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Topic:
Acting in Star Wars
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threepio_mania
Registered:
Dec '02
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Date Posted:
10/14/07 12:50am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, and McDiarmid were all awesome pretty much the whole time.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were for the most part able to get the job done at all times. There may be times when the acting was a little off, but sometimes that dialogue is hard to make convincing. Sometimes they aren't given enough credit given the kind of situations they were supposed to be acting out. Like someone else said, if Hammil wasn't able to act the way he did around the muppet Empire wouldn't have been able to work nearly as well.
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Lucas saved up all the excellence for the last one.
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Jedi-knight-25
Registered:
Aug '07
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Date Posted:
10/14/07 9:26am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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I think mark hamill is great as Luke Skywalker.
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Dark_Jedi_Kenobi
Title: PT Manager
Registered:
Oct '04
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Date Posted:
10/14/07 11:39am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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McDiarmid is my favorite actor of the entire saga. He has been superb in every film.
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***Host of the PT Trivia Challenge Game 12: Question 10 Posted!*** http://boards.theforce.net/prequel_trilogy/b10669/23314477/p4/?184
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DarthGelatinous
Registered:
May '01
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Date Posted:
10/15/07 10:25am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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The acting is fine for the most part. The real problem is the director. It's no coincidence that ESB is the best movie of the six, it had the best director. Lucas made a mistake in deciding to direct the entire PT. I still love them but I can't shake the belief that they could have been so much better.
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
10/15/07 1:55pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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DarthGelatinous posted:
The acting is fine for the most part. The real problem is the director. It's no coincidence that ESB is the best movie of the six, it had the best director. Lucas made a mistake in deciding to direct the entire PT. I still love them but I can't shake the belief that they could have been so much better.
I agree. The oft-quoted directive 'faster, more intense', so prevalent in the shooting of the first film, by TPM seems to have shifted from the actors' style of performance to the director's cursive method of capturing a take. As Ford contends in the EoD doc, Lucas was impatient and largely unwilling to let an actor find the emotional reality of a scene. This curtailing of the actor's craft seems to have worsened during the filming of the PT.
That said, I think there are some fine actorly moments in the PT. But that's a discussion for another forum....
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"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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RovinGambler
Registered:
Sep '07
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Date Posted:
10/15/07 9:08pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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Ian McDiarmid was just awesome in every scene he was in, and Frank Oz's and James Earl Jones's voice overs were always perfect. Everyone else was mostly good but had moments where they werent so great, even Guinness.
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
10/16/07 9:15pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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RovinGambler posted:
Everyone else was mostly good but had moments where they werent so great, even Guinness.
I agree... for, again, in ROTJ, Guiness seems to be phoning in his performance.
McDiarmid, Jones, and Hamill are terrific in ROTJ -- at the top of their respective games -- but Ford, Fisher and, yes, even the immortal Guiness all suffer from either under- or over-acting.
-----signature-----
"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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Jamiebacca
Registered:
Jun '03
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Date Posted:
10/17/07 9:12am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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Hamill was great in EPIV & V. In EPVI, we're introduced to the humorless Jedi 'snore-through-lines' which the prequels totrured us with.
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Darth_Maul_Sith_Lord
Registered:
Mar '04
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Date Posted:
10/17/07 12:30pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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Considering the mouthful of complex and often garbled BS jargon that GL wrote, I think the actors did an excellent job. They made the films come alive as much as the SFX, sets, and costumes...
Can't really say the same thing for the PT (the movies that took great actors and turned them into wood).
D_M_S_L
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"At Last We Will Have Revenge" - Darth Maul
"Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a ckicken." - Tyler Durden
R.I.P.... Heath Ledger.... R.I.P.
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Jedi_Master_Cazz
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
10/26/07 3:24am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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Acting in Star Wars, am surprised I haven't seen this detailed in one whole thread before!
McGregor, brilliant, as always! Guiness, Veteran... perfect! Ford, you just want to pinch his cheek! Fisher, ass-whoopin'! Hamill, thank you! McDiarmid, so deep! Prowse, so crisp! Christensen, turned crisp, into sharp! Portman, good head on her shoulders! Neeson, gawd... he deserves so much more credit!
Star Wars seems to come with a side-dinner of bad acting, but pull back that reputation and you get a bargain! What is sad is that there are some who do not properly connect with the characters, which hinders our perceptions and appreciations to the actors portraying them. Indeed, Hamill gives Luke such a complex mind! Fisher gives Leia such edge! When you can identify the characteristics of our heroes, (and our meanies) it is so much easier to realise and identify how the actors portray it!
Cheers_Cazza 
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Proud Padawan to Master VaderLV64!
Preparing for Final Exams. Will be on sporatically for the next few immediate months.
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xx_Anakin_xx
Registered:
Jan '08
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Date Posted:
3/29 6:55am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
- Date Edited:
3/29 6:56am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
xx_Anakin_xx
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The acting was perfect for a fantasy adventure. That is what it is supposed to be - a bit overdone and a bit fantastic. If it were a serious dramatic effort, I would agree that the acting would not have been sound - but this wansn't a movie of one of Jane Austen's books - this was Star Wars - with dark lords of the Sith, Droids, all kinds of crazy creatures running around, space battles and the Force. It is supposed to be humorous, adventurous, fantastic and eye grabbing. That is what the actors had to do for the audience - they weren't going for an oscar for Best Dramatic Performance of the year. The movie would have totally sucked if you had a bunch of "Hamlets" running around trying to steal scenes.
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"Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I'll do what I must"
"You will try"
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T-R-
Registered:
Aug '03
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Date Posted:
3/29 9:57am
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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This might not make sense, but to me Mark and Alec are the only two that made me believe they were their character and not acting.
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Anakin Skywalker: Chosen One
Luke Skywalker: Son of the Suns
Two Prophecies
Two Destinies
ONE SAGA
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Wester547
Registered:
Nov '04
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Date Posted:
3/30 5:23pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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I'm of the opinion that while the acting and portrayals are not Oscar material or superfluous, it's all good enough and with merit in the OT. I too feel Hamill's interpretation of Luke is underrated; in ROTJ he captures the range of emotion between the placid Jedi and the son that just wants to save his father, while capturing the overall aura of the Jedi order and still maintaining the insinuations of ferociousness we saw in his father. He came off as a bit whiney at first (in ANH), but I'm of the impression that he did a rather good job.
Alec Guinness, too, was fantastic. McGregor was good and what not given the limitations of the script in the PT, but to me Liam Neeson came closer to acting as that kind of figure in the TPM (who I felt was very good) - not to stave off-topic, but I feel killing him off wasn't such a great idea (besides making Obi-Wan look more prophetic in nature). Harrison Ford... I can't think of a man alive who was more apt for the role of Han Solo. Sad to see other films he (Harrison) acted in, such as Firewall, don't find him in equally positive light. Carrie was good enough as Leia, and Frank Oz was a very good Yoda... Ian McDiarmid worked well as The Emperor. Peter Cushing was good, though the role of Tarkin was always a rather overrated one, by my view. James Earl Jones worked with a certain enigmatic structure to his dialogue in the OT, and did great voice work as Darth Vader. The acting works for what it is, and I appreciate it more and more in full considering how the material and the film was all strewn together at the time.
I apologize if this post seems unorganized or arduous to read through.
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Chiss_Insight
Registered:
Jun '06
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Date Posted:
4/3 2:28pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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McGregor is brilliant in ROTS. His heartbreak is palpable. He moves Obi through so many different levels in that film. I really feel (and I may be completely alone in this) that if it were not a SW movie, he might have been up for Globe/Oscar consideration for ROTS.
I have a real problem with Natalie in AOTC and ROTS. I am a huge Natalie Portman fan. She's beautiful. She's had a pretty great career with many different types of parts in many different types of films. She is easily a real role model for young women, so much more than any pop princess could ever be. I don't understand what the *&^% she's playing at in Ep's II and III. I know she's capable of some great stuff. I have bigger issues with her work in the PT than I ever did with Ahmed, Hayden, or Jake. My wife and I like to quote a bunch of Nat's lines from ROTS, with the same intonation in which they are delivered in the film, to make us laugh! Portman has gone on record many times saying that the critical and fan reaction to her work in SW has made her queestion whether or not she should continue acting. Anyone else feel the way I do?
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skgai1
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
4/3 8:25pm
Subject:
RE: Acting in Star Wars
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Alpha-Red posted:
What exactly do you define as good acting though? Like, do you want the actors to fulfill what you think is the ideal way the character should behave?
Yeah! I noticed that the people who didn't like the acting didn't bother reacting to your point. To often people come up with something right away and then are too rigid to see how other people view it different. That's in these movies people. Accept change and learn from others! That's why there's a rift between the Classic Trilogoy and the Prequel Trilogy. I've met some people who respond to these arguments and still have understandable problems with certain aspects, but those a very few people.
xx_Anakin_xx posted:
The acting was perfect for a fantasy adventure. That is what it is supposed to be - a bit overdone and a bit fantastic. If it were a serious dramatic effort, I would agree that the acting would not have been sound - but this wansn't a movie of one of Jane Austen's books - this was Star Wars - with dark lords of the Sith, Droids, all kinds of crazy creatures running around, space battles and the Force. It is supposed to be humorous, adventurous, fantastic and eye grabbing. That is what the actors had to do for the audience - they weren't going for an oscar for Best Dramatic Performance of the year. The movie would have totally sucked if you had a bunch of "Hamlets" running around trying to steal scenes.
I also object to this opinion. Why can Oscar winners only act in Shakespeare plays? Why can't they be offbeat characters, strange aliens or comedic characters. Well, truth be told, the Academy has actually given to Oscar to non-dramatic roles (not as many as the should have though). Acting doesn't always mean being dramatic. It means becoming a character, something you're not and doing it convincibly and giving us excentricites that will help us understand the character better. That's why movies offer more than books, you get not only the writer's view of the character, but the actor's view of the charater, the cinematographer's view of the character, the sound designer's view of the character, the editor's view of the character, etc. all mashed into one (hopefully) coherent and interesting character. And that's what we have in Star Wars. You can't like these movies and not feel for the characters. You just can't. Therefore the actors have done there jobs. And I belive most have exceptionally done there jobs.
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