Keira Knightley reveals fans still ask about ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ sequel

Hollywood actress Keira Knightley has said that she gets asked about the sequel for the 2002 film “Bend It Like Beckham” directed by Gurinder Chadha. The 40-year-old actress was asked about the “Bend It Like Beckham” sequel announced earlier this year and she revealed that the original 2002 movie is the one fans ask her about the most. “I think it’s so amazing that a film that was made nearly 25 years ago, it’s still the one that if someone comes up to me, it’s about that film,” she told people.com.

Knightley added: “Particularly so many girls do play (soccer) now, and they want to come up and talk about it. So it’s amazing to be a part of something that has, kind of, legacy and that positivity around it.” As for the sequel, Chadha announced in July, the actress said that the news of a new chapter in the Bend It Like Beckham story is “exciting”.

“I saw that on telly,” Knightley said of the project. “So yes, I mean, how exciting.” Asked whether she’d reprise her role as Jules in the film, she added: “I mean, when I saw it on the telly I thought, ‘Oh, how lovely, I wonder what that will be?’ “

“Bend It Like Beckham” starred Knightley as Jules and Parminder Nagra as Jess, two women with a passion for soccer who end up on a team together and strike up a friendship. The feel-good film — an early aughts love letter to soccer — sees Jules fall for a coach while Jess sneaks around playing the game against her parents’ wishes.

While announcing the sequel, Chadha had said she is “excited to revisit the original characters and revive the enduring story and build on the legacy we helped to create for the women’s game.”

Knightley, Nagra and other original cast members are “aware that a sequel is being developed, but they obviously want to see a script before they commit,” the writer-director told the outlet, adding that she’s “pretty certain that everyone’s going to want to come back.”

“Everything hinges on the script and if the original cast likes it,” Chadha said. “I am working really hard to make sure every character I bring back has a decent arc and scenes.” In her latest role in Netflix’s “The Woman in Cabin 10,” an adaptation of Ruth Ware’s novel of the same name, Knightley stars as Laura “Lo” Blacklock, a journalist who witnesses a possible murder while on a luxury cruise. “While on board a luxury yacht for a travel assignment, a journalist witnesses a passenger thrown overboard late at night, only to be told that it didn’t happen, as all passengers and crew are accounted for. Despite no one believing her, she continues to look for answers, putting her own life in danger,” an official synopsis reads. The actress has been nominated for two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globes, and a Laurence Olivier Award.

Indo-Asian News Service