head on again today, with an interview from the set of The Duchess, and some new pics. They'll now need to slag her off within the week, just to balance it out.

November 16th
There's some new Duchess pap snaps here.
Thanks Jules

October 20th
On Wednesday of this week the Daily Mail reported on Keira's swearing outburst as she fluffed her lines during filming on The Duchess. Hardly newsworthy, but it gave them a hook to print more pap snaps. Now, however, we have the video of it too. A new nightmare for the film companies - paparazzi video - but a new format for fans to see a film in the making before the promotional making-of films hit the TV prior to release.
Thanks Harriet, Douglas

October 18th
Some more pap snaps from the set of The Duchess have appeared here and here.

October 1st
Hundreds of extras are required for The Duchess. A casting call to star alongside Keira takes place on Saturday. Article.

September 25th
KKDaily has more pics from the set of The Duchess.
Thanks Fliss

September 24th
The split personality that is The Daily Mail today has the first filming photos from The Duchess, then slags Keira off about her comments in the current Allure magazine.
Thanks Harriet, Renate

September 15th
The Daily Mail, when it's not slagging her off, sometimes has useful info on Keira's projects. This 'Watch out for...' article says The Duchess starts principal photography on Monday, with Keira due on set for nearly all the scenes. The City of Bath is among external locations.
Thanks Tamise

August 24th
The Daily Mail has the news today that Ralph Fiennes and Hayley Atwell will be Keira's co-stars in The Duchess.

July 27th
NEW MOVIE !!!!
Keira has signed to play the lead role in The Duchess, a biopic of the Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Georgiana Spencer, based on the award-winning book by Amanda Foreman. Filming will start in October, directed by Saul Dibbs. Article.
More on the woman and book: Wikipedia - Book reviews.
Thanks Amo, Caladonia and others