YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!
Let’s take a moment of silence for Hayden Christensen.
…
No, he’s not dead, but Hayden’s portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequel trilogy did little to advance his career in Hollywood.
The trilogy’s poor reception, as well as Christensen’s criticized performances in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, have stunted the poor actor’s career to the point that his biggest film last year was a direct to video movie co-starring Nic Cage (shout out to Outcast).
Anyway, although Christensen’s post-Ani career wasn’t great, what if someone else had stepped into young Skywalker’s shoes?
Would the same fate await an already established young actor, like say, Leonardo DiCaprio?
Back in the early 2000’s, George Lucas was busy casting a young adult Anakin for Episode II. Numerous, if not hundreds, of actors were considered for this role, but perhaps the most prolific was Leo DiCaprio.
In a recent interview with ShortList, DiCaprio revealed he had met with Lucas about playing Anakin, but ultimately, he turned it down.
DiCaprio explained he wasn’t ready to “take that dive” at that point in his career.
God bless whoever made this beautiful creation.
While Leo didn’t jump in the pool with Lucas back in 2002, it was that same year that he appeared in Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, and Gangs of New York, the first of his many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese.
So back to the hypothetical question: would Leo’s career have sunk if he had put on the Vader mask?
Well, possibly; those two films that he chose instead of Star Wars really shaped his acclaimed career. In Bizarro World, maybe Christensen would have starred in The Wolf of Wall Street, and DiCaprio in Outcast.
One more what-if: Could DiCaprio have made the prequels better movies?
We’ll never know, but few actors can make dialogue like “I don’t like sand” compelling.
Keep your chin up, Hayden. I almost liked you in Outcast.
