The trailer for this fall’s much anticipated Joe Wright-directed literary adaptation Anna Karenina debuted on MSN today, giving us a glimpse at how the Atonement director is bringing the Russian classic to the big screen this November. It looks like a whole lot of sex and inner turmoil clashing with societal norms and politics, just as Tolstoy would have loved. And, of course, he knows how to highlight his star, Keira Knightley.

As we thought about Keira in the role of the scandalous Ms. Karenina, we couldn’t help but realize how very unlike that tragic lady she is. Come to think of it, she’s unlike most 27-year-old movie stars in her amazing ability to stay out of the gossip pages. All we know about her personal life these days is that she just got engaged last month to the Klaxons’ James Righton. When VH1 sat down with Knightley to talk about her new movie, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (in theaters Friday), we asked her how she manages to be so (frustratingly!) private.

“A lot of hard work, and hiding an awful lot,” she told us. “But yeah, I seem to have managed it quite well. I’m making no predictions for the future. But, you know, my privacy is incredibly important to me. .. It’s very important that I get to feel kind of free, and get to do my thing without people taking lots of pictures.”

But Keira is very excited for us to see her as Anna Karenina, which she says is quite different from her work in Wright’s Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. “This is kind of heightened reality,” she said. “A kind of dramatic, theatrical take on the piece.”

[Photo: Focus Features]

VH1 Celebrity