Star Wars: Natalie Portman reveals surprising Padme secret amid comeback rumours

The Oscar-winner played the role in the three prequels of the Star Wars saga: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Now, in an interview with Vanity Fair, she has revealed the inspiration behind her character’s regal debut in Episode I.

“I remember I went to Japan to a Kabuki theatre, and when I saw the drawings for Amidala… I thought, ‘that reminds me of the Kabuki.’

“So I tried, as a 16-year-old, to channel that influence because it was such a specific style and slow and dream-like.

“But I don’t know if any of that reads while you’re paying attention to the space ships!”

As well as discussing the surprising Kabuki influence, Portman also reflected on her time as a teenager working on such a giant franchise.

“George Lucas was incredible to work with,” she recalled. “He’s just such a smart person and a very kind person.

“It was interesting to spend time with him and get some insight into his ability to invent this world that didn’t exist, and is now such a big part of the cultural lexicon.”

Padme died in Revenge of the Sith, leading to her children – Luke and Leia – being separated and raised elsewhere, away from their father Anakin Skywalker.

Still, rumours have consistently sprung up that she could return in some way to the Star Wars universe, perhaps as a flashback in Episode 9 or – more likely – in one of the spin-off animated TV shows.

She is also heavily rumoured to be a hero in Battlefront II in 2019.

Now, the Star Wars work is looked back on fondly by the star – but in an interview in 2014 she revealed how nobody wanted to work with her at the time.

“Star Wars had come out… and everyone thought I was a horrible actress,” she told New York magazine.

“I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me.

“Mike [Nichols] wrote a letter to Anthony Minghella and said, ‘Put her in Cold Mountain, I vouch for her.’ And then Anthony passed me on to Tom Tykwer, who passed me on to the Wachowskis.”

She was quickly redeemed, going on to work in a string of roles that led to an Oscar-nominated turn in Black Swan in 2009.

She even went on to return to huge franchise work: she was Jane Foster in Thor and its sequel.

Jane had been written out in time for last year’s Thor: Ragnarok but, as with Star Wars, she is consistently rumoured to be returning there too.

And with a multitude of Marvel characters known to be appearing in next year’s Avengers 4 – why not?

Portman’s next movie Vox Lux is out in the US on December 7.