The Essex Serpent, an Apple TV+ adaptation of Sarah Perry's novel, but dropped out over concerns about access to childcare during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. She starred in the 2021 holiday comedy Silent Night. Knightley voiced the lead role in the dramatic animated film Charlotte, a true story about a young artist during the Holocaust. Upcoming projects Knightley will star in an adaptation of Ann Leckie's sci-fi novel Ancillary Justice, as well as reporter Loretta McLaughlin in the drama film Boston Strangler based on the infamous true story of Boston Strangler murders, written and directed by Matt Ruskin. Public image Off-screen, Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent describes Knightley as "sensible and self-deprecating" and Elizabeth Day of Harper's Bazaar says of Knightley's persona: "She is extremely nice, swears more than you might think and – yes – [...] effortlessly beautiful". Writing for The New York Times, Jesse McKinley stated that Knightley is "known for her ability to sparkle and charm in several accents", while her Thérèse Raquin co-star, Judith Light, praised her "down-to-earth demeanor, intelligence and sense of humor". Knightley has been described as "famously open with media", though she has asserted the contrary. During the 2000s, Knightley faced an "extraordinary amount of vitriol" from the press. The Guardian wrote that "if she is not too pretty to be worthy of her success, she is too posh, too thin. if there is a more valid reason why [...] they often struggle to articulate it." Despite multiple successful films and award nominations, the criticism affected her, and Knightley felt that she "didn't know [her] trade." Media scrutiny decreased as her career progressed, and she spaces out her public appearances to maintain attention on her films. Beginning in the 2010s, Knightley regained confidence in her abilities, and by the release of Colette (2018), she felt she had learnt her craft and mentally occupied a "good place where I feel pretty confident about what I can do". Knightley has been widely recognised for her extensive repertoire of period dramas throughout her career. She identifies with "break[ing] out of that image of femininity" and appreciates period films' "overt cage" to demonstrate such. Writer Anne Helen Petersen states that the varying personalities of her historical roles are united in the "larger idea" Knightley represents: "that of women ostensibly performing a version of proper womanhood — all while quietly negotiating, or cracking under, the