You know who would've made a great Anakin?

A long time ago I saw this photo alongside one of Sebastian Shaw.

The more I think about it, the more it seems right.

I think Lucas is wise in sticking with relatively unknown actors. Better to have people saying, "Oh, Anakin from the Star Wars movies is in this new movie" rather than, "Oh, Batman is playing Anakin in the next Star Wars movie" (yeah, I know I am a bit anachronistic there).

When you use a known actor, he already has an identity in the audiences mind. If you go with a relatively unknown, a few people will have seen the TV show he was in, but for the vast majority of the audience, you and your movie will be creating his identity, assuming your movie is an big as Star Wars that is. Harrison Ford will be either Han Solo or Indiana Jones until the day he dies, no other role will ever change that.

Besides, Bale seems to have become the default go to guy for dark brooding hero roles. Glad he wasn't grow'd up Ani, it would be like casting Harrison Ford as the hero in an adventure film like The Mummy, it is too easy of a casting choice and it becomes redundant. Of course, if he had been cast in Ep. II, it would have been before Batman, which would mean someone else would have played Batman, and that would have sucked. Definitely could have done better than Hayden, but I don't think Bale was the man for the job.

I meant those roles defined him. For the rest of Harrison Ford's life, people see him as his defining roles.

DarkFather said: Needless to say, he wasn't an unknown when cast as Indiana.

Right, but Jones is basically Han Solo in Earth's 1930's. A lot of people don't want to admit that, but it is true. It was a risky thing to do, but ended up working quite well.

Those two characters (Jones and Solo) are very different in back story and position in life, but their personality is very much the same. Indiana Jones could almost have been in a Marvel What If comic titled, "What If... Han Solo Were Born In 1930's America".

I think you got a little too hung up on my Harrison Ford comments. My point was, Anakin Skywalker, Bruce Wayne, John Connor, all very similar characters in some ways. I for one think it is lame when the same actor is constantly pasted into the same sort of role in big blockbuster flicks. Simply put: Bale overload, bad.

But had he been Anakin instead of Bruce Wayne, I have the feeling Star Wars wouldn't have boostered his career as Batman did. Rather it would be something he'd have to fight to overcome, like McGregor and Portman.

Anakin, Batman, and John Connor. I don't see any notable similarities rather than the fact they fall under the very, very broad category of "dark." That's a far cry from being a typecast.

But had he been Anakin instead of Bruce Wayne, I have the feeling Star Wars wouldn't have boostered his career as Batman did. Rather it would be something he'd have to fight to overcome, like McGregor and Portman.

Had he been in the role, the prequels might very well have been more warmly received critically. So the obstacles MacGregor and Portman face now might not have been there. Of course this is all speculation, not to mention completely beside the point.

You seem to feel the role of Anakin was what killed the prequels. I think it had a lot more going against it than Hayden Christenson. He wasn't even in TPM, and that was still poorly recieved.

Anyway, you are probably right, Bale would have been a cool Anakin.

TheBoost said:

Although how famous was Bale back when AOTC came out?

He had been in a lot of high profile movies by that time and his name was well known. He had been in Disney's Treasure Island with Charlton Heston, Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, and The Newsies, to name a few off the top of my head.

In 2002, the same year AOTC was released, he starred in the (semi) Fahrenheit 451 adaption titled Equilibrium and was big enough to have his name advertised on the movie poster (though I think the movie was a bit of a flop, I for one rather liked it).

I had never heard the name Ewan McGregor before it was announced that he would be playing the role of Obi-Wan.

And you're right, he is a little old for Anakin. He only three years younger than Ewan McGregor, and in my opinion could pass for older than McGregor.

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.

TheBoost said:

C3PX said:

TheBoost said:

Although how famous was Bale back when AOTC came out?

 

He had been in a lot of high profile movies by that time and his name was well known. He had been in Disney's Treasure Island with Charlton Heston, Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, and The Newsies, to name a few off the top of my head.

In 2002, the same year AOTC was released, he starred in the (semi) Fahrenheit 451 adaption titled Equilibrium and was big enough to have his name advertised on the movie poster (though I think the movie was a bit of a flop, I for one rather liked it).

 

 I guess he was a mid to low level movie star. Not particuarly more famous than Ewan McGregor was (although i think a  bit old for Anakin).

But he did kick ass in Newsies.

Certainly too old for Anakin as the prequels stand now, but I fervently believe that the huge age gap was a mistake (particularly given the nine-year-old character introduction, complete with an embarrassingly cringe-worthy delivery by Jake "Are you an angel?" Lloyd). If Anakin had been closer to Obi-Wan's age, the comraderie between them George wanted to establish in Ep. II and - on an even deeper level - Ep. III, would've worked far better. Furthermore, such an approach (casting someone Bale's age in Ep. I) would've heightened the tension in Ep. V when Luke asks to be trained, and Yoda is initially insistent that he's too old. The audience would be thinking, "Uh oh, Anakin was about this age when he started training, and look how badly that turned out! Is Luke going to fall too?"

If Anakin were older in the prequels, there's a better chance we could have been spared from his ridiculous teenage tantrums.

Hayden's toddler tone when speaking only made it worse.

I would have made a great Anakin

So 20 years older than the Anakin we have now. I don't know if that's true of the original scripts, but I do like the idea of an old Vader.

Well, it just depends on the time frame of when the movie was made.  If it's Star Wars, then Vader's the evil, young apprentice.  If it's Return of the Jedi, then Vader's the old contemporary of Obi-Wan (which is why he's Sebastian Shaw).  And if it's through the lens of the prequels, then both of them are suddenly pretty young.  That's what happens when you make it up as you go along.

rcb said:

i dunno. the heavy voice and evil in vader doesn't amount to a old man to me.

Old men can't be evil? His voice is the result of a changer and amplifier in his mask. That was made obvious enough in ROTJ.

he's not  a grumpy old grandpa.

Nobody ever said he was. Try "evil, aged enforcer for the Empire."

Gaffer Tape said:

Well, it just depends on the time frame of when the movie was made.  If it's Star Wars, then Vader's the evil, young apprentice.  If it's Return of the Jedi, then Vader's the old contemporary of Obi-Wan (which is why he's Sebastian Shaw).  And if it's through the lens of the prequels, then both of them are suddenly pretty young.  That's what happens when you make it up as you go along.

For some reason I have always had the impression that Anakin was younger than Obi-Wan. Just the whole, "he was a pupil of mine" thing has always made me think of him as younger. Even in Return of the Jedi, Vader being Obi-Wan's evil young apprentice was true, only now it has been revealed that Anakin and the evil young apprentice were one and the same.

There was no reason for Obi-Wan to make up the evil young apprentice thing, which would ultimately not be true by any point of view or stretch of the imagination if he was referring to his friend who was the same age as him.

I think the type of relationship we needed to see in the prequels was two young men who had such love and respect for each other that they were like brothers. Instead, we got the irritated father and resentful son sort of thing going on. You never get much of an impression that Anakin cares all that much for Obi-Wan, even when Obi-Wan is captured in Ep2 it is Padme who wants to go rescue him, while Anakin was content to follow orders and sit and sulk (my goodness those are awful movies!!! even just drawing up memories of them is painful!)