You may have misunderstood the thread, or the history of the pre-PT era? Someone who could play a compelling 20-40 year old across 3 films. Not someone who struggled in the role of a 20-23 year old, and did not convince many fans his character would grow into the Darth Vader we knew in the OT. (That is not all on Hayden: the PT scripts, green screens, and the direction also failed him and other actors, and Hayden’s done good work in other roles since.)
I understand what you are trying to say, but DarthStarkiller1234 didn’t say that we have to be bound to the speculations about the Prequel era that existed before the Prequels, he only asked us to choose an actor to play the role of Anakin.
Really? I took “which actor you would have imagined as the Pre-Prequels Anakin Skywalker?”, in a hypothetical situation where the Prequel films were never made, and that this thread is here in the “Expanded Universe” forum, as being from the pre-PT lore era, But sure, why not. Hayden. Of course! 😃
DarthStarkiller1234, who would you have gone for to play Anakin, and also Kenobi?
Depends when the trilogy is released. Lets say Mid 90s/early 2000s? Then River Phoenix If he had not passed away at that time. Jude Law can also be great. If we are going towards a mid 80s prequels, Val Kilmer. He would look boyish enough in the mid 80s and can age nicely into the more menacing, Vader-esque Anakin.
Oh man, those are three great calls. I could easily envisage any of those actors playing the role really well in a Pre-PT OT release.