The “Star Wars” prequels were often criticized for their wooden acting, and maybe part of that had to do with Lucas’ decision to deny actors their scripts until shortly before they had to perform. Whatever the case, “The Phantom Menace” was very much not Knightley’s breakout role. Both she and Portman spoke in a strangely monotone voice, and the entire decoy storyline was admittedly more confusing than it was exciting.
The role did get Knightley’s foot in the door, with bigger and better roles to come, but it also meant she spent her early career being known (to at least some extent) as Discount Natalie Portman. It seemed to bother her slightly in the early 2000s, as Knightley was quick to point out that the two don’t actually look that much alike. “We both have brown hair and brown eyes,” she said, “I can safely say that’s where the similarities end.”
Luckily, Knightley had plenty of opportunities to prove her acting chops, with emotional lead performances in films like “Pride & Prejudice” and “Never Let Me Go.” As more time goes by, the clearer it gets that Knightly and Portman are very much separate performers with different skill sets. Knightley may have seemed like a copy of Portman back in “The Phantom Menace,” but her career over the past 25 years has definitely been its own unique thing.
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