Actors are known to sometimes gift their co-stars a parting gift after a film wraps – but Keira Knightley’s previous choice of present is sure to raise a few eyebrows.
The Love Actually star, 39, was a guest on Friday night’s episode (29 November) of The Graham Norton Show.
She was joined on the red sofa by Cher, Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender – the recipient of her NSFW gift more than a decade ago.
Fassbender, 47, had starred opposite Knightley in the 2011 film A Dangerous Method, about the relationship between psychoanalysts Carl Jung (Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (played by Viggo Mortensen).
Knightley, meanwhile, played Jung’s patient-turned-colleague Sabrina Spielrein. The three become embroiled in a love triangle.
One scene in the film required Fassbender’s Jung to “spank” Knightley’s character.
“Basically it was about spanking,” Knightley told Norton of the movie. “Michael had to spank me.”
Fassbender joked: “I was the spanker. You were the spankee.”
Given the themes of A Dangerous Method and the memorable shooting of the scene, Knightley thought it appropriate to give her co-stars, including Fassbender, a spanking paddle as a gift.
“I bought Michael and three other cast members their very own spanking paddles,” she said.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star recalled: “I had to go into a sex shop and say, ‘Hello, can I have three spanking paddles, please?’”
Elsewhere during the conversation, the actors shed some light on how difficult it was to make the spanking scenes realistic without causing Knightley pain.
In the end, they ended up putting a Yellow Pages book “between [her] bum and the paddle”.
Knightley – who is due to star in Netflix’s new show Black Doves – also opened up about her true feelings towards the now-controversial scene in Love Actually, which fans have deemed “creepy”.
The actor appears in a famous scene in the holiday classic, during which Andrew Lincoln’s character appears on her doorstep and declares his love for her using cardboard signs.
Knightley recalled a “creepy and sweet” momen. t she shared with a car full of builders who recreated the moment in an unlikely situation.
“I was stuck in traffic for ages recently and a car full of builders next to me started holding up the signs like in the movie,” said Knightley.
“It was creepy and sweet at the same time, much like it was in the film.”
Love Actually has been reappraised several times since its release two decades ago, with critics debating whether the film is as romantic as it initially appeared.
