There have been many famous faces in the Star Wars franchise throughout the years, including some folks before they were stars. Back in 1999, Keira Knightley appeared in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace as Queen Amidala’s handmaiden/decoy, Sabé. This was three years before the young actor would rise to fame for playing Jules in Bend It Like Beckham and four years before she played Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Recently, Knightley spoke to Total Film magazine and talked about what little she could remember from her time in the first Star Wars prequel. “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was one of your earliest film experiences. What do you remember about that?,” Total Film asked.
“I mean, I was 12. I literally don’t remember,” Knightley shared. “I remember the headdress being so heavy, it gave me a headache. I really remember the headache from one of the headdresses. And I remember being in the background for such a long time that I’d actually fallen asleep. I was just sitting in a chair, and I was in the background, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I really remember that. But apart from that, I don’t remember anything else about it.”
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As for Knightley’s future projects, the actor will be seen next Misbehaviour, a film by Philippa Lowthorpe about “a group of women [who] hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.” You can learn more about the film on IMDb here. Knightley is currently filming Silent Night, a comedy by Camille Griffin, a writer/director who has worked on various films in Hollywood and is also the mother of Roman Griffin Davis, who recently starred in Jojo Rabbit. Interestingly, Griffin also worked on The Phantom Menace as a clapper loader. You can learn more about Silent Night here.
As for Star Wars, the franchise’s latest film, The Rise of Skywalker, is up on Rotten Tomatoes with the worst critics’ score for a live-action Star Wars movie, earning a surprising 52%. However, the film is fairing better with moviegoers and currently has an 86% audience score. ComicBook.com’s own Patrick Cavanaugh called the movie “a mixed bag of delights and frustrations that largely succeeds” and gave it a 4 out of 5 rating.
Despite the mixed reviews, The Rise of Skywalker still managed to walk away with three Academy Award nominations this year. The movie was up for Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Sound Editing (Matthew Wood and David Acord), and Best Visual Effects (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy).
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released on Digital on March 17th, and on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 31st.
