Keira Knightley believes English people are obsessed with spanking.

The actress played Sabina Spielrein who has a relationship with her therapist Carl Jung in 'A Dangerous Method' and in one scene she had to be slapped on her butt by her co-star Michael Fassbender, who portrayed Jung.

Keira claims she was barely asked about the erotic scenes when promoting the film - which also stars Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud - in every country other than her homeland, which has led her to deduce her countrymen are fetishists.

Speaking to the movie's director David Cronenberg in the new issue of Interview Magazine, she said: ''With 'A Dangerous Method' people liked the spanking an awful lot. But I'm not quite sure. It's weird, though, with the spanking. When we were in Venice, I didn't get asked about it once in however many days we were there ... And then in Toronto I got asked about it a little bit more. But in England, it was pretty much the only thing I got asked about. I'm not quite sure what that says about the English.''

Cronenberg suggests to Knightley that the reason could be that many men and women in England get a sexual thrill from slapping or having their bottom's slapped.

He said: ''Well, I think they (the English) like spanking. It might have to do with schoolboy stuff. Having your bare bottom spanked is generally a sort of homoerotic thing in those kinds of schools ... That's my interpretation of why spanking is really huge in England.''

The 27-year-old star - who is dating Klaxons musician James Righton - can next be seen in comedy film 'Seeking A Friend for the End of the World' in which she stars opposite Steve Carrell.