Hayden Christensen Thought He’d Lose ‘Star Wars’ Role Once He Heard Leonardo DiCaprio Met With Lucasfilm: Playing Anakin ‘Just Wasn’t a Possibility’

After a wait that felt like years, Lucasfilm finally unveiled the first look and trailer of the new “Star Wars” mystery thriller, “The Acolyte.” With the veil on the shadowy, secretive project lifted, the show’s creator, Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll”), could finally delve into the series’ details. In A new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Headland spoke about the series’ influences, such as “Kill Bill” and “Rashomon,” and how exactly she pitched the idea to Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy.

Star Wars‘ Millennium Falcon.The special coin will be released this year, with the Royal Mint also unveiling three other vehicles from the franchise that will adorn coins this year – namely the TIE Fighter, X-Wing and Death Star II.The Millennium Falcon coin depicts the ship mid-flight, as well as the Rebel Alliance symbol that reveals itself when the coin is titled towards the light.“We are delighted to celebrate the Star Wars franchise’s numismatic return with a series of coins dedicated to its iconic vehicles,” said Royal Mint’s Rebecca Morgan.A new @StarWarsUK™ coin featuring one of the most iconic vehicles in the history of cinema has landed.The legendary Millennium Falcon is the first to appear on a UK 50p.Add to your collection here – https://t.co/7B0cvZ1XBs pic.twitter.com/mf8I6FvQCp— The Royal Mint (@RoyalMintUK) March 18, 2024“We are excited to enthuse new and existing coin collectors across the world and capture the imaginations of Star Wars’ thriving fan base.”The Royal Mint previously released a series of character coins to mark Return Of The Jedi‘s 40th anniversary last year, including Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.In other Star Wars news, a report released last week from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed just how much money Disney has made from the franchise since it bought Star Wars over a decade ago.According to the report, the company has made around $12billion from Star Wars, almost three times what it paid for the franchise ($4.05billion).However, it doesn’t stand as Disney’s most profitable franchise, with Frozen, Toy Story and the Avengers being the top three most valuable assets for the company.Meanwhile, star Ewan McGregor has given fans an update on season two of Obi-Wan

A new 50p coin that will excite Star Wars fans has been unveiled, commemorating one of the most notable aspects of the film franchise.

Billy Dee Williams originated the Lando Calrissian character in the Star Wars universe and would not mind reprising the role in future projects if they make a good monetary offer.

Aspyr has admitted a series of “critical errors” impacted the launch of the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection.Originally announced last month, the Classic Collection brought together the first two Star Wars Battlefront games for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series.Alongside the base games, the package included a number of bonus levels and characters as well as an online multiplayer mode that was advertised as allowing up to 64 players to take part in challenges like conquest, capture the flag, hunt, hero assault, and space assault.However, when Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection launched yesterday (March 14), players found themselves facing a number of bugs and glitches, alongside a seemingly tiny number of servers available for multiplayer. Currently the game has an “overwhelmingly negative” rating on Steam, with just 19 per cent of players leaving a positive review due to the issues.In a statement, Aspyr wrote: “We’d like to thank the Battlefront community for their overwhelming support and feedback for the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection release.

A long time ago, in galaxy far, far away…or wait, just this galaxy in December 2020, Patty Jenkins was set to launch the next spate of post-“The Rise Of Skywalker” “Star Wars” movies with “Rogue Squadron,’ with the movie hitting theaters on December 22, 2023. Obviously, that never happened, with Kathleen Kennedy & co.

Warner Bros. is shuffling the deck of its release date calendar.

Matt Reeves‘ The Batman 2 is no longer opening on Oct. 3, 2025 –a new launchpad for Comic Book movies– rather Oct. 2, 2026. We hear the new date is due to the aftermath of the dual strikes.

With every round of Academy Award nominations, there are bound to be a few disappointments. In years past, the Oscars were criticized for snubbing "Straight Outta Compton" in all categories and for the failure to recognize Samuel L. Jackson's work in "Django Unchained" and Gary Oldman's performance in "Leon: The Professional." This year is no different, with stars being looked over in both the acting and directing categories.

Star Wars movie.Walken, who stars in the recent critically acclaimed movie Dune: Part Two, recalled the opportunity he had to star in George Lucas’ sci-fi action franchise, and shared the fellow Oscar-winner with whom he shared the process.Speaking with Vanity Fair, the star opened up about the experience: “I think it was for Han Solo,” he shared. “Yes, I auditioned for it.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” notably features the acting return of Christoper Walken, who hasn’t been seen on the big screen in four years. The Oscar winner had a trio of films released in 2020 (“The War with Grandpa,” “Percy” and “Wild Mountain Thyme”) and then went on a hiatus from moviemaking (he did show up in the 2022 television series “Severance.”) Now, he joins “Dune: Part Two” as Shaddam IV, aka the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. Why did Walken decide to make “Dune: Part Two” his comeback? It’s a question Vanity Fair asked the Oscar winner in a new interview, to which Walken responded: “I had, of course, seen the first ‘Dune’ a number of times.

A Playboy model has spilled the beans on Leonardo DiCaprio, saying he's got strange habits in bed and isn't great at kissing. Model, Hieke Konings, 22, told everyone she kissed the 49 year old actor at a secret club in Los Angeles. However, the stunner wasn't too impressed as she dished on the kiss: "It was okay, but definitely not the best I've had." Detailing the moment, Hieke claimed she was called over to Leo after they locked eyes and spoke for a while before kissing,reports The Mirror Online.

Star Wars franchise to Leonardo DiCaprio – see what he had to say below.Christensen, who was ultimately cast as Anakin Skywalker (and Darth Vader), recently spoke to Empire Magazine about the character, and creator George Lucas’ filmmaking process. Before Christensen was cast as the iconic character, it was revealed that Lucas was talking to several big stars for the role.One such name was Leonardo DiCaprio. Lucas speaking to DiCaprio led Christensen to believe that he had had no shot at landing the role of Anakin.

In a wide-ranging interview with Empire, Hayden Christensen has revealed his doubts that he’d win the role of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He also talked of its backlash.

While 2000’s “The Tipping Point” was writer Malcolm Gladwell‘s first book, it was 2005’s “Blink” that put him on the map. And the bestseller, all about the adaptive unconscious, captured the public’s imagination so much that Gladwell and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan had plans to make the book into a feature film.

Hayden Christensen is opening up about his Star Wars experience.

As Timothée Chalamet’s “Wonka” has quietly crossed the $600 million mark worldwide—a remarkable figure given the film wasn’t a box office smash but clearly had great sustained longevity theatrically—the actor is starring down his next lead role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” (read our review) It’s a film whose hype is so large at the moment it suggests it could best that “Wonka” record, but we’ll see if it has the same kind of four-quadrant appeal.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Timothée Chalamet first revealed in September 2022 that his “Don’t Look Up” co-star Leonardo DiCaprio once gave him brief but essential career advice: “No hard drugs and no superhero movies.” DiCaprio has never gone down the comic book movie route, and it’s a path Chalamet has also avoided so far despite the majority of his contemporaries signing up for Marvel and DC films in recent years. Is Chalamet still committed to DiCaprio’s advice? In a recent interview with The New York Times while on the press tour for “Dune: Part Two,” Chalamet said the door on starring in comic book movies is not completely shut the way it might be for DiCaprio.

Leonardo DiCaprio is spending the day with his girlfriend.

Hayden Christensen landed what was Hollywood’s biggest role at the time when he was cast as Anakin Skywalker in 2002′s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. We have since learned that he beat out some serious A-listers for the role!