tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Don Roos' drama "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits," which showed at the Toronto International Film Festival, will follow, and on Dec. 4, she will be seen opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in Jim Sheridan's "Brothers."

And that's just the beginning. Last spring, she filmed the indie "Hesher," which she also produced, then spent the summer in Belfast on her first comedy, the royal fantasy "Your Highness," before returning to New York for four months of filming Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan." Finally, she'll usher in the spring on the Santa Fe, N.M., set of "Thor."

After that, "I will take a nap -- for like, two months," she says with a laugh. "Right now, I'm working probably more than is good for me, but sometimes it's good to exceed your boundaries and stretch yourself." [ read more ]

And all are captivated by Hathaway, who is, in a word, ferocious. Her portrayal-along with those of the cast, including Bill Irwin as dad Paul and Debra Winger as her conflicted mother, Abby-was acclaimed by critics. Hathaway nabbed Best Actress at the Critics' Choice Awards, in a rare tie with her Devil Wears Prada costar the legendary Meryl Streep. And the unintentional matchup will continue to the end of awards season, as she faces her idol again in the Best Actress race for Oscars.

Or the silk stockings. At 23, Knightley has time-traveled her way through decades and decades of costume dramas. Her major period films include "King Arthur," " Atonement," "Silk" and three rollicking "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. She was nominated for an Oscar as the hand-me-down-clad Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride & Prejudice." Her latest film -- "The Duchess," which opened Friday -- has her gallivanting around the English countryside in monstrous chapeaus that could house a family of field mice. Think " Sex and the City," three centuries ago.

The film chronicles the tragic, scandal-seared life of aristocrat Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, who married a distant duke with a wandering eye. His neglect and betrayal drove the duchess to crave more and more public attention. "As her confidence grows, her wigs get higher and her corsets get tighter," Knightley says. "She's trying to say 'I am fine' through her costumes, which I find intriguing."

Cavendish's outrageous looks -- hats festooned with foxtails, ostrich-feather headdresses -- also sparked fashion fads. "The duchess was the first to start 'pregnancy fashion' by wearing that maternity gown with the crystals when she goes into labor," says costume designer Michael O'Connor, who fashioned 27 looks for the film. "She set all these trends and then wouldn't be seen in them again."

The same could be said of the woman who plays her, this sylph with cheekbones that could shave ice. No matter how dated the looks, Knightley's distinctive on-screen styles always manage to affect street fashion. Her knee-high boots and flouncy blouses in the Disney swashbucklers had fashion editors purring about "pirate chic." The laser-cut green dress she wore in "Atonement" last year heralded a return to retro glamour on the red carpet. Even the taut abs she showed off in her 2002 breakout role in "Bend It Like Beckham" drove women to drop and do crunches. [ read more ]