Orlando Bloom Reacts to Keira Knightley's Criticism of Pirates of the Caribbean

Orlando Bloom can empathize why the pirate life wasn’t always for Keira Knightley.

Months after Knightley expressed mixed feelings about her experience starring in Disney's hit films, Bloom, who played her love interest, shared his perspective.

"It was such a huge moment in time that is almost like… it feels almost like another lifetime now,” the Lord of the Rings alum told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Jan. 28. "But it certainly was unique and, you know, I’m always grateful. But I definitely understand where Keira was coming from, and she does wonderful things.… I have a lot of positive takeaways."

Knightley was 17 years old when she filmed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with Bloom and Johnny Depp, later reprising her character of Swann in three of the 2003 film's four sequels. It marked her biggest acting role, which also came with increased public scrutiny.

“It’s a funny thing when you have something that was making and breaking you at the same time," the actress told The Times in an interview published in November. "I was seen as s--t because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for."

The 39-year-old, who went on to receive Academy Award nods for performances in 2005's Pride & Prejudice and 2014's The Imitation Game, continued, "They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly. So they’re a very confused place in my head."

And when it comes to playing Elizabeth Swann opposite Bloom’s Will Turner one more time, the Black Doves star, who last appeared in a cameo in the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, has made a firm ruling against it.

"The hours are insane," she said. "It's years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming."

Look back at Knightley and her costars at Pirates of the Caribbean film premieres over the years...