Kiera Knightley has slammed "modern-day" movies for "always" featuring themes of sexual abuse

She said: "I don't really do films set in the modern-day because the female characters nearly always get raped. I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas I've always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces."

However, the 'Atonement' star insists there has been "some improvement" over recent years, and she's pleased to see Hollywood starting to implement stronger female characters into their stories.

She added: "There's been some improvement. I'm suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren't raped in the first five pages and aren't simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife."

In Kiera's latest movie 'Collette', she stars as the legendary French author fighting against her husband who tries to claim her work as his own, and has said playing strong woman made her feel empowered.

She said: "It's wonderful to play inspiring women and to get their stories and their voices out there. The fact that the movie is coming out right now isn't a surprise. Women's stories are suddenly viewed as important."

The 'Pride & Prejudice' star also spoke about her experiences with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein - who has been accused by a number of women of sexual harassment - as she admitted that he was "very professional" toward her.

Speaking to Variety magazine, she said: "My experience with Harvey Weinstein was always very professional. He was very good on the films we made. I was aware of his reputation of being a bully. He was famous for phoning people in the middle of the night and screaming at them. He didn't do that to me, and he certainly never asked me for massages or anything like that."