PT Hayden Christensen didn't leave the movie industry because of the prequels

Many people, especially Star Wars fans, think that Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in Episodes II & III, mostly quit acting because of fans' backlash against his performance in the two latest prequels. But 1 or 2 days ago, he revealed the real reasons why he became silent in the movie-making industry and it wasn't because of the prequels.

Article from Cinema Blend: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Why-Hayden-Christensen-Quit-Acting-Star-Wars-102847.html

 

This is wonderful to hear. I always thought he was great in both movies.

I hope he does change his mind though so he can show up as a force ghost in future installments.

 

This doesn't surprise me. He certainly wasn't box office poison. As much as the "internet" may have hated him, most everyone I know thought he was great, or at the very least, wasn't bad. Anyone I know whose had a problem with his performance wasn't because his acting, but because of the script he had to actually perform.

 

I've never understood why he's considered a bad actor, since he's given decent performances in other films. I haven't seen it myself, but he's meant to be excellent in Shattered Glass.

 

I watched Shattered Glass and yes, he's excellent. I actually think he's better in bad guy roles, he has something evil in his look lol. That's why I especially enjoy ROTS after Anakin turns to the dark side, probably even more than I should.

 

people don't think he quit because of sw.

 

Nor has he quit in the first place as seeing his last movie was in 2015.

 

Yeah I never heard ANYONE say he quit because of SW. I figured he's been in a few lackluster roles since then due to lack of talent.
Unless I am confused and great actors routinely star in 'faith-based' films.

 

Yes, he is excellent in Shattered Glass. He received near universal praise from critics for it. And that was only like a year after AOTC came out. There was even some faint talk in a few corners about a possible Oscar or Golden Globe nomination. I highly recommend Shattered Glass, by the way. It is a journalism movie, but the way it is executed you feel like your'e watching a Hitchcock thriller.

 

He did a movie in china last year called outcast with nick cage. they play disillusioned crusader knights that end up in china and protect the emperors younger children from their older brother. Its cheesy but hayden put his sword training for star wars to good use.

 

Good to hear Anakin

 

Of course nic cage gives a wickerman movie level performance in it. If you have netflix its still up.

 

Good to hear

 

Christopher Lee did it better.

 

He is better in this one GIF then misty actors can ever hope to be. IMO.

 

Chill brah, agree by the way.

 

honestly, i couldnt see a better option than him to play Anakin in the prequels. ESPECIALLY in Episode 3... he was awesome and very convincing at the end of RotS. I loved him acting as Anakin.

 

Hayden was alright. But I never heard this idea he quit acting because of SW. Are they confusing Hayden with Jake Lloyd?

What is it with this media desire to have every actor in a SW movie, especially the prequels, turn around and say "Star Wars ruined my life!"?

There was recently the Natalie Portman thing, then there was Ewan years ago and even Liam Neeson being misquoted about his experience in Episode One. It's like the media just wants that story.

 

Well headlines in newspapers are not something people should always believe. So yes, some headlines those days say something like "This is the reason Hayden Christensen quit acting after Star Wars". Of course if you read the whole article you will see that he never actually quit acting.

Though he did make a brake from acting from 2010 until 2014. But he never quit.

Also I think that interview is not really new, they just waited for the right time to publish it I guess.

 

That's because Stephen Glass practically created a Hitchcock thriller of a life around himself.

Honestly, none of the actors in the PT are any bad. I just think they all performed on different levels of mediocrity based on experience. They actually made well with the flat dialogue and apathetic director they had to deal with. The greats like Liam Neeson, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L Jackson, and Christopher Lee had the best performances because, let's face it, they've not only got the most experience but they're each legends in their own right. Meanwhile, actors like McGregor, Christensen, and Portman all do very well in other, non-SW movies, but just kinda had to work through what they were given in the PT. They just didn't have the experience to trudge through a bad script unscathed. Heck, Christopher Lee himself had enough experience with bad scripts playing in increasingly bad Universal Monster pics in the 60's and 70's, many times opposite Peter Cushing. I remember hearing one story of Christopher Lee storming into Cushing's dressing room while filming Curse of Frankenstein complaining of having no lines. Cushing replied, 'You're lucky! I've read the script." It's not so much that Christensen is a bad actor, because he's not. He's just not an experienced actor.

 

My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count.

 

As I've said before - Hayden gets WAY too much blame for his performance in the PT. I've seen no evidence to suggest he wasn't doing what was asked of him by the director.

And to be fair to Hayden, not everyone is Harrison Ford who's willing to challenge the dialogue (if your someone who thinks the dialogue was bad). Who here is willing to walk up to the CEO of their company and tell them that the job description they've been given is wrong?

 

I think Hayden gave a good performance in the prequels and there's no need to lay "blame." He had an extremely difficult part and he made sure he integrated as much of the performances of the other actors who've portrayed Anakin/Vader as he could.

And there is a documented instance of him challenging the director, with regards to the scene where Anakin confesses to Padmé about the Tusken slaughter. Lucas wanted him to be completely unemotional throughout, then break down at the end. Hayden wanted Anakin to start out upset, get more and more so as the scene progresses, then break down. Hayden's version won out.