Charlie Hunnam Reveals He Came Close to Playing Anakin Skywalker in ‘Attack of the Clones’
There’s been a small Star Wars twist coming out of the Rebel Moon press tour, but it’s not the one most people probably expected. It’s not just that the story of the film was at one point pitched by director Zack Snyder to Lucasfilm as set in a galaxy far, far away — apparently, one of its stars came rather close to being cast as Anakin Skywalker over 20 years ago.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Charlie Hunnam confirmed that he was among one of the top contenders to play the role back in 2000 when George Lucas was looking at different actors for the part — and eventually landed on Hayden Christensen. Said Hunnam when asked if it’s true he auditioned for the role:
“That is true, yeah. I had forgotten that until you said that. Years and years ago I met George Lucas.
I got to the point where I was meeting George Lucas. I don’t think he meets a lot of actors, I think there were probably two, maybe three actors they were considering. I don’t remember much about it. I remember that I was nervous, I was a little bit awkward and I remember walking out and thinking ‘Well, I’m definitely not getting that role.’ And I was correct. Sometimes it’s about the vibes.”
Ash Crossan, who did the interview, said she found out through a random piece of trivia, which meant the information was already out there, yet it was definitely news to most of us at Star Wars News Net. Despite not getting that role, Hunnam eventually broke out through the FX series Sons of Anarchy, and has been repeatedly getting roles in some of Hollywood’s big blockbusters over the past few years, including Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur or Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon films, the first of which is out this Friday.
As known to most by now, Hayden Christensen nabbed the part of Anakin for Attack of the Clones and, after a strong backlash against his performance, he struggled to find a life post-Star Wars. He even took four years away from acting. Now, he’s found a second life, once again through the Star Wars Disney Plus series, and is apparently thinking about relaunching his career, signing with his old talent agency a few weeks ago.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
