Keira Knightley's Ostrich Feather Gift

Keira Knightley says she was persuaded to take on the role of the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana, in her new period movie The Duchess, after the film's director sent her three ostrich feathers in the post.

The star -- who was recently named the second highest paid actress in Hollywood by Forbes magazine -- admits she didn't want to take the role to begin with, but after receiving the bizarre gift from director Saul Dibb, she changed her mind.

Keira says, "They were huge, tied together with a gold ribbon. And I thought 'Come on, a man who sends something like that has to be worth working with!'."

Knightley, 23, recently revealed that she discusses her sex life with her mother, playwright Sharman Macdonald.

She told Britain's Glamour magazine, "Mum and I would always talk about sex. She'd come up to my room, have me roll her cigarettes and then tell me I'd have to have one with her. "It's not the typical mother-daughter thing but we're extremely close. "Mum's a bit mental in a good way.

"She's this chilled-out hippy mother. My house was always the one where my brother and his mates would be drinking when they shouldn't be."