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You know him as Jack Dawson, Jay Gatsby, Frank Abagnale Jr., and a host of other iconic roles, but could you ever imagine Leonardo DiCaprio as Anakin Skywalker? Well, it could have happened.
Leo talked to ShortList and revealed that he passed on the chance to play Anakin Skywalker in two of the three Star Wars prequels, 2002’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
“I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that, yes,” DiCaprio said. “[I] just didn’t feel ready to take that dive. At that point.”
Could you imagine? Anakeo?
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In the interview, Leo also revealed he turned down the role of Spider-man (which was played by his good friend Tobey Maguire) as well as the part of Robin in Batman Forever. But don’t count Leo out of a superhero movie just yet.
“You never know,” he said. “They’re getting better and better as far as complex characters in these movies. I haven’t yet. But no, I don’t rule out anything.”
Although the Star Wars prequels were full of big names including Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Samuel L. Jackson, Anakin was played by a relatively unknown actor. After Leo passed, Hayden Christensen was cast as the young Jedi turned Darth Vadar. (Forgot to say spoiler alert on purpose – you should all know this by now.)
In fact, Christensen talked about his role Tuesday in an interview with The Los Angeles Times. “I felt like I had this great thing in Star Wars that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me,” he said. “I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave.”
Oh, Leo. I don’t think that Anakin role would have gotten you the Oscar, so no worries.
