NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Analyse this: Keira Knightley takes to the couch

By Helen Barlow
NZ Herald·
13 Apr, 2012 05:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Keira Knightley in 'A Dangerous Method'. Photo / Supplied

Keira Knightley in 'A Dangerous Method'. Photo / Supplied

David Cronenberg's movies have long explored the dividing line between science and humanity, psychology and morality, rationality and instinct.

So with a film about the conflict between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung in the pioneering days of psychoanalysis set in pre-World War I Vienna, Cronenberg was in his element - even if his leading lady Keira Knightley was outside her comfort zone in a role Cronenberg had originally wanted to give to Julia Roberts.

A Dangerous Method is based on a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, which he had adapted from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure - which in turn was based on the 1993 non-fiction book by American psychologist John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method: The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.

In the often explicit movie, Knightley plays Spielrein, a Russian mental patient over whom the two fell out and who went on to excel in the field of child psychology. Its most talked-about scene is of Jung (Michael Fassbender) tying up Spielrein and beating her at her request.

But Knightley knew what she was getting herself in for - she's long been a fan of the work of Cronenberg, the often outlandish but cerebral director of Crash, Dead Ringers and the The Naked Lunch.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There's a psychological aspect in all of his films that I've seen, so when told he was making the story of Freud and Jung I thought it made complete sense," she says. "The film is also typical in the way that it's shocking."

Initially Knightley baulked at the risque scenes and thought she would have to turn the film down.

"When I first read it I loved the script and really wanted to play the character, but I didn't want to do those scenes. I phoned David Cronenberg and said I was going to have to turn the role down," she says. "He said he really wanted me to play the part, so he would take the scenes out but I said, 'whoa!' because I knew they were incredibly important to the story.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"He said he didn't want the scenes to be sexy or voyeuristic; he wanted them to be clinical and a complete exploration of what she was feeling. So we kind of came to an agreement ... I wanted it to be as shocking as possible without going over-the-top.

"I did actually say to Michael before one of the scenes - I was like, 'I've got a security guard outside. You touch me and he's gonna break your legs!' And he was like, 'Keira, you're tied to a bed. You're not really in a position to say that'. I said, 'I guess you're right'."

Both actors had "a couple of shots of vodka" before the scene and toasted their efforts after with a couple of glasses of champagne "as a celebration of never having to do that again".

The discomfort of playing Spielrein didn't stop there though. She had to portray the facial contortions of Spielrein's chronic fits.

Discover more

Entertainment

Dark times in teen cinema

06 Apr 05:30 PM
Opinion

Dominic Corry: The perils of adapting plays into films

12 Apr 07:43 PM
Entertainment

Movie Review: Blackthorn

13 Apr 05:30 PM
Entertainment

Movie Review: Arrietty

13 Apr 05:30 PM

"I think very often there is a trap when you play crazy, whatever that means, because as much as she knew that she was ill, there was also complete logic to the way she was thinking. So for me it was very important to find that logic and the reasons that she behaved the way she did when she was in those fits."

But for Cronenberg, the star of his movie is Freud, as played by Viggo Mortensen, a Cronenberg regular after A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.

"When you do a biography, you try to bring these people back to life; you want to see and hear Freud and Jung and Sabina in their intimate moments," explains Cronenberg.

"I'd love to talk to Freud, I'd like to sit and have a cigar with him. But we can't do that so the next best thing is to try to resurrect them and to cast actors who sort of look like them. We gave Viggo brown contact lenses and a false nose. The change is very subtle but the key is to get wonderful actors, basically."

Meanwhile, the ever-versatile Fassbender was just as happy to be buttoned-up as Jung as he was doing full frontal nudity as a sex addict in Shame.

"The problem was I had to convince the audience I was intelligent," jokes the self-deprecating Irishman, whose father is German and is well aware of the film's cultural references.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I think the Jung that I was trying to play at that point was someone who was very ambitious. Jung was very correct but very self-assured."

Lowdown

What: A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg's movie about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley.
When: Opens April 26

-Timeout

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

Coronation Street star living life to the fullest after beating cancer

02 Jul 09:23 PM
Entertainment

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

02 Jul 06:07 PM
Sport|athletics

Arli Liberman: The art of scoring in sport

02 Jul 06:01 AM

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Coronation Street star living life to the fullest after beating cancer

Coronation Street star living life to the fullest after beating cancer

02 Jul 09:23 PM

In 2019, Sally raised £100,000 for Prevent Breast Cancer by trekking to Everest base camp.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

02 Jul 06:07 PM
Arli Liberman: The art of scoring in sport

Arli Liberman: The art of scoring in sport

02 Jul 06:01 AM
The reason behind Hilary Barry's absence from Seven Sharp

The reason behind Hilary Barry's absence from Seven Sharp

02 Jul 04:35 AM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP