While I don’t think the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy quite warrants the hate it gets online, there are a couple of elements that are inarguably bad. The most obvious problem, of course, is Anakin Skywalker.
The character’s essentially the protagonist of the trilogy, yet a combination of some absolutely dreadful dialogue and a famously wooden performance by Hayden Christensen almost sinks the whole enterprise (Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan prevents the films from being total disasters). But perhaps things could have been different if George Lucas had gone with an alternative candidate for the role: Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks).
This alternate casting has been busily discussed on the r/StarWars subreddit over the last few days as apparently, Hanks was attached to the role very early on in development, only to be discarded because Lucas felt that Christensen had better chemistry with Natalie Portman. That will be a surprise to anyone who’s suffered through the romantic scenes in Attack of the Clones, which have to mark amongst the very worst moments in the Star Wars canon.
But what do the fans think of this alternate casting? Well, for the most part, they seem weirdly attached to Christensen, with the highest rated reply saying: “Hayden all the way.” Other users go on to criticize Colin Hanks’ work in season 6 of Dexter, saying they think he’d be unable to conjure up the anger and desperation needed to play Anakin. Later posts, meanwhile, point out that none other than Ryan Gosling was also in contention, which I would have loved to have seen on screen.
But, in a bit of a blow to Lucas, the majority of comments seem to agree with the notion that there simply isn’t an actor on the planet who could’ve made Anakin’s dialogue sound good. As Harrison Ford famously said to the director on the set of A New Hope: “George! You can type this shit, but you sure can’t say it!“
