Let’s be honest, there are a lot of things wrong with the Star Wars prequels besides Jar Jar Binks, but for an assortment of reasons the character was and still is universally despised by fans of the franchise. The fully-digital Gungan was performed by Ahmed Best, who wore a motion-capture suit, but did you know that the King of Pop lobbied for the role and tried to convince Lucas to use practical makeup effects?
Last year during a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Best disclosed that Michael Jackson really wanted to play Jar Jar Binks and now he has shared some additional information.
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“Me, Natalie Portman, and George’s kids—we were at Wembley arena at Michael Jackson’s concert. We were taken backstage and we met Michael. There was Michael and Lisa Marie [Presley]. George introduced me as “Jar Jar” and I was like, That’s kind of weird. Michael was like, “Oh. OK.” I thought, What is going on? After Michael had driven off, we all go back up to a big afterparty. I’m having a drink with George and I said, “Why did you introduce me as Jar Jar?” He said, “Well, Michael wanted to do the part but he wanted to do it in prosthetics and makeup like Thriller,” Best told Vice. George wanted to do it in CGI. My guess is ultimately Michael Jackson would have been bigger than the movie, and I don’t think he wanted that.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives in theaters December 18, 2015.
