George Lucas Struggled Over Anakin's Age In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
There are many issues with the "Star Wars" prequels. Don't throw anything at me yet. There are a lot of good moments in there, and I'm no longer a prequel hater after years of rewatching them. It's just that a lot of things don't quite work: The romantic scenes between Padmé (Natalie Portman) and Anakin (Hayden Christensen) in "Attack of the Clones," the whole Jar Jar Binks extravaganza (though Ahmed Best is wonderful), and the overuse of CGI (which was new and exciting then, so it's easy to understand). All of that can be explained and accepted according to your comfort level with it. The one thing that never sat right with me, however, was the ages of Anakin and Padmé.
Just to be clear, the actual characters are five years apart. In "The Phantom Menace," (elected) Queen Padmé is 14 (which is weird on its face, no matter what mental gymnastics are supposed to explain it), and young Anakin (Jake Lloyd in the first prequel) is only nine years old. As it turns out, "Star Wars" mastermind George Lucas had to do some mental gymnastics of his own when it came to figuring out Anakin Skywalker's age for his prequels, as he discussed in an interview for the book "Star Wars: The Making of Episode I, The Phantom Menace" by Laurent Bouzerau and Jody Duncan.
'There were a lot of things that would have been easier if Anakin had been 12'
Originally, according to the book, George Lucas imagined Anakin being around 12 years old in "The Phantom Menace." However, that didn't seem to work for some of the bigger moments in the story. "There were a lot of things that would have been easier if Anakin had been 12," Lucas said. "The casting would have been easier, for one thing; and it would have been easier to justify things like the Podrace or the way he is able to fly a starfighter at the end of the movie."
Breaking that down a bit, it makes sense. In the film, Anakin seems way too young to be able to do many of the things he does, even factoring in his high midi-chlorian count. Although, while we're on the subject, I ought to admit: I still can't get behind the whole midi-chlorian thing. The original trilogy implied that anyone could have the potential to tap into the Force, whereas the prequels seemed to suggest it had more to do with bloodlines.
Moving on: The big issue with Anakin being 12 involved his mom, Shmi Skywalker (Pernilla August). Lucas explained:
"[The] problem was that a 12-year-old leaving his mother — as Anakin does — is not nearly as traumatic as a nine-year-old leaving his mother. And there is a key story point that revolves around the fact that he was separated from his mother at an early age, and how that has affected him."
It's a fair point. I'm sure a 12-year-old kid would be upset about leaving his mom, but a nine-year-old would find it devastating. It certainly helps to explain why Anakin became so vulnerable to the dark side later in his life.
'I set it up that he is very bright'
Anakin being nine years old makes sense for the mom issue, but how did George Lucas justify a kid that young being so good at podracing and piloting? (And no, "Because of the Force!" is not an acceptable answer.) As Lucas saw it, podracing was fine because there are kids Anakin's age in real life who "[drive] go-carts, fly planes, and ride motorcycles — so it wasn't too farfetched." Fair enough, but Anakin flying a starfighter is another matter entirely. Lucas reasoned:
"I set it up that he is very bright, that he learns quickly, that he is already a pilot. [Anakin mentions this within moments of appearing for the first time.] I put in little scenes in which he is learning about the ship — a lot of that was interwoven throughout to make the ending work. I also had Artoo-Detoo in there with him, helping to fly the ship. All of these things helped; but making that ending credible was definitely one of the tougher issues."
Whether it worked or not is up to you. Again, my issues were never with the skill set of a child prodigy. They were always with the age difference between Anakin and Padmé. Still, knowing what Lucas was thinking and why he made the decisions he did makes "The Phantom Menace" a little easier to watch now.
All the "Star Wars" films are currently streaming on Disney+.