"'I survived': Jar Jar Binks actor opens up about...." Topic

…. brush with suicide.

"But Ahmed Best, the man who played goofy alien Jar Jar Binks, says the backlash he received is still affecting him almost 20 years after The Phantom Menace was released in cinemas.

Jar Jar Binks was universally panned by critics, with Best receiving online death threats in the wake of the film's release. The actor has revealed the fan fury got so bad he even contemplated suicide…."
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Poor guy… to much hate there….

Amicalement
Armand

As much as I hate Jar Jar, that feeling never transferred to the actor, I never even knew the actor's name until a few years ago. Some fans need to play more games.

I didn't know there WAS an actor. My first thought in expensive franchise SF is always CGI.

Still, Mr. Best surely had an opportunity to read the script, and could always have used a different name in the credits. The term in English for people who willingly took part in Phantom Menace is "accessories."

I've been Tango'd… TMP link

I don't understand the people who go after the actors for parts they don't like. I didn't like much the characters in The Last Jedi, but I would never ascribe that to the actors. Jeez. Lighten up. It's entertainment.

I agree with everyone that Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks fell flat as a character, but the actors did the part as directed. Why hate them? They are people who's career was derailed because fans couldn't separate the real human being playing the character from the part.

I reserve my anger for actors when they perform evil in the real world, not for the parts they play. There's far too much anonymity afforded on the internet where people don't stop to think that they are talking to or about a real person with real feelings just doing their best to earn a living.

To be fair, Hayden Christopher's wooden performance made things worse, so hr does deserve part of the blame.

The clear racist underpinnings of Jar Jar Binks and the other Gungans (based on the casual racism of the serials and jungle movies) led some to question how an actor of African descent could agree to play such a role. "Collaborator" was used, not "accessory." Death threats are repulsive, but there was debate from principled people about whether taking the role was immoral.

Kelly Marie Tran is another case entirely. Her performance was better than that of some of the other actors. There's nothing stereotyped or offensive about her role. There's no serious, principled debate. There are only misogynistic fanbois who are obsessed that an actress doesn't meet their ideals of sexual desirability. Or something even stupider.

I actually thought that Jar Jar did a better job of acting than Anakin. (the actors that is) True he was comic in nature but so were the Ewoks.

My wife considers him the saving grace of that film.

I couldn't have told you who the actor was who played Jar Jar, even so I've never understood the need to go after actors because you don't like the character….honestly the recent trilogy has made me look at the prequels in a new light, hey they could have been worse.

On Kelly Marie Tran, I had no problem with her performance, I felt however that her character (and finn for that matter) was largely pointless to the story….honestly though I felt the whole of the Last Jedi story was just complete dross. I've got no problem with women in my fantasy/sci-fi, whether its films, games or novels, often as the main character.

Hmm. Could we just call everyone involved in the two most recent Star Wars trilogies "unindicted co-conspirators?"

For what it's worth, I seldom regard portrayals of alien species as "racist" and find the reasoning of those who do a bit convoluted. But the Gungans were certainly a joke gone very flat.

Never cared for Jar-Jar but not for these reasons.

Dug up these old articles just out of curiosity.

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