The Guy Who Played Jar Jar Binks Says He’d Never Return To ‘Star Wars’ (Video)

Ahmed Best is the guy who played Jar Jar Binks; the most hated character in the Star Wars universe, and arguably one of the most despised movie characters of all time.  Someone tracked him down recently, and he reluctantly talked about his experience and it’s kind of tragic.

He said the inspiration for the voice came from reading children’s books to his nieces and nephews and that he was very excited about the challenge of the role, and had a lot of fun filming it.  Everything was great.  But then Star Wars fans mercilessly tore him a new one after “The Phantom Menace” came out.

Best said, “‘Star Wars’ was my first ‘most hated’ title in anything really.  It was painful.  Itwas a surprise.  Even though you play characters, you put a lot of your own personality into it, you get emotionally and personally invested in the work that you do, it’s your work, and you take pride in it.  So when your work is criticized negatively, you feel a hit.

For that reason, he says he’s NEVER doing another “Star Wars” movie, even if he’s asked.  “I think I’ve done my damage.  I’m good with where I stand in the ‘Star Wars’ universe.  I’d say no.  I thought it was great, it was fun, but now it’s time to move on.

For the record, he’s voiced Jar Jar in several episodes of “The Clone Wars”, including one just two years ago.

All that said, Ahmed has come to terms with the backlash.  “I can totally understand why, because when [adult fans] see a character that’s purely comical and purely for the children, they probably felt condescended to.  I can understand that they wanted a more serious story, but by the same token the children really like it.

Ahmed also confirmed talk that Michael Jackson wanted to pay Jar Jar.  It didn’t work out, partially because Michael wanted to do it with prosthetics like in his “Thriller” video, but George Lucas wanted to do it with CGI.