What if Jonathan Brandis had been casted as Anakin in Star Wars Episode II instead of Hayden Christensen? Is his performance better recieved? Does he decide not to kill himself? Does his career skyrocket? Is the film better recieved?
WI: Jonathan Brandis as Anakin Sywalker?
- Thread starter spiderduck1997
- Start date
I second this. Also, can George Lucas let someone else do the writing for the Prequel series?
Honestly, Christensen did as well as anyone could expect given the garbage he had to work with. Lucas wanted to paint Anakin as a bad apple from the start, and have him be an angst-ridden teen. Christensen fit that role perfectly.
There's so much wrong with the prequels beyond acting, such as writing, over-indulgence of special effects, and poor directing.
There's so much wrong with the prequels beyond acting, such as writing, over-indulgence of special effects, and poor directing.
Well given that actors like Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman couldn't save the movies I doubt a change in Anakin's actor would matter.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000553/?ref_=tt_cl_t1
It's not just that he's a mediocre actor, the dialogue he was given to work with was horrendous.
“Love won’t save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that.”
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”
“Now that I’m with you again, I’m in agony. My heart is beating, hoping that that kiss will not become a scar.”
Even Daniel Day-Lewis could not have made those lines work.
Star Wars Episode II would be much better
Yup
Hopefully he decides to not kill himself
Hopefully
Yup
redlightning
Banned
Anakin's character needed to be rewritten more than just adding recast. He should have been a young adult, advanced pilot more than just a podracer, grew up on the moisture farm like Luke did, had a true role in hunting down the Jedi, etc. Hayden wasn't a weak actor the script was terribly written and Lucas' directions were absolute to which he ignored all criticism. It's more about the man who wrote it than who played him.
Exactly.
Anakin was a poorly written character. I have a feeling that even if we had a more well-known actor to play him, people would still complain because the script was so god awful.
"I wish I could just, wish these feelings away."
... Fuckin' seriously, George Lucas?
There were tons of problems with Christensen. I don't think he is a very good actor. But the problem was the writing.
In TPM Anakin is some kid who is younger than Padme. In AOTC somehow magically Anakin is the same age. Why have Anakin be a kid in the first movie just to make him 8 years older the next movie?
It gave some weird but frankly laughable subtext to Padme and Anakin's relationship. If the actor who replaced the first Anakin had been younger than Portman then maybe the whole "I have loved you since I was a kid" and the awkward "sand" speech would make more sense.
So while I would like to bash Christensen I don't feel that is fair. The problems are fully on George Lucas. He was the one who had Jake Lloyd as kid Anakin. He was the one who at least approved the implausible romance between the two. He was the one who had Anakin turn evil so his wife (who may have been Forced into her marriage) wouldn't die so he killed her.
A better actor would have the same issues.
Maybe they'd then go back to the spirit of the original movies and take a chance on an up and coming actor such as Hayden Christensen.
Watch Christensen in Shattered Glass, especially as his character's (Glass) lies unravel.
Some people liked him in that one.
And these lines (from other posts on this board):
"I wish I could just, wish these feelings away."
“Love won’t save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that.”
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”
“Now that I’m with you again, I’m in agony. My heart is beating, hoping that that kiss will not become a scar.”
Sir Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, or Spencer Tracy could not have succeeded with those lines.
Some people liked him in that one.
And these lines (from other posts on this board):
"I wish I could just, wish these feelings away."
“Love won’t save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that.”
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”
“Now that I’m with you again, I’m in agony. My heart is beating, hoping that that kiss will not become a scar.”
Sir Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, or Spencer Tracy could not have succeeded with those lines.
A recast Anakin could still, ahem, 'fix' lines, ala Harrison Ford in ESB, in addition to actually delivering them well. While Lucas wasn't the best writer, he wasn't exactly impossible to work with, either. And a good actor who's willing to work with the crew can make all the difference - the new Star Trek films have some shoddy writing (though never as bad as AOTC's romance scenes) but are improved substantially by the cast.