It's hard to imagine anybody other than Natalie Portman playing Padme Amidala after watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Interestingly, it looks like the Black Swan actress had always been envisioned as the Queen of Naboo even before she was cast. The artist who worked on the concept art for The Phantom Menace may have revealed that he influenced George Lucas into casting Portman for the role.
Iain McCaig served as the concept artist for several Star Wars movies including The Phantom Menace. McCaig was recently one of the people who provided an oral history on the film (via StarWars.com) and he admitted that he kept visualizing Portman as he worked on the concept design for Queen Amidala's costumes.
"Every time I would start with Natalie Portman because I had seen her in The Professional. I counted the years from that to this and realized she was exactly the right age for the queen, and I just kept drawing and drawing and drawing her because I loved her face. George came up to me at one point and said, 'Do you know this girl?' And I said, 'No, sir, but she's your queen.' And lo and behold, she was cast shortly after!" McCaig said. "The one and only time I actually got a casting choice put through."
So did Lucas take McCaig's advice when casting Portman or was it just a mere coincidence? For now, there's no firm confirmation but McCaig shared why he chose Portman for his designs.
"That face is so strong and so beautiful and so innocent and so powerful, it can support any amount of crazy stuff going on around it," he said.
We're certainly loving the idea that Portman seemed destined to play Padme in the Star Wars prequels. It's safe to say that Lucas made the right decision when he chose her to portray the mother of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.
Related: Star Wars: Original Darth Maul Design Terrified George Lucas
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