Remember when DiCaprio was the rumored Anakin?
 

Here's just a "what if" post.

Just after the insane success of Titanic, there was much buzz that Leonardo DiCaprio was the forerunner to play Anakin Skywalker during the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. Still facing much backlash from his extreme overexposure, most fanboys, and the public in general were very much against DiCaprio in the part. In his stead, we got Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christiansen.

I've just finished watching The Aviator again, and for goodness sakes, DiCaprio would have been an incredible choice for Anakin Skywalker from the get-go. Even with the stunted, stilted, inane dialogue that critics are so fond of dismissing the prequels for - I think his ability to act through expressions and not merely words would have made him a very good choice.

I'm not complaining about the final choices - well, perhaps Jake Lloyd more so than Hayden Christiansen. Had DiCaprio signed up with Lucas, he most likely wouldn't have been able to make two VERY solid films: Gangs of New York and Aviator with Scorsese (cementing his place among our generations finest actors).

Please don't threadcrap. We now know how everything played out, and hindsight is MUCH clearer than foresight - so we should be able to look at things from all angles.

Would Leo have made a good Anakin Skywalker? Would the prequels have put a blotch on his rising star (as they have Natalie Portman's to some extent)? Let's hear what you think.

<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=424144">yes</a>

a) I did not like anything about Gangs (haven't seen Aviator) so I certainly don't put it in the "solid films" category.
b) I don't think the prequels have put any kind of blotch at all on Natalie Portman, really in any way shape or form.
c) No I think Leo would have been horrible as Anakin, I think Hayden did a fine job given the script material he had to work with.

Sorry for the repost. My fault. That other thread included everything I was wondering...