No matter how much you despised Jar Jar Binks in the three Star Wars prequels – a “Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit on platform hoofs, crossed annoyingly with Butterfly McQueen”, said the Wall Street Journal – just remember, it could have been so much worse. In fact, it could have been unbelievably worse: instead of an annoying CGI character, Jar Jar Binks might have been played by Michael Jackson in prosthetics.

In an interview with Vice, Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks, said Jackson had wanted the role in the 1999 movie Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. “That’s what George [Lucas] told me,” he said. “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.’ 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.”

Jackson was a keen Star Wars fan, with lifesize figures of Darth Vader, C-3PO and Boba Fett being among his personal possessions at his Neverland ranch.

For all that he was the King of Pop, Jackson’s acting career never really took off. He played the Scarecrow in The Wiz, the 1978 pop adaptation of The Wizard of Oz – starring a possibly-by-then-just-a-little-old-for-the-role Diana Ross as Dorothy, and took voice roles in some cartoons. His only other Hollywood role was a brief appearance as Agent M in Men in Black II.

Jar Jar Binks, meanwhile, went on to a screen afterlife as a figure of ridicule, being mocked on shows such as South Park, The Simpsons and Robot Chicken.