Keira Knightley has described the fight sequences in the Netflix thriller Black Doves as the “joy of the series” and said it was important to get them right.
Knightley, 41, stars as Helen Webb, a mother, wife and professional spy who has been passing on her politician husband’s secrets for 10 years to the organisation she works for, the Black Doves. She returns alongside Ben Whishaw, who reprises his role as assassin Sam Young, for the second season, where her character faces higher stakes as her husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan) prepares to become the new UK prime minister at 10 Downing Street.
Knightley on the show's fight sequences
Speaking to the Press Association at the series launch event in central London, Knightley said: “I think it was important that the fight sequences are very much part of the series.
“The strangeness of the fight sequences and the fact that Helen Webb is being Mrs prime minister’s wife and then going off and murdering many people.
“I think that’s the joy of the series.”
Knightley shares the screen, including a fight sequence at the start of the show, with One Day star Ambika Mod, 31, who joined the series as Laila, an anarchic Black Doves agent sent to help Helen on a mission.
She added: “It was important to get that one right.
“I loved it when I read it, and it was very fun with Ambika trying to figure out how we managed to kill so many people without even getting our clothes or our hair out of place or any blood on our clothes or anything. It was amazing.
“I think that’s what’s fun about it.”
Series writer aims bigger in season two
Set in London, series writer Joe Barton said he wanted the second season to go “a lot bigger” than the first, with more explosions, action and interesting locations.
Wearing a collarless black Chanel jacket with red cufflinks and suit trousers, Knightley said exploring the complexity of these characters and the bizarre situations they find themselves in is part of what she loves most about the series.
She added: “I think for me the show is about these complex creatures and the fact that people can be many different people at once and many different versions of themselves.
“I think that’s true in life, hopefully, not in such an extreme way, but this is kind of taking that concept to the extreme and I think that’s what I like about it.”
Mod on joining the cast
Mod, who attended the launch event in a vibrant red sleeveless midi dress with matching heels, said the stunt-packed scenes were one of the reasons she wanted to join the series.
She said: “The stunt experience was my favourite bit.
“It’s the reason I wanted to do the show. I had never done anything like that before, the choreography, or the training, or the fighting.
“I was hooked, and it’s so satisfying when you do it, and then you watch it back and you see it all put together. Like, it’s really, it’s really, really exciting.”
One of the skills she picked up while shooting the series was “good gun etiquette”, including how to use guns properly.
Black Doves season two is out on Netflix from November 5.
