Michael Jackson is rightly known as the King of Pop thanks to the decades of No. 1 hits he produced over his career. Perhaps no other artist of the last 50 years put out as many memorable top charters as Jackson. But amid his music career, Jackson also popped up in a few films and television shows to create a sporadic IMDB page for acting. Apparently, that page could have included one very big entry in the "Star Wars" prequels as Jackson reportedly had his heart set on playing Jar Jar Binks in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" in 1999.
Vice recently spoke with Ahmed Best, the actor who portrayed Jar Jar in the prequels. They asked him about a comment he made during a Reddit AMA where he mentioned Jackson's affinity for the role. He recalled being backstage as a Michael Jackson concert with George Lucas, his kids and Natalie Portman when they got the chance to meet the King of Pop himself.
"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 after party. 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 in CGI."
While there is a small but passionate contingent of "Star Wars" fans that defend the prequels, the majority of movie-goers are in agreement that the new trilogy left a lot to be desired. But perhaps the biggest unifier in the "Star Wars" universe is the shared hatred of Jar Jar's character. Practically no audience anywhere in this galaxy enjoyed the awkward, borderline racist comic relief of Jar Jar Binks. But would reactions to the character been different had Jackson been in the role?
Alas, we'll never know.
