Michael Jackson wanted to be Jar Jar

Posted By Scott on June 3, 1999

Rollingstone.Com posted a portion of their Star Wars article. It features Ahmed Best, and it had the following quote when Ahmed Best was showing the reporter his photo album from the set:

He brightens. "Here's Natalie [Portman]," he says. She was probably his best friend during shooting. "Natalie and me were from New York," he says. Once, in London, Portman, Lucas and Best went to a Michael Jackson concert. "Backstage, George introduced me. He goes, 'This is Ahmed, also known as Jar Jar Binks.' I thought, 'I wonder why he said that.' Come to find out, Michael was campaigning for the part. George said to cast him would compromise the movie because he's such a big star."

Compromising the movie is an understatement, eh? I aslo liked this quote:

Best shows another photo. "Here's me, Natalie Portman and Ewan in the hotel pool," he says. "Ewan parties hard. He parties very hard." Ewan would try to coax Best, who says he has never been drunk, into having a drink, to no avail. Best points at a shot of a smiling Neeson. "Every time I could make Liam crack up -- no matter how cheap the gag was, I'd go for it. Even though it probably wasted a lot of money. I was just trying to combat the whole Jedi seriousness."

"There were quite a few takes where I had to turn away from the camera," Neeson confirms. "Ahmed kept things light. Some of the film is so technical and demanding, and the costumes were so heavy, and I'm wearing wigs. Ahmed just cut through that stuff."

For the full article, buy the magazine or go to the link above for the excerpt.