Ryan Phillippe...Turned down Anakin

Hayden Christensen didn't disappoint me, Lucas did. I believe Hayden did a fair to good job in AOTC and an excellent job in ROTS with the dialogue he was given. I just wish he was given better material to work with.

 

Sublime, I agree about DiCaprio. There are people out there who outright loathe that guy. And they felt that way before AOTC.

If we thought Hayden had a rough ride from fans, Leo would have had that before the opening crawl even finished.

 

The Leonard DiCaprio rumor was ridiculous from start to finish. There was no chance in hell Lucas was ever going to choose him for Anakin, yet people somehow really thought he was under serious consideration or was perfect for the role. It was all just the rumor mill on overtime speculating on DiCaprio because they lacked any sort of imagination or knowledge that the film industry had other relatively youthful actors.

 

I don't think Christensen's dialogue was that much worse than anyone else's. The lines Portman were given were catastrophic at times; the whole Mace-Anakin-Palpatine (Mace's death) dialogue was incomplete as was Anakin's turn. The dialogue Ewan was given at Mustafar was wholly inadequate. The best dialogue went to R2D2 and C3P0, with Yoda in a close 3rd. But the message of the movie got across and I think all of the actors did a great job with what they were given. There was only one actress that I thought did a fairly poor job in moments, but it was adequate.

 

So, is it true that Ryan Phillippe turned the role down?

 

I think it's something we'll never know for sure. My thoughts? Phillippe is ending his career because he's getting old and can no longer be the teenage heart throb he was after "I know what you did last summer.", "54" and "Cruel intentions."

He needs something to make it look like he's made a success of himself. Telling people he turned down Anakin makes him look "better" because he was too smart to get involved with the PT which is still frowned upon by many, many critics. However, I could never see him being truly considered for the role. Maybe Lucas had a vision to somewhat base the character off of some of Phillipes previous roles and acting, but like most already pointed out Lucas never likes the leading characters to be well known hollywood actors. Ewan was different, he's just great as Obi Wan and I could never picture anyone else playing him.

 

The best dialogue went to R2D2 and C3P0, with Yoda in a close 3rd.

R2 nailed every one of his lines.

R2D2's cousin, R6 7/8, is also claiming he turned down the role of Anakin.

 

Poor Mark Hammil, I remember the rumour/ news that he wanted to play Anakin. I guess he was turned down for the role too.

 

Im guessing you never saw Breech or Crash....


I don't think he was lying....

 

I'm glad for Hayden Christensen and the fan of STAR WARS that I am that he got the role of Anakin Skywalker. It is an amazing role and his casting and performance absolutely worked.

 

Yeah, if he says he was considered then he was--trust me, no one would make up being considered for Anakin Plank-of-wood Skywalker. I remember back in the day the Ryan Phillipe rumors were quite strong, and they weren't just the random ones you encounter but consistent and ongoing and from some reliable sources. So he was probably actually under consideration--how serious that consideration was is another matter, but I remember hearing in 2000 that he was one of the final choices being considered. I don't think he ever got screen tested or anything, but he was probably in some serious talks with McCallum or Lucas.

 

I remember this rumor, yes. Phillippe is a good actor. In the end though, Lucas went with Hayden and i'm gonna believe he was just simply the best for it.

I do think every actor had terrible lines to get thru (OT included), so it's just a matter of the individual buying the performance or not (although in some cases, some lines were painful for most ).

Wasnt it almost rumored at some point James Franco was considered for Anakin too? or was that something the fans made up?

 

I remember a thread in the 3SA of what would happen if one of the actors died before ROTS was filmed. I think it was decided that Franco should've taken Hayden's role, had he died.

 

dang, poor R6 7/8, I wonder if he even made it to the screen test stage? You gotta hand it to his cousin though, no matter what lines they threw at him, he was able to pull them off without a hitch.

 

Is this really news?
Or worthy of debate, even?
Casting for AOTC took place when?

And like Zombie said, is there anything Phillipe could have done to improve-upon "Mr. Wood-Plank's" character? Personally, I think Hayden was spot on... I mean, George wanted lots of furrowed-brows, with stiff-delivery and that is exactly what HC delivered.

 

darthhelmut
Im guessing you never saw Breech or Crash....

He was one of many who apparently didn't see them.

zombie, I agree it's possible that he was considered for the role, but did he turn it down? I think it might be what sublime suggested: he was considered and passed over, so he says he turned it down to make it sound like it was his decision.

 

Oh god, I know Lucas' dialogue wasn't great, but Hayden's gotta be one of the most wooden actors I've ever seen.

Every other actor was given crappy lines to deliver and managed to pull it off, although Portman was also terrible at times.....blame Lucas' direction if you want, but how come every single person not on this board I talk to always mentions Hayden's acting as being terrible?

There were some things he did nail, particularly in ROTS, but he never had the presence that someone like Anakin needed.

Franco would have been a better choice, although he might not have had the physical presence.

 

Sorry for the double post.

I should clarify that I was mostly a Hayden defender, but I recently watched AOTC and ROTS after not having watched them for over a year, and I was really struck by Hayden's acting negatively affecting the films.

 

For example?

 

His inability to deliver a line with convincing motivation.

 

I didn't like AOTC as much as ROTS, specifically talking about Hayden's performance.
I felt he was too brooding and too dark for a Padawan in AOTC, and not quite twisted enough as a conflicted Jedi Knight in ROTS... but his performance in that film was better than what he did in Episode II.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, there were scenes in AOTC were I felt Hayden was overacting or simply not giving a good performance. Overall I still felt he did a decent job, especially considering his fantastic performance in ROTS.

That's not to say I don't like Ryan Phillippe, because I do. I think he is a very good actor, and I particularly enjoyed his work on Breach.

 

Zombie
His inability to deliver a line with convincing motivation.

AOTC was far worse than RotS with this though.

I still blame Lucas for not giving his actors enough to work with though. That's his job.

 

Agreed.

 

I meant a specific example...other than the romantic falala in ATOC which no one could have delivered realistically - well maybe except R2D2.