{"id":35653,"date":"2015-12-29T15:59:37","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T22:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/?p=35653"},"modified":"2019-03-06T15:05:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T23:05:46","slug":"leonardo-dicaprio-anakin-skywalker-star-wars-prequels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/leonardo-dicaprio-anakin-skywalker-star-wars-prequels\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Originally Turned Down the Role of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars Prequels?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, the much-maligned Star Wars<\/strong><\/em><\/a> prequels almost had a very different actor in the lead role of Anakin Skywalker. So who did George Lucas originally want in the role?<\/p>\n

None other than everyone’s Oscar-hopeful, Leonardo DiCaprio!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phew, he really missed a bullet there, didn’t he?<\/p>\n

… Or did we miss out on a potentially better trilogy? It’s impossible to tell – after all, Ewan McGregor did the best he could, but Natalie Portman, who later went on to win an Oscar, gave uninspired performances in all three films, which just goes to show not everyone could handle those scripts.<\/p>\n

DiCaprio, who was just coming off the massive success of 1997’s Titanic,<\/em> apparently decided that he “just didn\u2019t feel ready to take that dive at that point.”<\/p>\n

After starring in movies like Inception, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street,<\/em> and The Revenant,<\/em> he’s probably not losing much sleep over this. At least he avoided the fate of Hayden Christensen. Seriously, where did he go?<\/em><\/p>\n

Still, it’s interesting to imagine the trilogy with DiCaprio in the main role. He could have changed the entire thing. Can you see him in the role? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n

Source: Business Insider<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"