EW: James, a few months ago you told me you don't think the letter is vulgar, even though it contains the C-word. What do you think, Keira?
KNIGHTLEY: I completely agree. What's wonderful about it is that you set this piece up that you think is very safely 1930s — it's a very beautiful, very classic British film, wonderful costumes, the rest of it. And then you put the word "cunt" into it. And it completely explodes. I think in England it's not as big a deal as it is in America. I say it all the time.
MCAVOY: We call each other it all the time! But you've got to remember, it's not said in the film. It's only ever typed.
KNIGHTLEY: Nobody's been outraged by it. And I actually thought that they would. I know that Joe was asked by the studio at some point to take the word out, clearly because they thought that people would get really offended by it. And Joe said the immortal words, ''The cunt stays in the picture!''
EW: What on earth could you have replaced it with?
“Actually, as a parting gift at the end of the film, she gave me a sort of spanking thing and she said, “Wouldn’t have been spanked by anybody better. Lots of love, Keira.”