'Star Wars' Actor Contemplated Ending His Life After Fans' Negative Reactions to Character
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Actor Ahmed Best thought he was getting a dream role when he was cast as the voice of Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace, but the overwhelming backlash toward the character was so severe that it ultimately led him to contemplate suicide.
In an interview with The Guardian, Best opened up about almost ending his life by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge in the wake of the fandom's reaction. He recalled thinking at the time, "I'll show all of you. I'll show you what you're doing to me. And when I'm gone, then you'll feel exactly what I went through."
The 49-year-old shared that he was an "enormous Star Wars fan as a kid," going as far as having his mom make him Star Wars bedding and clothes. When the actor was a performer on Stomp, he was approached by a casting director who wanted him to audition for a movie role, without disclosing specifics. Best then found himself living out his childhood dream, auditioning at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch.
"I didn't know what was happening. I thought it was a prank," he recalled.
Though Best made history with one of the first CGI roles, noting that his "physical DNA is in every single CGI character since," many fans of the fantasy sci-fi franchise openly voiced how much they hated Anakin's goofy friend, going as far as making sites like JarJarBinksMustDie.com. Best also received death threats after his phone number was leaked.
"It was terrible. It was the lowest I've been in my life," he shared.
However, Best ended up reprising the character multiple times, including in the animated series The Clone Wars and most recently in The Mandalorian.
Interestingly, a major star initially wanted to play Jar Jar: Michael Jackson. In a 2015 interview with VICE, Best said he was told by Lucas that Jackson wanted the role, but wanted to perform it in prosthetics and makeup instead of the cutting-edge technology of CGI.
Best will detail the story of his experience playing the polarizing character on the upcoming TED-produced podcast The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks, hosted by Dylan Marron, the Ted Lasso writer and award-winning podcaster behind Conversations with People Who Hate Me.
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