As the prequel trilogy launched with the arrival on 19th May 1999 of The Phantom Menace, it would be understandable to anticipate for a star of the film like Ahmed Best, that his career would leap into the stratosphere. Regrettably, life didn’t pan out in that fashion for Ahmed, with the vitriolic fans of the time lambasting his performance and harassing him to such a degree it affected his personal life and his career, a career that co-star Liam Neeson was convinced would lead to great things.
“He came into a lot of criticism, I mean to the point where it really hurt his career. And I have to say when I was making that film… he was probably one of the funniest guys and talented guys I have ever worked with.
I remember calling my old agent, and I said ‘Listen, I think I’ve just worked with the new Eddie Murphy.’ And I still believe that … he had all of us in stitches laughing. Including George Lucas.”
