I've sat on this idea for months but I figure now is as good a time as any to discuss what the future portends for our PT leads.

By this I don't mean people who already had long established careers before they ever donned Jedi robes; so I'm not going to discuss Liam Neeson or Samuel L. Jackson. They were set before SW and they're set now.

I've yakked with other fans for a long time about this issue. Is the PT crew automatically doomed? My short answer to that is, "No." In many ways the PT crew is significantly better off than their predecessors. Harrison Ford did go on to have a very successful career while everybody else had their ups and their downs. Carrie Fisher had severe personal problems that undoubtedly hurt her career. Mark Hamill had bad luck (one of his best non-SW movies, "The Big Red One," wasn't widely released) or bad advice or both. I remember renting the el cheapo flick "The Guyver" several years ago and wondering if his kids needed braces or something because it was bad. Who else cringed at Billy Dee Williams doing t.v. psychic ads in the mid '90s? That said, Mark managed to get himself back on track in the '90s and Carrie's done pretty well for herself as a writer. And at least Billy Dee isn't hanging with Miss Cleo .

The good news for the PT leads is that it none of them seem to have any current drug/alcohol/psychological/criminal issues that can land you on "E! True Hollywood Story." So far. Also, the albatross of typecasting isn't as heavy as it would have been 20 years ago. Back in the 1970s, you did science fiction or fantasy movies only if nobody's heard of you or if your career's on the skids. Today, big stars have no problem doing these types of movies. Heck, a popcorn movie role turned Johhny Depp from a weirdo character actor into an Oscar-nominated superstar weirdo character actor. All three PT leads are Golden Globe nominees; Natalie Portman won on her second nomination. La Nat is also an Oscar nominee. (This doesn't count PT alum with smaller roles like Keira Knightley or Keisha Castle-Hughes, both Oscar nominees.) Harrison Ford got one Oscar nomination ("Witness") and got four Golden Globe nominations, but hasn't won anything else despite years of being a box office dynamo. Nobody else besides Alec Guinness from the OT to my knowledge has been nominated or received a major trophy.

There is no jinx. Everyone in this business waxes and wanes, no matter how good he is or how popular he is. The smart and lucky ones know how to keep the wind in their sails for a long time, if not for life. Some actors go from t.v. to film then back to t.v. to stage, managing to give careers nine lives. Yes, there will be people who are watching and waiting to see our protagonists fall on their faces just to chortle over a SW jinx or some nonsense like that, but that's where my unsolicited unprofessional advice comes in.

I think that right now, the PT leads are in a pretty good place. These guys seem to get work all of the time. If anything, SW has helped keep their names in boldface over the past 7 years.

Still, everyone has pluses and minuses and even the most promising careers can fizzle with mistakes and plain bad luck. So if anyone asked me, what do they have to do to make it over the long haul, here's what I'd say:

Ewan--I think he has little to worry about. The second-hardest-workin' man in showbiz seems to be filming a new flick every week and if he's not shooting a movie, he's doing t.v. somewhere or appearing on stage. Most critics like him, most if not all of the folks who have worked with him adore him, and he has a solid international following. He's probably one of the most versatile actors around today, allowing him to reinvent himself over and over in a variety of roles in different media. He already had a long back catalogue by the time he appeared in TPM. Thankfully, his old habit of getting tanked during interviews and making regrettable comments is a thing of the past. At first he didn't want to make movies in Hollywood or go on late night chat shows, but I think that after he had some trouble getting U.S. support for a pet project ("Nora") and after he fell out with Danny Boyle, he wised up. SW aside, his only other recent hit was "Robots" ("The Island" flopped domestically, but did well internationally). He seems to prefer odd, quirky projects. While he may never be a box office king, I don't think he's expected to be one either. Some trophies and real knighthood might be somewhere in his future. Mixing Hollywood productions with indies and with British productions seems to work for him, so I predict he'll be around long enough to be carried off a stage or a movie set in a box.

Hayden--This is a dangerous time for you, young one. He certainly has talent and charisma, and is perhaps one of the most photogenic creatures on this planet. Everybody who works with him loves him. As of writing, he's made good choices and turned in memorable performances. He has a production company that seems to be more than just a Cayman Islands bank account . Wisely he stopped doing teen roles when he was no longer a teenager. Few young actors can sell angst like he can. He has three movies coming up soon, one of which ("Factory Girl") sounds really promising. He just landed the lead role in a big project, "Jumper," which is shooting now. But at age 25, he's still a little young for the majority of meaty roles written for men. To get there he has to keep building cred and this is why he has to be very careful in picking his parts. Too many critical or box office flops could hamper him. Unfortunately there are some haters out there who want to see him fall flat on his face and are only obliging to keep pushing the idea that he's more pretty boy than a talented actor. Fortunately, he has realized he cannot vanish for months on end in between projects; a couple of months off the radar is a lifetime in Tinseltown. He's an ambitious guy and he seems to be very focused. If he plays his cards right and rubs the rabbit foot, he may become a huuuuuge star.

Natalie--The girl's been on a roll for two years, beginning with one of the better performances in the otherwise bleah "Cold Mountain" up to easy money in the bank with ROTS, with a surprise hit ("Garden State"), a surprise trophy, and an Oscar nomination (both for "Closer") tossed in for good measure. "V For Vendetta" did all right and it got a lot of positive notices. Come to think of it, she's been very fortunate for a long time. Prestigious directors have been lined up around the block to work with her ever since she first appeared in "The Professional." She's enjoyed status as an internet goddess for millions of fanboys. Fashion designers toss her so many frocks, she probably hasn't had to shop for anything since about 1998 and she's been a perennial cover girl for years. Not bad. Like Hayden, La Nat has wisely stayed away from teen movie hell and has been successful at getting branded a young serious actress. The question is, can she make it last? Actresses typically peak out sooner and faster than actors. She seems to be indecisive on how she wants the public to perceive her and how she regards her fans, which some people find off-putting. But I think the most important thing for her to do over the next few years is to prove she can play the types of roles written for women in their 30s. She can't be the giggly Jersey girl or the wise-beyond-her-years ingenue or the poor-little-waif forever. She's got to show she can convincingly play a teacher, or an executive, or a successful novelist, or a soccer mom. That will determine whether she ends up like Jodie Foster or like Winona Ryder.

So that's my unsolicited advice. Let's see what happens.