It's a pirate's life again for Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley, back as the lovely and headstrong Elizabeth Swann in the "Pirates" sequels, is sworn to secrecy to keep a good deal of the story under wraps but she's convinced that "Pirates 2" - and indeed "3" - is looking in fantastic shape. "The look of it is really cool and it seems to have evolved in a kind of natural way for it," she says.

If Oscar Best Actress nominee Keira Knightley sometimes feels that she's been on the high seas, filming "Pirates of the Caribbean," for a long, long time, it's easy to understand. Because she has.

Keira, along with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom from the first, hugely successful "Pirates" film, "The Curse of the Black Pearl," have reunited with director Gore Verbinski to make "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," out this summer, and "Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End," which we'll see next year, virtually back to back.

"It felt like the last two years had never happened and we've been working on `Pirates' the entire time," she notes. Not that she's complaining. "We have got these fantastic sets, it's pretty much exactly the same crew with a couple of additions, the same cast, same director, same writers, same producers obviously, so it really is like we never finished doing the first one and we have just continued."

The first film, released in 2003, was a critical and box office triumph which starred Johnny Depp as lovable rogue Jack Sparrow, the colorful pirate who rescues the beautiful governor's daughter, Elizabeth Swann - played by Keira - from the villainous Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and his cohorts. Add a dash of romance, provided by Orlando Bloom as Elizabeth's love, Will Turner, and the result was a funny, superbly paced action thriller which entertained young and old alike.

Today, in an interview during a break on set at the Universal Studios in Hollywood, Keira is in "Pirates 3" mode. Tomorrow, or the next day, it's back to "Pirates 2." Doesn't it get confusing?

"Hugely, yes," she laughs. "It is a bit weird at the moment coming to the end of the number three chunk to suddenly try and get your head back in to number two. So in a funny kind of way it seems like one big long film as opposed to two separate films, which I suppose is a good thing, but it is a little strange."

Keira is sworn to secrecy to keep a good deal of the story under wraps but she's convinced that "Pirates 2" - and indeed "3" - is looking in fantastic shape. "The look of it is really cool and it seems to have evolved in a kind of natural way for it," she says.

At just 21 years old, Knightley has established herself as one of the leading actresses working in Hollywood. After roles on British television, Knightley won international acclaim for her role in "Bend It Like Beckham." She also starred in Richard Curtis's romantic comedy, "Love Actually," played Guinevere in "King Arthur" and starred opposite Adrien Brody in "The Jacket." She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in "Pride and Prejudice."

Opening soon across the Philippines, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" is distributed by Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures.