Okay, time for some science fiction (well, only Star Wars, but close enough). British director Ken Annakin died recently — not being a movie geek (I’m a map and flag geek), I’d never heard of him, but the name sure did sound familiar. But the LA Times had this disappointing information: “Contrary to previous reports that George Lucas named the ‘Star Wars’ character Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) after Annakin, Lucas said via his publicist Thursday that he did not.”
However, a fan site pointed to this interview with Mr. Annakin himself which makes more sense:
Speaking of George Lucas, how did you feel when he named the character of Anakin Skywalker after you?
[laughs] Well, I asked him about that, but I’ll tell you: he never asked me. He never invited me to the first showing (of Episode One). Apparently it happened through Alec Guinness, who was working at Pinewood Studios on the first Star Wars, and every day would pass by my office door, which had my name on it. So it was Alec who suggested it to George. They dropped one ‘n’ from the spelling, and there it is. I didn’t mind it so much when Anakin was a good character, but now that he’s a bad character, I’m not so keen on it! [laughs]