Poor old Hayden Christensen has received a lot of flak for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels, and as wooden as his performance often was, the actor wasn’t exactly helped out with the best direction or writing in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. You have to believe then that Leonardo DiCaprio feels like he dodged a bullet!
After all, rumours have persisted for years that he was offered the role at the time George Lucas was looking to cast an older Anakin, and The Revenant star has now confirmed that.
“I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that as well, yes,” he revealed before shedding some light on why he decided to turn down the opportunity to take on a leading role in the Star Wars franchise. “[I] just didn’t feel ready to take that dive. At that point.”
Anakin Skywalker’s Scrapped Role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens Revealed
By the time the Star Wars prequels were released, DiCaprio was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood thanks to Titanic, but when things didn’t work out with him, Lucas obviously decided to take things in a different direction by going with the unknown Christensen.
So, did DiCaprio condemn the Star Wars prequels or save his career? We’ll never know!
In other Star Wars news, The Force Awakens has now become the highest grossing instalment in the franchise to date, topping The Phantom Menace’s haul of $1.027 billion with $1.16 billion. As of right now, it’s still on track to beat Avatar’s worldwide record.
