Liam Neeson defends Jar Jar Binks and his interpreter

Jar Jar Binks is one of the characters Star Wars least popular with fans. However, for the 25th anniversary of the prelogy, the actor Liam Neeson wanted to defend this character, and especially his interpreter: Ahmed Best.

Jar Jar binks: the character that everyone hates

Incarnated by Ahmed Best Jar Jar Binks is very present in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace. George Lucas imagines this character to appeal to young audiences. Heavy comic spring, Jar Jar Binks evolves more into the background in the other two parts of the prelogy. Faced with the bad feedback surrounding this character, George Lucas preferred to make him a largely secondary character.

You probably already know this, but Jar Jar Binks is a Gungan clumsy and clumsy who serves as a guide to Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Despite his endearing personality, Jar Jar Binks quickly became the most hated character in the entire trilogysee the entire license, up to touch his interpreter Ahmed Best.

The jedi takes his defense

In a new edition of the magazine Empire, for the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, Liam Neeson returned to Ahmed Best’s performance. Liam Neeson recalled the talent of his colleague Ewan McGregor but also wanted to defend Ahmed Best:

Ahmed is so funny and inventive. Ewan and I were personally hurt and offended by the critical reaction to the character.

Ahmed Best played Jar Jar Binks in a motion capture suit. A technology that was still in its infancy in 1999. The excessive anger towards it has been very difficult to live with over the years. And this hatred closed many doors to him during his career. Ahmed Best even revealed that he had thought about suicide following his role in the trilogy Star Wars. He notably published, in 2018, a revealing Tweet, since deleted:

Next year, it will be 20 years since I suffered a violent media reaction that still affects my career today. This is the place where I almost ended my life. It’s always difficult to talk about it. I survived, and today, this little guy is my gift.

Since then, the actor has had his revenge since Ahmed Best returned to the universe Star Wars in the shoes of the Jedi Kelleran Beq. First on the game show Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challengethen in the third season of The Mandalorian.