Film + TV

Michael Jackson almost played Star Wars' despised Jar Jar Binks

by Jesse Locke

Since its 1999 box office release, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace has drawn flack from fans for a bumbling CGI annoyance named Jar Jar Binks. If you’ve been lucky enough to wipe him from your memory, this member of an amphibian space race called the Gungans speaks in a baffling blend of English, Caribbean and infant goo-goo. While he’s definitely not as bad as the anti-Semitic human trafficker Watto, our response to Jar Jar remains “how wude.”

In a recent Vice interview with Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best, the magazine buried the lede with its casual confirmation that the role almost went to Michael Jackson. Best believes Star Wars godhead George Lucas decided not to give MJ the job because his fame would have overshadowed the rest of the prequel.

“Me, Natalie Portman, and George’s kids — we were at Wembley arena at Michael Jackson’s concert,” says Best. “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.”

This bizarre anecdote was first revealed in a Reddit AMA last year, though it seems no one took Best seriously at the time. As many have pointed out, however, an auction at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch included an impressive collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Of course there’s also the fact that the King of Pop starred in Captain EO, a 3D sci-fi film produced by Lucas that screened at Disney parks.

Would a moonwalking Jar Jar saying “shamone” instead of “mesa comen” been less irritating? We’ll never know for sure, but he did do a bang-up job with “Do The Bartman.”