10 Exact Moments Actors Thought They Were Finished

In all honesty, outside of the likes of Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson, very few walked out of George Lucas' Star Wars Prequel Trilogy in the same or a better position than they did heading into it.

And in the case of the unquestionably brilliant Natalie Portman, her performance as the rather dull Padmé Amidala in Episodes I-III didn't do her many favours by the time Revenge of the Sith finally closed out the trilogy in 2005.

The eventual Oscar winner would explain to New York Magazine many years on from her disappointing time in the galaxy far, far away that, despite appearing in the highest grossing movie of the decade, no director wanted to work with the star.

Portman would even confess that she felt as though "everyone thought I was a horrible actress".

Instead of her hopes of going on to enjoy a varied and long career being crushed by an underwhelming showing in Star Wars, though, Portman had a friend in director Mike Nichols who went out of his way to vouch for her to his peers and helped rebuild the star's reputation along the way.