It’s kind of amazing, but there are some shots in which Leonardo DiCaprio and Hayden Christensen don’t look all that different. It’s interesting that there were no lines being spoken though, or perhaps it would have been too awkward to hear Hayden’s voice coming out of Leo’s mouth. It’s never been much of a problem before with Deepfakes, especially since some of the most insane combinations have been made over the past year or so. But perhaps those in charge simply had a different idea this time around and didn’t bother with it. At the very least it’s something that might have been interesting had it actually happened when the prequels were made, save for the fact that DiCaprio was too old at that time to play the younger version of Anakin, as he was in his 20s at that time. He could have likely taken Hayden Christensen’s part had he been into the whole idea of Star Wars. But as it’s been discovered with many actors, the thought of starring in a science fiction or fantasy movie just isn’t that appealing somehow.
One would think that many stars would see the appeal of it, but what it usually comes down to is that either the stars don’t want the role they’re being offered or they don’t have the time since they’re busy with something else. Unfortunately, this means that at times we tend to see actors that aren’t quite up to the role and don’t really make it work. Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen have both been on the receiving end for their performances over the years and as a lot of people likely know, Star Wars fans aren’t entirely forgiving when they don’t get what they want. Hell, I’m a Star Wars fan and there are times when I don’t think that the franchise is doing something right. But instead of trolling about it on the internet, it’s usually smart to do the grown-up thing and let it go.
It’s fair to think that Leonardo DiCaprio would have dropped the ball on this role as well since the truth is that this isn’t really his type of movie. Stuff like Titanic, The Basketball Diaries, The Wolf of Wall Street, actual stories that are based around real life, that’s where he tends to shine. The Revenant was another good example of Leo’s ability to take an existing story and do something with it. But anything that goes way beyond the realm of reality feels like it’s something that will challenge him a little too much and won’t end well. There might be a lot of people who would gladly argue this point since Leo is an Oscar-winner at this point…and that means next to nothing when talking about an actor and a role that they have no experience in. Maybe that’s why it’s easy to downplay such a thought because if one looks at DiCaprio’s movie list they’ll see that the closest he’s ever come to a movie like Star Wars is his brief time in Critters 3. And to be honest, it’s a safe bet that a lot of people don’t even remember that appearance for one reason or another.
There’s no attempt here to detract from his acting skills, but DiCaprio just isn’t the type of actor that’s needed for a star Wars movie which is why this attempt is amusing and even kind of funny but obviously never meant to be serious since it’s a fair bet that it would have been a disaster had anyone tried. There are some actors that can jump from genre to genre and make a seamless transition in the process. But Leo isn’t one of them, and in fact, has made it clear that he’s usually best in a couple of different genres and not much else. But people have loved him for quite a while and have followed him so diligently that it’s easy to think that a lot of folks might go to bat for him in order to testify that he could do just about anything he wanted to do if he had the inclination. Yeah, not really. Watching him in one movie after another there’s no doubt of his talent, but that same talent doesn’t feel as though it would transfer over in this manner since it feels as though we might get a Jedi with a Boston accent or perhaps a Jedi that sounded a little too snarky or uptight most of the time.
Some might say that part of that description sounds like Christensen anyway, but the big difference is that while Hayden kind of dropped the ball in the eyes of many fans, DiCaprio might not have been able to handle the ball in the first place, and that’s something that, despite being argumentative, is hard to deny.aren’t entirely forgiving
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