My second installment of why Leonardo DiCaprio shouldn't be Anakin Skywalker actually falls more under the category of why he WON'T be Anakin Skywalker. Before I present that, however, let me address something Thrillhouse brought up.

Yes, the actors of TPM were much farther up the stardom scale than anyone from the original trilogy. But you must remember that at no point did any of the TPM actors do things like cause a stampede at a movie premiere, or cause widescale fainting spells and moshpit-like shoving contests as Leonardo DiCaprio often does amongst his female fans. Also, no TPM actor has ever attracted the kind of media ass-kissing that Leo attracts from everyone from legit news agencies to Entertainment Tonight. Finally, none of the TPM actors are posers...they don't TRY to be movie stars...Leo, on the other hand, looks like he's going to collapse under the weight of those fake "I've got the burden of the world on me because I'm an actor...no one understands my art" expressions he is wont to have any time he appears in public. That little performance may fool the media and the chicks, but it doesn't fool me. That is what I mean when I say that he would not only attract too much star power to the remaining prequels, but he would draw the wrong KIND of star power as well...the superficial poser stuff where everyone just wants him to smile like Tom Cruise and to hell with whatever movie he maybe in...something about a war with stars in it.

Today's installment comes from the man itself, George Lucas. It certainly isn't a stone etching, but we all know that when The Lucas has made up his mind, it stays made. This is an exact quote from Lucas during an interview with Leonard Maltin:

LUCAS: The chances are extremely good that whoever gets cast as Anakin is going to be somebody that nobody has ever heard of before.

MALTIN: Why?

LUCAS: Just because that's the way all my films have been cast. The general cast have always been...around, but not that well known.

This supports my argument that the casting of unknowns has always been somewhat intentional by Lucas.

By God, He will NOT be Anakin Skywalker... However, I will be seeing The Beach. I will watch it with every single scene, every moment of screentime, with Leo mentally deleted out of the picture and Ewan MacGregor in his place. That and the X-Men trailer.

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John Paige
1.29.2000

Dairy Farmers For Quebec's Independence