Star Wars: 7 Perfect Performances & 7 That Sucked

3. Hayden Christensen As Anakin Skywalker

It's hard not to feel at least a little sorry for Hayden Christensen. As many have pointed out over the years, the material he was given to work with was hardly Shakespeare. As the stories go, at one point in time Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the part of Anakin, but even for an actor of his calibre it's hard to imagine him successfully navigating those 'romantic' scenes with Padmé. In the end, George Lucas stuck to his trend of casting relatively unknown actors for the lead roles in Star Wars and hence newcomer Hayden Christensen entered.

Christensen appeared as Anakin in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, with the majority of his criticism being levelled at his whiny attitude and monotone acting. He hardly channelled the same charisma as a young Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill had done years before him. Attack of the Clones was the worst of it for Christensen with a clear lack of chemistry between himself and romantic interest Padmé, played by Natalie Portman - even coming across as creepy towards her at times.

Credit where credit is due however, he certainly amped things up in Revenge of the Sith when Anakin finally became Darth Vader. But unfortunately, he will be remembered by most for his cringe-worthy dialogue about sand. Star Wars effectively ruined Hayden's career and since his appearances in the two films he has acted very little.