This weekend, Begin Again and Song Street director John Carney made the mistake of discussing his true feelings about Keira Knightley in an interview with the Independent. Carney said of Knightley:
“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.”
He added, “I’ll never make a film with supermodels again.” Throughout this week, other directors, such as Evan Cabnet, Lynn Shelton, and Mark Romanek, have been defending Knightley on social media. Now, Carney and his publicist must have realized that he was ruining his reputation and so must come out as publicly apologetic — on Twitter, of course.
Carney wrote, “I said a number of things about Keira which were petty, mean, and hurtful. I’m ashamed of myself that I could say such things and I’ve been trying to account for what they say about me. In trying to pick holes in my own work, I ended up blaming someone else.” He also claims to have personally apologized to her.
You can read the full note below. And did you hear? Carney’s newest film, Sing Street , is out now!