Before They Were Stars: Keira Knightley in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace”

Since this week’s Shouts from the Back Row podcast will be covering the phenomenon of Star Wars, it’s only appropriate that my next few “Before They Were Stars” features cover those who got their starts a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The Star Wars prequels, in particular, feature quite a few recognizable names in small roles. The most famous example is Keira Knightley, who had one of her earliest roles at the age of 13 in The Phantom Menace. However, even though she appears in a few scenes, it would be easy to not even realize that she’s in the film since she plays the role Sabe, Queen Padme Amidala’s decoy. Knightley was cast because the filmmakers thought she bore a resemblance to Natalie Portman and in order to keep the big decoy “twist” a surprise, all of Knightley’s scenes involve her wearing heavy makeup and costumes and with Portman overdubbing all of her dialogue. It’s an incredibly thankless role and Keira’s own mother apparently couldn’t even tell the difference between the two actresses when they were in costume! Ah well, her time would eventually come…