PT Any other Padmè fan feel Portman was miscast or recast after all this time?

Umm…I'm not gauging her acting based on Star Wars. Did you see that list of of films of hers I posted? The Star Wars PT wasn't even the first set I films I even saw her in. I'm saying that, of all the roles I've seen Natalie play, her performance as Padmé is the most convincing to me and my favorite. I don't think she does nearly as good of a job in any of the other films I listed.

Like you, I really enjoy Ewan McGregor's performance as Obi-Wan and I also think that he's done better work. But that's not true for Portman -- I don't feel she's done better work than her role as Padmé. I've seen her in roles that supposedly show what she is capable of -- like Closer and Black Swan -- and I honestly found her performance as Padmé more convincing and enjoyable.

I don't feel I've been unfair to her. It's just my opinion of her skill as an actress. It would be unfair if I never saw any of her other films but that is not the case at all.

 

That first paragraph was part my second to last reply. It's just that you posted before I posted the edit and I decided to put it in another reply.

 

No, I loved Padmé (especially in Episode II when I first watched Star Wars). I couldn't care about her acting skills. She was definitely my first celeb crush and is still one of my favorite characters, including the way she's portrayed.

 

Let's not forget that she's also smokin' hot.

 

She was good in TPM, AOTC (barring all romance), flat most of ROTS (but OK at times).

 

I think if anything, she may have been a bit young. Now, I know full well that she was supposed to be young. But I also feel that NP has become a much better actress with age, and if the films were done a few years later with her in the same part, she would've been better too. That being said, in an odd way, I liked Padme better in TPM. It almost seems as if she regressed in terms of her character as the films progressed. She was still assertive and strong in AOTC for the most part, but I feel as if she could have been utilized a bit better. The way she was against falling for Anakin and then all of a sudden changed her mind felt odd, but I suppose you could argue it didn't matter anymore if she felt she was about to die in the arena. Then in ROTS, she was basically just around so that Anakin could turn to the dark side. Her performance was even a bit tired, and her dialogue a bit forced and damsel-in-distress like. Of course, she was portrayed as a fighter in the other films, so it felt quite out of place. I'm sure some of this could be attributed to GL's direction. But I liken NP to Harrison Ford in ROTJ. He simply wasn't all there as an actor the way he was in the previous two films.

 

To me, she looked like she wasn't that much into the role. In fact, some times she looked like she was just moping around — at least in TPM she did.

 

I had no problems with Portman. One thing about when she was queen, she was wearing those crazy outfits with large head pieces that restricted her movement. It was hard to move around in and would definitely affect her performance. When she was Padme, you saw more movement, more life from her. She didn't have those restrictions and could be more mobile and free with her performance.

 

True. I also felt that the whole decoy queen charade hurt her performance, too, considering she had to hide the fact that she wasn't the same person.

 

I noticed that, as well, when I first saw TPM.

 

Portman was perfect.

 

Think she was a great charecter. Cant see her being someone else.

thought... not as great as leia

 

After seeing Atonement, I feel that Kiera Knightley would've done a solid job. At the very least a more fluid performance.​

I actually bought that, I now realize why many don't though.

Its funny because she does has the old Hollywood aura, not the chops. I agree with you, I noticed it with Padmè's interrogation by Dooku. She's sub par when compared to Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Tilda Swinton and even Natalie Dormer whom I think most often when I write that aspect of Padmè. I'm still scratching my head over Portman's Oscar win tbh. Saw Black Swan and was utterly unimpressed. It makes me sad as Padmè is a superb character in my opinion.

I Agree, her win just proved to me how overrated and corrupted the Oscars have become.

 

@Outsourced This what happens when I read about writing, have plot bunnies and writing my own stuff.

 

I have to agree with @PiettsHat. I've never understood why Portman is seen as an Oscar-worthy actor, and to be honest I've always found her performance to be the weak link of the prequels, not Christensen's. I don't think her monotone delivery in the prequels is Lucas's fault because she barely does a better job in any of her other films. Her greatest asset is the fact that she still manages to exhibit a great screen presence despite her relative lack of technical talent.

That said, I think she gives a performance that is more than adequate for the needs of the films. And she is downright good in some scenes, same as Christensen.

 

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a longtime... a long time.

 

Although I love Padme as a character, I'll admit Portman's performance isn't always great, but she certainly improves with each film. By Revenge of the Sith, I've fully invested in her as Luke and Leia's mother.

 

I don't see anyone else as Padme, like everyone she was given some dreadful dialogue. It's probably why the experienced actors such as McDiarmid, Neeson, Stamp and Lee are the ones that have avoided the same criticism lumbered onto McGregor, Christensen, Portman and even Jake Lloyd.

 

I've never heard anyone criticize McGregor's performance, here or elsewhere. He's a very likeable actor. I think his Obi Wan is better than most of the other stuff I've seen him in. I liked him in Big Fish. I didn't think he was that great in Black Hawk Down, or that movie he did with Ashley Judd. I haven't seen much of his recent work(His new Winnie the Pooh movie looks good).

 

I don’t know what Lucas was thinking with Padme's reaction to Anakin admitting he slaughtered sand people. Anakin may as well have told her something mundane, like that he was wearing boxers instead of briefs.

 

I guess it depends. I think NP is excellent as Padme because Lucas' casting is almost always right on for what he needs visually and emotionally. From other things I've seen her in she seems (like many actors quite honestly) to be doing a variation on the same sort of thing. Probably there are other things that she does in other movies that she can do well but simply wasn't called on to do for Padme.

As for the Oscars that is a very political and therefore generally older white male driven kind of thing so be it Portman or Streep or Lawrence (who's popularity I find rather mystique-fying).

Yet apparently for those in the industry they found her performance as Padme not "electric" enough which is odd because you would think if anyone knows that actors play the parts as the directors want them then it'd be people in said industry but apparently not.

She was being the character as she was seen in TPM and to that point in AOTC. I really don't know what it is that would make sense for her to become different from that. It'd be like saying Han should have totally broken down before going into carbon freeze rather then being himself.

Anakin is the one who breaks down which is why Padme is so important to him.

 

I thought she got the job done. Although being honest I think Portman is pretty samey in most of her films, including the critical darlings. I hear her Padme voice in Black Swan and the recent Annihilation among others. Garden State is a rare one where she feels like she's noticeably acting (and funnily enough she doesn't seem too keen on that movie anymore because of the whole manic pixie dream girl thing).

 

Would everything change if Padme had a sexy Israeli accent?

Edit: By Padme, I mean Portman