I remember someone on these boards said Heath Ledger would have made a great conflicted Anakin.

Probably because he played Joker in Dark Knight before his death, i don't know.

I have heard others said Elijah wood , you know that frodo guy,lol.

For years the press wanted Kenneth brannagh, not sure if i spelled his name right, to play Obi Wan. A Shakespearean trained actor. Unlike say Ewan Mcgregor whose claim to fame was an indy movie called train spotting and he was an unknown method actor.

Had he already been famous i don't think George Lucas would have used him.

Portman when she was chosen for episode 1 was a young actress and virtual unknown except for the professional and the diary of anne frank stage play. She is did some movie i think called Beautiful Girls or something.

Liam at the time was most known for playing Schindler in schlinders list, and also Rob Roy.

They liked Jake Lloyd in Jingle all the Way, that is why they picked him. They liked haydens performance in virgin suicides.

I think like the original trilogy the prequels should have been cast as an Ensemble of three actors, the three main leads. There needs to be good chemistry between the male leads and the female lead in this. Though there was never any doubt that Padme ends up with Anakin and not Obi Wan, unlike say in the original star wars film where Han and Luke had a rivalry over the princess because she was not his sister.