'Last Night' returns Keira Knightley to dry land

This month's box office marks her choice: Instead of appearing in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Penelope Cruz subs in), she premieres Last Night, an indie flick with Sam Worthington (Avatar) that showcases what temptation does to a young marriage inNew York City.
After years on Pirates sets, coupled with movies including The Duchess and Atonement, Last Night, which expands to more theaters Friday, was the first movie Knightley, 26, accepted after a one-year break.
"The thing about acting is, it does require life, because you have to have things to draw from," says Knightley, who released only 2010's Never Let Me Go in the interim. "I felt I'd hit a brick wall and was regurgitating as opposed to actually finding anything new."
STORY: Knightley on affairs of the heart, mind
PHOTO: A Keira Knightley collection
Knightley calls shooting the Pirates franchise an "amazing" experience, but "I was 17 when I started and 22 by the time the last one came out. It was a

considerable chunk of time." And with the back-to-back shooting schedule for Pirates 2 and 3, "doing it solidly for two years at that time was definitely enough. And I mostly just wanted to do something else."
She turned to theater in London's West End, starring in The Misanthrope in 2009 andThe Children's Hour with Elisabeth Moss, which wrapped its four-month run Saturday.
With theater life, "you get to see your friends," says Knightley, who watched the royal wedding in bed "on a computer with a cup of tea."
The history fan is keen to return to the period pieces she's become known for, first in the turn-of-the-century psychoanalytical film A Dangerous Method (out later this year) and then a possible reteaming with director Joe Wright ( Atonement) for Anna Karenina.
I'm definitely not going to turn down a really good part because it's in a corset," Knightley says with a smile, "because that would sort of be shooting myself in the foot, wouldn't it?"

'Last Night' returns Keira Knightley to dry land