Too bad GL casted Keira Knightly as Padme's handmaiden in stead of Padme. Natalie Portman truly sucked in that triology and maybe Keira would have been better.
I liked her in Doctor Zhivago.
No, as long as they were being directed by Lucas and reading dialogue written by him, even Keira would've come across as wooden as a kitchen table. Lucas' reverse Midas touch can suck the talent out of even the best actors, from Sam Jackson to Ewan MacGregor. As Harrison Ford once told him, "George, you can type this s**t, but you can't say it."