Jar Jar Binks Actor Says His 'Career Began And Ended' With Hated 'Star Wars' Role
Ahmed Best, who portrayed Jar Jar Binks in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.” Is upset.
The actor admitted as much in an interview Saturday, saying “everybody came for me” and his acting.
Best, whose character remains one of the most reviled in all of “Star Wars” lore, still remembers rehearsals vividly.
“This was the first time I was going to do the Jar Jar voice in front of people,” Best told People. “And to be honest, I didn’t know if I was going to do it at that reading or not. I was like, ‘I might do it, I might not.’ And as I’m reading as the first few pages go by, I’m in my head.”
But when he did, in fact, bust out the character’s now-infamous singsong voice, “everybody in the room goes crazy for it. So I was like, ‘OK, all right. I got that one out. I’m supposed to be here now.’”
Best was a burgeoning actor before he was cast in the highly-anticipated “Star Wars” prequel, the first since the original trilogy ended in 1983, opposite Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. But he soon became the face of fans’ disappointment with the film.
While he’s kept most of these frustrations to himself since 1999, Best has stopped mincing words.
“My career began and ended. I didn’t know what to do. ... It had never happened before in history,” he told People of the intense hatred for the character. “Especially with the internet component. Now there’s an entire field of psychology based on it.”
He noted, too, that he was “first person,” and in particular the “first Black person,” to play a fully computer-generated character in a live-action movie.
The reaction to Jar Jar was so negative that Best even considered suicide. But he told People that he “didn’t want to hurt my family like that,” and genuinely “felt the injustice of it all.”
“How could I have achieved such a wonderful thing, and then nothing?” Best added. “Nothing. I was longing to continue. I wanted to continue this work. I wanted to continue moving in this direction and seeing what the CGI thing could turn into.”
The character disappeared from “Star Wars” films before long. But Best said he hopes to see the clumsy alien again.
“I would love just for there to be some really good closure, just to know what happened to Jar Jar,” he told People. “And then I don’t think it needs to be tragic. There was this one piece of Star Wars literature where Jar Jar ended up being this homeless clown in the streets.”
“I was like, ‘I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s Jar Jar’s fate,’” Best continued.
If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.
