Countingdown.com's Lincoln contacted us this morning with very convincing proof that their report on ILM's efforts was accurate. You can take it as the real thing. :)

Further supporting the report is this from Lili Jones of our French Edition:

I'm writing to you about the 2/7/99 prequel update, about this report saying Natalie Portman was hurt on her ankle and ILM removed her limp with CGI. You doubted the accuracy of this report. Well I have something like a confirmation: on december the 12th, we received an e-mail from one of our readers with a scan of an article from SFX (it's a sci-fi magazine). The article reported on Lucas' attendance at a conference on the movie industry in Australia, where he reportedly revealed some things on the next trilogy. Here's the translation of an extract that might interest you (I hope my English is correct...):

"Lucas also revealed that half of the characters - including one of the main characters, who can fly - are digital. Even more amazing, Natalie Portman having sprain her ankle during the shooting, her legs were completely digitally recreated in some takes!"

The magazine came out in December. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, as anything related to Star Wars that pops up in most sci-fi magazines available here has usually been known for weeks if not months on the Internet. :) But there it is.

Sounds like between being blasted in the face and spraining her ankle, Natalie Portman had a very unlucky time on the set! :) Thanks for the confirmations!