LOS ANGELES, Dec. 30, 2015 (UPI) — Leonardo DiCaprio was once asked to take on the role of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels.
Speaking with ShortList in a recent interview, the Revenant actor revealed he met with George Lucas about the part, but ultimately turned it down.
“[I] just didn’t feel ready to take that dive. At that point,” DiCaprio, 41, said when asked why he didn’t sign on to the Star Wars franchise in the early 2000s. He also revealed he was approached to play Spider-Man before Tobey Maguire and Robin in Batman Forever.
“As I recall I took the meeting, but I didn’t want to play the role,” the actor said of the Batman Forever flick. “I don’t think I was ready for anything like that.”
Skywalker was ultimately played by Hayden Christensen in 2002. The ghost of Skywalker — not his eventual Darth Vader character — was reportedly considered for a cameo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but did not become part of the script.
In a speculative article written by artist Iain McCaig, he discussed how Skywalker could possibly return to the film as his pre-Sith Lord character “because he does flow back and forth between Darth Vader and Anakin.”
Ultimately, the only stars connected to the Star Wars prequels who returned in this year’s revival were Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi).
