If the Star Wars prequels were never made, which actor you would have imagined as the Pre-Prequels Anakin Skywalker?
I’d opt for someone like a younger Adrian Paul to have played Anakin back then. Some who had that believable presence that they could be the OT Vader embodied by David Prowse and JEJ’s voice. Someone with the physique, acting chops, and has that dark brooding / dual menace about him. For me Hayden never had that, I never believed the guy could be OT Vader (that’s not necessarily Hayden’s fault; as that is more on the casting, writing and direction).
This recent thread was an enjoyable read: What if the Prequels were made in the 80s?
from the guy who does the excellent Trash Compactor podcast: www.trashcompod.com & www.youtube.com/@trashcompod
“Don’t tell anyone… but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories - let’s call them homages - and you’ve got a series.” - George Lucas
I would have still chosen Hayden Christensen.
«No one is guilty of being born a slave. But the slave to whom not only aspirations for freedom are alien, but who justifies and paints his slavery in rosy colors, such a slave is a lackey and a brute who arouses a legitimate sense of indignation, disgust and repugnance.»
— Vladimir Lenin
As the Prequels are never made, and the OP refers to the pre-PT era, so… according to Lucas and Lucasfilm with the Clone Wars ending in 35BBY, Anakin being born in 55BBY, and Anakin becoming Darth Vader in 18BBY:
Thinking aloud it’d have to be someone capable of playing Anakin across the 20-35 year old age range, maybe a little more on the older age scale if the films are showing early events of the Jedi Purge, so 20-40-ish.
Eddie Redmayne for me. Has a Mark Hamill-esque quality to some of his acting too, and has what would be needed to play Anakin/Vader (and similar features to Mark).
As the Prequels were never made, and I guess the Sequels were also never made, then Adam Driver would have all the qualities needed for a good Anakin (plus he’s basically already played a version of ‘Anakin in reverse’ in the ST films).
Heath Ledger would have made a good Anakin years ago. RIP.
I’d opt for someone like a younger Adrian Paul to have played Anakin back then. Some who had that believable presence that they could be the OT Vader embodied by David Prowse and JEJ’s voice. Someone with the physique, acting chops, and has that dark brooding / dual menace about him. For me Hayden never had that, I never believed the guy could be OT Vader (that’s not necessarily Hayden’s fault; as that is more on the casting, writing and direction).
Good call. Highlander fan?
“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” - George Lucas
I’d opt for someone like a younger Adrian Paul to have played Anakin back then. Some who had that believable presence that they could be the OT Vader embodied by David Prowse and JEJ’s voice. Someone with the physique, acting chops, and has that dark brooding / dual menace about him. For me Hayden never had that, I never believed the guy could be OT Vader (that’s not necessarily Hayden’s fault; as that is more on the casting, writing and direction).
Good call. Highlander fan?
Is Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez an Egyptian, in pimped Spanish garb, with a Scottish accent, but really is an immortal alien? Hell, yes!
The series did some engaging and fun content, especially for a 90s series (and I just ignore “The Source”).
“Don’t tell anyone… but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories - let’s call them homages - and you’ve got a series.” - George Lucas
Gotta love the '90s series for its quirky charm, even if we pretend “The Source” never happened
Heh. I’ve long thought that Adrian Paul would’ve made a pretty good Exar Kun in a TOTJ film, but never considered him as Anakin, though I can imagine him easily pulling it off. He also had black hair, which is what I imagined Anakin’s hair colour to be prior to TPM’s release.
“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy
I remember the rumors Mark Hamill would play older Anakin, and that guy from Henry V would be Obi-Wan. Kenneth Branagh?
Honestly someone who channeled Sir Alec should have been Obi-Wan, and someone like a young Shaw should have been Anakin.
Gotta love the '90s series for its quirky charm, even if we pretend “The Source” never happened
Ha, yes! It is bizarre how something like that sticks in the mind, but cannot recall some of the better quality series from that era! 😃
Heh. I’ve long thought that Adrian Paul would’ve made a pretty good Exar Kun in a TOTJ film, but never considered him as Anakin, though I can imagine him easily pulling it off. He also had black hair, which is what I imagined Anakin’s hair colour to be prior to TPM’s release.
That is a good call. Dammit, I’ll have to think of a new actor for Anakin now. Those bush eyebrows of Shaw’s he’d have to have black hair! A slightly younger Timothy Dalton could do the role?
I would have still chosen Hayden Christensen.
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 remember the rumors Mark Hamill would play older Anakin, and that guy from Henry V would be Obi-Wan. Kenneth Branagh?
Honestly someone who channeled Sir Alec should have been Obi-Wan, and someone like a young Shaw should have been Anakin.
Yeah, years ago Brannagh was a good call for Kenobi. Very Guinness-like vibes. Gabriel Byrne would have been worthy foil for Brannagh as Anakin, as the pre-PT films would likely have their friendship as the main focus as opposed to what we got with the actual PT.
If they were doing the pre-Prequels now I think Cillian Murphy would make for a compelling Anakin.
“Don’t tell anyone… but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories - let’s call them homages - and you’ve got a series.” - George Lucas
DarthStarkiller1234, who would you have gone for to play Anakin, and also Kenobi?
“Don’t tell anyone… but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories - let’s call them homages - and you’ve got a series.” - George Lucas
I would have said someone like Sam Niell would be a good fit for Sebastian Shaw in the Clone Wars. But depicting the earlier days of Obi-wan having to train Anakin is tougher, unless they started a prequel trilogy like 1986. Obi-wan would have to be someone like Jared Harris if they did it in the late 90s.
I would have said someone like Sam Niell would be a good fit for Sebastian Shaw in the Clone Wars. But depicting the earlier days of Obi-wan having to train Anakin is tougher, unless they started a prequel trilogy like 1986. Obi-wan would have to be someone like Jared Harris if they did it in the late 90s.
Sam Neill would be a superb fit. That “duality” quality he brings to that certain type of role, like in The Omen, would be interesting to see onscreen as Anakin.
Jared Harris, the actor from The Expanse and that Beatles 2-man special? I like that. Someone like him or Branagh as Kenobi in a 90s PT for sure. Heath Ledger is a name bandied about online as a possibility as Anakin, he’d be a good fit for the role and counterpoint to a Branagh/Harris Kenobi.
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.
If Anakin was a pilot and cunning warrior, I picture someone like Han Solo, but also headstrong and foolhardy like Luke.
He sounds like someone who willingly joined up to fight in the Clone Wars and wasn’t a Jedi, that he was discovered to have such talents at an older age by Kenobi who was his friend?
An actor of that caliber in the 1990s who could have pulled off a Harrison Ford type, but someone with a darkness to them. Val was good as Madmartigan a Han Solo like character, I don’t know if he’s charismatic enough though.
He just wouldn’t have the smuggler or slacker thing Han had he be more about duty, loyalty and the cause. Someone bored by moisture farming, his brother Owen wanted him to join the family business, but he left to join the clone wars and never came home, became Darth Vader. Does Owen think he died or knows he is Vader, that much was always in doubt. I do accept he blamed Kenobi for Anakin never coming home from the wars.
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.
«No one is guilty of being born a slave. But the slave to whom not only aspirations for freedom are alien, but who justifies and paints his slavery in rosy colors, such a slave is a lackey and a brute who arouses a legitimate sense of indignation, disgust and repugnance.»
— Vladimir Lenin
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.
“Don’t tell anyone… but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories - let’s call them homages - and you’ve got a series.” - George Lucas
If Anakin was a pilot and cunning warrior, I picture someone like Han Solo, but also headstrong and foolhardy like Luke.
He sounds like someone who willingly joined up to fight in the Clone Wars and wasn’t a Jedi, that he was discovered to have such talents at an older age by Kenobi who was his friend?
An actor of that caliber in the 1990s who could have pulled off a Harrison Ford type, but someone with a darkness to them. Val was good as Madmartigan a Han Solo like character, I don’t know if he’s charismatic enough though.
He just wouldn’t have the smuggler or slacker thing Han had he be more about duty, loyalty and the cause. Someone bored by moisture farming, his brother Owen wanted him to join the family business, but he left to join the clone wars and never came home, became Darth Vader. Does Owen think he died or knows he is Vader, that much was always in doubt. I do accept he blamed Kenobi for Anakin never coming home from the wars.
I always imagined him as starting as a Luke-esque character and then ages into a Proto-Vader. As Luke is often compared to Anakin in the OT. What do you think about Jude Law as a late 90s/early 2000s Anakin?
Just get Mark Hamill and have him do his Joker voice.
Okay, jokes aside, I think Jake Gyllenhaal would have been an interesting choice. This was around when Donnie Darko came out, so he can definitely pull off the dark side of Anakin.
At first I wasn’t sure about DiCaprio, but after thinking about it this was around when he did Gangs of New York and The Aviator, so I can sort of see it, since this was when he was playing more intense and dramatic roles.
Someone else said Heath Ledger, who I think would have been good. Probably wouldn’t have happened at that time, but it’s an interesting proposal.
Or hell, just do a few rewrites and I think Hayden would have been fantastic. He looks the part and he has some good moments when the dialogue isn’t getting in the way.
As the younger Anakin, Haley Joel Osment would have been a better choice than Jake Lloyd. Or Devon Michael (the other kid they had in the Phantom Menace making of.) His audition showed a lot of promise. Especially when he said the line “I won’t always be.” That part made me genuinely sad when I first saw it.
All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph!
Just get Mark Hamill and have him do his Joker voice.
Okay, jokes aside, I think Jake Gyllenhaal would have been an interesting choice. This was around when Donnie Darko came out, so he can definitely pull off the dark side of Anakin.
At first I wasn’t sure about DiCaprio, but after thinking about it this was around when he did Gangs of New York and The Aviator, so I can sort of see it, since this was when he was playing more intense and dramatic roles.
Someone else said Heath Ledger, who I think would have been good. Probably wouldn’t have happened at that time, but it’s an interesting proposal.
Or hell, just do a few rewrites and I think Hayden would have been fantastic. He looks the part and he has some good moments when the dialogue isn’t getting in the way.As the younger Anakin, Haley Joel Osment would have been a better choice than Jake Lloyd. Or Devon Michael (the other kid they had in the Phantom Menace making of.) His audition showed a lot of promise. Especially when he said the line “I won’t always be.” That part made me genuinely sad when I first saw it.
Dicaprio looks today a lot like Sebastian Shaw, he would age nicely into the role