Joel Edgerton is now a household name, but back in 2002 when he played Owen Lars in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones he was a relative unknown. Whilst talking to Total Film magazine this is what he had to say.
Of being cast in Attack of the Clones, the Australian star says: “It totally was [like hitting jackpot], as miniscule as my part was in Star Wars. I couldn’t believe that they were shooting in Australia, that I was an actor of the right age to play a young Uncle Owen. It was my 26th birthday when I found out I got the job. I was so f***ing over the moon. And then it gave me the opportunity to go to the States.”
For a young actor, there are more benefits to being in Star Wars than just getting to visit Tatooine. “Star Wars allowed me, in that 18-month period while they were putting the movie together, to bluff my way into any meeting I wanted. ‘I’m in Star Wars. I’m not telling you that I’m only in it for five minutes and that I don’t have a lightsaber.’ I would have meetings with people, and let them believe I was a larger part of the story than I actually was. That was a good time and allowed me to get my first job out of the States.”
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