Keira Knightley certainly enjoyed being nominated for an Oscar for Pride and Prejudice. But she did not enjoy arriving at the high-profile ceremony.

“All these people were coming up to my face and screaming, ‘SEVEN OUT OF TEN!’ – referring to the way I look!” the actress, 22, tells Allure magazine for its October issue. “And you think, You rude f—–.”

Yet despite being outfitted in a Vera Wang gown topped by a diamond-and-ruby Bulgari, Knightly declares, “I hate red-carpet events; I absolutely hate them. I don’t like the fact that people write, ‘Oh, you look like crap’ in print. Or ‘I don’t like your arms!’ ”

In terms of self-assessment, Knightley says, “I’m not Wonder Woman. I have self-esteem problems. Everybody does. You know, skinny people are allowed to feel s— about themselves.”

Keira Knightley Sounds Off on Hating Red Carpets| Keira Knightley Given the fact Knightley ’s grandmother and great-grandmother both suffered from anorexia, the actress takes particular umbrage when it comes to critical views about her weight.

“I haven’t got a clue about how much I weigh,” she says. “I do not own any scales.”

This fact, she suggests, seems to rankle others. “And I have noticed it creates an anger in people who are not skinny,” she says. “People like to blame their insecurities on other people.”

MOVIE babe

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY says she won’t be marrying ? because no ceremony could match her on-screen weddings.

The Pirates of the Caribbean beauty, 22, added: “I’ve been married five times in films, had three children and countless proposals.

“So I think that’s about enough really.

“Also I don’t know how I’d top the wedding I had in Love Actually because it was pretty impressive.”

The Middlesex-born actress, dating Pride and Prejudice actor RUPERT FRIEND, 25, went on: “I don’t want to get married in the foreseeable future.”

Keira also admitted struggling to tell if a man liked her.

She said: “I always find dating a difficult thing. I’m so dim that I don’t notice when a guy is coming on to me. Subtlety absolutely doesn’t work for me. You have to be extremely blunt.”

Keira Knightley has delighted fans at the UK premiere of her new film Atonement by going on a walkabout to sign autographs for her admirers.

The 22-year-old star was in London’s Leicester Square before the showing of the movie at the Odeon Cinema.

Keira, who is being tipped for an Oscar nomination for her role as Cecilia Tallis, wore a silver-grey Rodarte dress, slashed across the front, and a tiara in her hair.

Directed by Joe Wright and adapted from the wartime novel by Ian McEwan, it is being hailed as one of the strongest British films in years.

It is in official competition for the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice Film Festival and has been warmly received by critics.

The story tells of Cecilia Tallis, an upper class beauty whose fledgling love affair with the housekeeper’s son, played by James McAvoy, is destroyed by a tragic misunderstanding.

James also went over to greet his fans and sign autographs.

Keira said: “I think we are all proud of the whole film, mostly we are proud of Joe Wright, the director.”

She said: “I find him an incredibly exciting director, and he’s given me two of the best characters I’ve played.”

Asked if she had a preference for any particular kind of role she said: “No, I think the whole point is to change. I’m really lucky and I get the opportunity to change, and you can’t ask for much more than that as an actress.”

Asked about her chances of winning an Oscar, she said: “The fact that the film is in the same sentence as the word Oscars means we’ve done a good job already. If it doesn’t get a nomination, it doesn’t take away from how proud I am.”

Keira Knightley is the biggest British film star of her generation, instantly familiar from blockbusters including Pirates Of The Caribbean, Love Actually and King Arthur. It was her starring role in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, however, that gained her an Academy Award nomination, and she has reunited with the director for an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s literary classic Atonement.

How would you sum up Atonement?

Blimey! Well, it’s about the tragedies that can occur when the line between fact and fiction get blurred. That shouldn’t give too much away!

Tell us about your character, Cecilia Tallis?

We meet Cecilia - the second child of the household - and Robbie Turner [James McAvoy] - the son of the housekeeper - at a point where they can’t communicate with each other. Cecilia’s having to deal with her own snobbishness, the fact she fancies him even though they’ve been brought up as brother and sister. There’s all sorts of conflicting emotions going on.

What did you make of the original novel? Had you read it?

I read it before we started shooting. It’s wonderful when you’re working from a book like Atonement because Ian McEwan draws his characters so beautifully. It meant I could use the book a little bit like a blueprint. He does these incredible internal monologues which were a bit of a gift.

Does Atonement’s incredible visual style (which involved stretching Christian Dior stocking over the camera lenses, to achieve a soft focus) reflect the imagination of young Briony Tallis, your character’s sister?

I think that the 1935 section of the film has a fairytale quality to it. The reds are very red, there’s a magical quality to it, and a part of that is emphasising Briony’s imagination. Briony is very much a character who lives in her own head. She’s a writer, she’s constantly inventing stories and she puts all the people around her into those stories, and that’s when tragedy occurs.

For a film with only one sex scene in it, in which the characters remain fully clothed, the whole film is incredibly sexually charged. How do you go about creating that sort of atmosphere?

The 30s and 40s were the pinnacle of the stiff upper lip and that very famous British emotional repression, and it was really interesting to look at that with Cecilia.

She can’t express what she’s feeling, and therefore this rage is constantly bubbling underneath her which explodes, perhaps, in the library scene [she smiles]. It had to be incredibly erotic and passionate because you have to believe that these people waited three years without seeing each other based on that moment.

It was incredibly important that you get that tension between Cecilia and Robbie because it’s certainly not really spoken about, it’s about what’s not being said. It was really thrilling to play, actually. When you tap into the mindset of that period you understand how that sort of tragedy could happen. A lot of people have already described Atonement as an Oscar contender. Have you started thinking about the awards season yet?

No. Honestly, no. I think you have to count your triumphs as they go along, and there have already been so many as far as this film goes. I think if we got any awards then that would be wonderful but if we don’t, then that shouldn’t belittle the experience or the piece of work.

And, finally, why should people go to see Atonement?

Because it’s beautiful. And it’ll make you cry.

Atonement opens in UK cinemas on Friday 7th September 2007.