Ninja Scooter
Member
who cares if he's a bad actor. There's millions of bad, worse actors out there in the world, but not all of them get to say that they were Darth fucking Vader and are probably set for life financially. Good for him, i say.
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Hayden Christensen is quitting acting
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enjoy bell woods
Banned
Yeah, okay.
Spectral Glider
Member
olimario said:
Yes, and Neeson wasn't all that bad, as well as McDiarmid.
Well Liam Neelson was the only one in the whole trilogy to weather Lucas' writing and directing well (and all he had to do was look wise while spouting Yodaish dialogue without the stupid grammar). Ewan McGregor was dull throughout, as was Samuel Jackson. And going solely by her PT performance I would have pegged Natalie Portman as a complete ditz with the acting abilites of a wooden plank. She was fortunate enough that she had the opportunity to prove her acting chops in other movies.
Also vis a vis Shattered Glass. The man was *supposed* to act like a petulant whiny child. He nailed it. That's what you call good acting.
I think what other posters have said about confusing 'whiny' with bad acting is true. Orlando Bloom's character in Troy was *meant* to be a cowardly whinging jerk. The fact that he pulled it off perfectly somehow makes his performance bad? It makes it freaking great.
Also vis a vis Shattered Glass. The man was *supposed* to act like a petulant whiny child. He nailed it. That's what you call good acting.
I think what other posters have said about confusing 'whiny' with bad acting is true. Orlando Bloom's character in Troy was *meant* to be a cowardly whinging jerk. The fact that he pulled it off perfectly somehow makes his performance bad? It makes it freaking great.
Anyone who thinks Christensen can act should have watched Leno on Mothers Day. He said "Hi Mom" to the camera, and Jay was like, "oh come on, you have to make it more dramatic than that!" Christensen was like, "Ok, I'll try." Then he proceeded to get down on one knee, raise a hand in a fist in front of him like he was Tom Cruise on the Oprah set, and proceeded to say the most dry "Mom, I love you. Happy Mothers Day." It was so obvious he was trying to really act and he just COULDN'T! The look of Jay Leno staring at him, recognizing the complete lack of talent, at the same time everyone in the world watching was, was just a beautiful sight.
Ninja Scooter
Member
whytemyke said:
what a shitty example to judge someone's acting on. You really think he gave a shit about impressing Jay Leno with his acting skills in that specific instance? Its like saying Robert DeNiro is a shit actor because of how much he sucked on SNL.
I hate to be dragged into this further but
I scanned through his IMDB catalogue and well...3 quarters of his filmography appear to be very minor roles, and those are also at a very young age. Now you have stuff after 1999, like Virgin Suicides. He's in that one for about five minutes, or something right?
I don't know what the TV series 'Higher Ground' and 'Trapped in a Purple Haze' are, nor do I care much. The actual film career can be noticed around 'Life as a House' when he took a leading role.
I scanned through his IMDB catalogue and well...3 quarters of his filmography appear to be very minor roles, and those are also at a very young age. Now you have stuff after 1999, like Virgin Suicides. He's in that one for about five minutes, or something right?
I don't know what the TV series 'Higher Ground' and 'Trapped in a Purple Haze' are, nor do I care much. The actual film career can be noticed around 'Life as a House' when he took a leading role.
Ninja Scooter said:
If you were somebody criticized your entire career for being a shit actor, and then you're live on national TV and somebody pretty much forces you to prove yourself, you would try. You can say its a shit example if it makes you and everyone else feel better about his complete lack of talent, but the fact is that anybody who could act at all wouldn't come off as a flat, dry, untalented actor when put on the spot on live TV. Shit.... Van Damme could have done better in that situation.
Its like me going on Leno as a pro basketball player, while everyone says I can't dunk and I know and he knows thats the biggest running joke about me. If he asks me to dunk, do you think I'm gonna try to dunk it or am I just gonna 'pretend' to try, miss, and play it off like some punk?
I just don't understand how people can defend him like this. If this were any other actor in any other movie, people would trash him like CRAZY. But because he's this holier-than-thou Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, everyone feels this intrinsic need to defend him. This fits with Occhams Razor... simplest explanation is probably the right one. Does he just PRETEND to not be able to act in two movies because it's his role to be a bad actor and then come off as dry and untalented in public as well, or is he just a bad actor? Not really logically sound, but the latter is far more plausible.
How can people say he was pretty good in Ep3? Did we all even SEE the same movie? Any scene which required him to say more than two sentences in a row was awful, and while it was mostly Lucas' fault, he's guilty until proven innocent. And one movie does not an innocent man make.
Anyways, I digress. Of course I'm not psychic, so maybe he really is a good actor and he's just hiding it at every single chance he can, and he's leaving Hollywood really quickly so he never has to prove it. BUT AT LEAST HE'S A GOOD ACTOR!!!
Whether or not he has range is a completely different issue. As Tabris said, "Anakin is supposed to be whiny. Whiny, impatient, petulant, selfish, arrogant and ultimately, scared." Whether that's somewhat natural to Hayden Christenson or not, it doesn't matter. I'd say he pulled off the role well. I'd say the same thing for Shattered Glass. For all I know he wasn't really acting. Doesn't matter to me. It fit the role.whytemyke said:
It sure sounds to me like people just don't like the ROLES he's played. You don't like Anakin Skywalker, but I sure don't get the sense that Hayden failed to deliver what the script called for. Your beef is with the character, not the performance. There's a major difference.
Dan said:
See, I used to believe that. After the second one, and up until last week, I was going around believing the same thing. "Oh, he's just SUPPOSED to be whiny!" But then I saw RotS and I realized that even in places where he wasn't supposed to be whiny, like most of his scenes with Padme and the Emperor, he was still awful. It's not that he doesn't come off as these different characteristics... it's that these characteristics come off sooo poorly that it's totally unbelievable and ultimately horrible.
And everyone can play the "You don't like the ROLES" he's played card, that's fine. But by that logic, then since Ghost wasn't too bad, Whoopie Goldberg is a good actress. She's not annoying, loud and one dimensional in those movies! She's PLAYING someone who's annoying, loud and one-dimensional! SILLY ME! I 4GOT LOL SRY!!! And I'm sure I'm wrong about Keanu, too. HE'S NOT STALE AND 1-SIDED, ROFL, HE JUST ACTS STALE AND ONE SIDED IN EVERY MOVIE HE'S EVER DONE!1!!11
The difference is that Keanu at least has his recent decent roles tailor-made to fit his one dimension (lets call it Neo-dom). Trying to justify Christensen in these roles is like trying to justify Reeves being given a role like Denzel's in Training Day and forcing him to fit it the way Denzel can play it.
No, you're misunderstanding. You wouldn't be able to say Whoophie Goldberg was a "good actress" based on that role, but you could say she gave a good performance. There's a difference. I'm sure there are roles out there that I could give good performances in, but that still leaves me as a shitty actor with limited range. If the actor does what the script and director demand, then I don't think you can reasonably fault the actor. That'd be the fault of several other people.whytemyke said:
To be fair, Keanu had one or two good performances in some movies... (one was that witch movie and another was, man, I don't remember, just that he was good in it. Maybe devil's advocate? I don't remember that movie much though. It may have been sweet november. anyways...)
...and he's probabaly the nicest actor out there.
He totally doesn't have an ego. I dunno, yeah, maybe he's a bad actor (Keanu), but there's much better actors to hate on than Keanu.
...and he's probabaly the nicest actor out there.
He totally doesn't have an ego. I dunno, yeah, maybe he's a bad actor (Keanu), but there's much better actors to hate on than Keanu.
Ash Housewares
The Mountain Jew
Dan said:
It's true. Even when they're supposed to be whiny and lame it's bad acting.
he almost pulled it off, he did a good job as a weenie and he would've made it if he didn't have to do a scene with a real actor in Peter O'Toole
norinrad21
Banned
enjoy bell woods said:
hey there you obviously some talent in the boy, its okay if everyone else thinks he was shit in star wars
enjoy bell woods
Banned
I'm confused. What?norinrad21 said:
Am I the only one who thinks that most, if not ALL of the actors seemed kinda shaky in their acting abilities for Ep 1-3?
The only character I consistantly enjoyed was Palpatine. I thought he did a pretty good job, but again not all of the time.
My point is...you have a cast of well-established actors and many of them aren't handling it well. Obviously, there is a common denominator to all of this.
Just imagine Lucas blue-screening some of our favourite moments from the original trilogy...I don't think the actors would have responded as well as they have. Take for example the scene in ROTJ, where Luke, Chewy and Han are being executed in the desert. I'm sure having such scenes blue-screened and having the characters imagining all these things happening around them would interfere with them being able to get into their character.
Tabris said:
Oh yeah, I know. I'm not trying to dog Keanu or anything. I actually am one of the few people I know who actually enjoyed all the Matrix movies (the last two not nearly as good as the first, but still solid sci-fi movies on their own) and usually likes what Keanu does. But the point stands that he's not a GREAT actor or anything.
I'm willing to concede that MAYBE Christensen can act and I'm totally wrong... but surely people have to admit that he wasn't the best casted character in the PT. And I really didn't have a problem with the acting in Ep3 beyond the stupid Hayden/Natalie scenes. Even Jimmy Smits was decent. And yeah, McDiarmond was awesome as the emperor, and McGregor was, I thought, really good too. I mean, if you wanna talk about somebody having to act like a whiney bitch, look at Obie Trice Kanobi. He did a great job of playing that betrayed, "OMG U FUXORZ" type of role near the end.
whytemyke said:
Huh I think the whole thing was a joke on how shitty of an actor people are saying he is..
edit: Keanu was really great in that movie with Anthony Queen when he's a ww1 vet in Italy and falls in love with Queen's grand daughter. Her family makes wine or something. It was a good movie I thought and Keavu was pretty damn convincing.
I think the major point of difference for me with what you're saying whyte is that I thought every actor in the PT was pretty shitty, except for Liam Neelson and some bits of McDiarmond . In my view then Christansen is in good company in failing to rise above Lucas' horrific script and inept direction of any scene that doesn't have droids being blowed up.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
karasu said:
Yeah it did.
"How did this happen, we're smarter than this."
UGH.
Lucas himself says he hires acting coaches to work with the actors so he doesn't have to. Clearly, Lucas' goal isn't to present a story with strong acting and dialogue as much as it is to produce a special effects extravaganza that relies on its former glory for emotional resonance.
Is Christiansen an exceptional actor? Naw, but he doesn't deserve to get shit on for spouting shitty dialogue and acting the way the director wants him to -- not like he had any say in the transition Lucas made from happy go lucky Anakin to teen angst, annoying-as-hell, jackass he became in Ep 2.
EDIT: Other painful performances from actors who've demonstrated their skill in the past
Portman: horrible in EP3; far worse than Hayden.
Samuel L Jackson: when he greets Sidius, Anakin, etc in the capital his delivery was almost as bad as the lines.
Ewan McGregor: He had to say some really stupid shit ("How could this happen? We're smarter than this." The tone he used mated with the retarded words really stood out to my friends and I).
I can't comment on Liam Neeson's performance since I haven't seen EP 1 in a long time, but I don't recall it being spectacular, simply adequate -- and in the Star Wars bizarro universe, adequate means exceptional.
I liked him in Shattered Glass, being in the prequels didn't help his career at, but at least he can rest assured that he'll be remembered for his role. As a student of architecture, I wish him all the best, but architecture is definitely not something you should fall back on when things aren't working out. You have to love it, and stick with it, to get anywhere really.
Freestyler
Member
I think he rocked the hizzay in EP III, and he's so fuckin droolworthy it's not funny.
Had the movie of sucked, it still woulda been worth it for that one scene when he wakes in bed all topless and sweaty.
Had the movie of sucked, it still woulda been worth it for that one scene when he wakes in bed all topless and sweaty.
Yes, he was bad in Episode2. But after seeing RotS yesterday, I don't know what some of you guys are talking about. He didn't do a bad job as Anakin/Vader IMO. He was actually pretty good IMO. And that girlish scream was all JEJ, so I don't know what all the complaining was about. I wasn't a huge fan of the franchise or Vader. But his performance as Vader made me like that character a lot more. PEACE.
In interviews and things outside of acting in movies, the guy doesn't seem like a very interesting person. Kinda like he has no soul. I'm sure he's a great guy though. And he did do an excellent job in Revenge of the Sith; George Lucas hired Hayden for being able to act angsty and angry, and that scowling and screaming in Sith was on point, IMO.
RobotChant
Member
enjoy bell woods said:
Nailed what? He still spoke like he has a vice gripping his nuts, voice squeaks and shakes all over the place, and words fumble out of his mouth, has no presence at all. He is a pretty face, with some emoting skills, destined to play emotionally troubled pussies.
Edit: He was also horrible in Life as A House. The whole movie sucked.
Jonnyboy117
Member
Tabris said:
I think people do overlook this point. I joke about "Angstakin" as much as anyone, but think about what angst really means...that is exactly how Lucas wanted to paint young Vader. Angry, jealous, fearful, emotional, passionate, confused. All lead to the Dark Side according to Lucas's own mythology, which was set up twenty years ago.
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