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20th Century Fox Executives Said Star wars Creator George Lucas, he would “destroy the franchise” if he proceeded with plans to center his first prequel film on 10-year-old Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader. Lucas ultimately chose Jake Lloyd to portray a young Anakin, a Force-born slave on the desert planet of Tatooine, in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace opposite Jedi Professors Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). In the second full volume of The Star Wars Archives (1999–2005), released December 13 and covering the set of Lucas’ Prequel trilogy, the writer-director recalls distributor Fox worried about child Anakin:
“You are going to destroy the franchise, you are going to destroy everything!” Lucas recounts, adding that he has told others at Lucasfilm that he is “making a movie that nobody wants to see.”
In a 1999 issue of Empire Magazine, released just weeks after the record box office success of The phantom menace, Lucas admitted the film would have been “more marketable” with teenager Anakin and 18-year-old Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), but said “that’s not the story”.
“I kept it as originally planned. You can’t play too much in the market. It’s the same with the fans,” Lucas said. “The expectations of the fans had become very high and they wanted a film that was going to change their life and be the second coming. You know, I can’t do this, it’s just a movie. And I can’t say, now I have to market it to a whole different audience. I tell the story. “
Lucas explained, “I knew if I had made Anakin 15 instead of new then it would have been more marketable. If I had done the Queen 18 instead of 14 then it would have been more marketable. But it’s not. It’s important that he’s young, that he’s at an age where leaving his mother is more of a drama than it would have been at 15. So you just have to do what’s good for the movie, not what’s good for the market. “
In that same interview, Lucas described what would become Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones as a “love story” and the possible Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith like a tragedy and “very, very dark”.
“The next movie is a love story and I don’t know how it’s going to be taken by the fans. They are thinking about Star wars like some kind of movie, “he said at the time.” And it drifted a bit more – by nature it’s a love story, it’s less of a children’s movie because ‘They don’t like to spend all that disgusting stuff. But he’s still aiming for the same age level, so it’s going to be a real challenge for me to get through that part. And then the third movie is very, very, very dark. This is not a happy movie by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a tragedy. People think about Star wars movies like happy movies. What are they going to do with a tragedy, I don’t know. It will probably be the least successful of all Star wars movies – but I know it. “
Hayden Christensen to take over as ten-year-old Anakin Episode ii and become Darth Vader in Episode iii.
The entire Star wars Saga is now streaming on Disney +.
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