PT Jake Lloyd Treatment in RL from SW

I read that a lot of kids tormented him over his role and this was why he stopped acting.

Say what you want about his performance or the film but the kid had a major role in STAR WARS. I think they were just jealous of him. If it were me I would just tell the kids "Yeah, I'm in Star Wars, and I was Arnold's son in Jingle All the Way... what have you done?"

Anyway, why wasn't anything done... like this should have been a big story and someone like Lucas should've gotten involved. Thoughts?

 

He was given crap for being "the kid who ruined Star Wars". No wonder he is the way he is today with that amount of bullying. Not everyone can just shrug it off with an eye-roll and a 'Yeah, whatever.'

 

Not letting the haters off, it's worth noting that a lot of peolpe 'suffered' after Star Wars - such was the unprecedented level of attention on those all involved. Mark Hamill had his moments and similarly wrote off a car and nearly himself. He spend years either parodying himself or only finding work in games voice overs. Carrie ended up in rehab. etc etc.

Ironically it was the one playing the laid back 'shoot first' ladies man that had his head screwed on tightest.

But, ultimately yeah anybody taking pot shots at the actor - a real person - is low. And actually if you don't understand Lucas and his intellectual relationship with childhood and Star Wars, you don't understand Star Wars -and only such people would attack Jake.

 

To be fair, Ford was older and he became Indy very soon which made him even more famous and led to more hits so that he became more than just Solo.

 

The car crash had nothing to do with ANH, other than the day before doing pick up shots, he was in an accident resulting from getting distracted. This was before the film was released. Hamill did other film work in the 70's and 80's with "Corvette Summer", "The Big Red One", and "The Nights The Lights Went Out In Georgia". He then opted to do some Broadway. It wasn't all animation and voice overs.

Which had more to do with the 70's and 80's drug scenes. Her movie career did well into the 90's and then began doing script polishes. Bipolar disorder definitely had nothing to do with the films. It was going to take a hold no matter what films she did or didn't do.

 

He didn't act bad. People attacking him for that are childish and dead inside. However I don't respect him because how ungrateful he is to George for the role. Going to bash him and the movie. I don't respect him, if it wasn't for the forum rules I'd have bad things to say about him. It's sad though, if he wasn't so disrespectful to George I'd love to meet him. As a actor, as biased as I am against him he isn't bad. People are just mad they didn't get a mini Darth Vader choking people or Anakin kicking butt in TCW. He did nothing wrong in the movie whatsoever.

 

I thought he came out and said that was lie? And that he enjoyed his time with the cast.

 

Sure, but no one took plearsure from thier misfortunes.

Read about Mark and Carrie though and you will definitely see that making Star Wars had a profound effect on how they hence force had to negotiate through their social and professional lives. They can all be found on record with unpleasant bitter things to say about the whole experience. Mark to, though he has grown to accept it all now. Carrie maybe has come to terms with herself now, but even on the red carpet and in t.v appearances sadly still shows insecurity being scrutinized against her former image.

The point is stardom with the density and pull of a black hole is difficult enough to deal with even if you play something at least people like.

 

I don't think this has much to do with Star Wars and has a lot to do with the fate of child stars generally. To be thrust into the world spotlight at such a young age…to peak at age ten…

I wouldn't paint with a broad brush here and group Jake, Mark and Carrie together. Each situation is unique. And has little to do with Star Wars.

 

And you know being 10 does not help either.

For instance you have people like Ahemed best who got a lot of crap, but they just did not care and hell he even reprised his role in TCW.

 

What make Ahmed Best my Star Wars hero is that he tried to shield Jake from the hate, because he was an adult and he knew he could handle it. He knew it would be hard on Jake, he just didn't know how hard it ended up being on him.

Ahmed says he's proud of playing Jar Jar, and like any Star Wars fan was gonna turn down George Lucas for a chance to be in a Star Wars movie. You gonna give Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman flak to their faces for being the movie? Of course not. In real life, they'd totally be nice and try to get an autograph from them. I've never heard of Natalie Portman having a crazy Star Wars fan encounter that they screamed in her face that she "ruined their childhood." But I guess people felt it was okay to bully Jake because he's just a kid, he'll get over it.

I put a lot of blame on the fandom for turning him into a bipolar mess as an adult.

 

I think it is a little unfair to get pissed at Jake for his contempt for episode one, as it, while a movie and performance I personally love, it did quite literally ruin his life. Ahmed Best is awesome and took it in stride, but he was a fully grown adult, and half the people who hate his character don't even know his name, and obviously he wasn't recognizable as Jar Jar. I do hope he finds or has found, his way.

 

That's a very cogent observation (all of your posts have 'em, SeventySeven).

I'll just add, as traumatized as Jake and his family must have been over the fierce detraction, not to mention some of the stranger "fan" mail, it could still have been worse.

A fantastically bleak Russian film called "Vozvrashchenie" ("The Return") is tainted with tragedy: inside the film and outside of it. The lead child actor died in a drowning accident, aged just 16, the year of its release.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376968/?ref_=nv_sr_1

You can see that Jake has always had a certain sharpness about him. He's a precocious young man. I think his greatest achievements still lie ahead of him. And I'll always love him for Anakin. He just happened to star as an important character in a slightly off-beat, but very fun, fantasy adventure movie. Ain't no shame in that.

 

already a like from Cryogenic! I have been reading a jedi forums since 2009 or so, after i looked for some vs. threads, and I have always enjoyed your observations about starwars. I agree, I think he has plenty of talent, and my personal favorite scene in Ep. 1 is his responses to yoda and the council, they felt prefect too me.

 

Wow! Very humbling!! Thank you!!!

Hmm, yes, I agree: that's an exemplary moment.

The kid has some darkness in him, and it glints -- coruscates, you might say -- when he feels rebuffed. Slave heritage 'n' all.

Jake did a fine job, IMO.

 

lets not forget the fine art he accomplishes in tandem with Pernilla in the "don't look back" scene. evocative of anyones journey to adult from my view.

 

Sadly no. There's a video of him talking about how he was bullied and if he would do it again he would because it paid well (charming) and that he resents George for being a "bad writer and director" and that the movie is bad. Is disgusting. Perhaps those jerks harassing him for no good reason rubbed off on him?

Personally if I could play Anakin or have ANY part in a Star Wars film, I'd consider it an honor.

He actually did the job perfectly, people just didn't wanna see Anakin as a little kid. They took it out on him. I can't respect him for who he is personally though. Like Simon Pegg, with the pointless juvenile bashing of George Lucas and the Prequels. It's one thing not to like the films, but don't attack the maker because you don't like it, nor should people be bashing any movie with the intent of it's fans hearing it. It's like people have to all conform and have the same opinion.
Pretty damn sure I wouldn't wanna live in a world like that.

 

You'd be surprised at how much bullying can damage a person, especially when it's a little kid. The fandom deserves whatever criticism he dishes out onto the franchise because they couldn't manage to keep themselves from bullying a little kid for something that wasn't even his fault.

 

I think the worst mistake that can be made here is underestimating the severe psychological damage bullying can have (especially to a child). Not everyone's minds work the same. Not everyone will just be able to shrug it off. I once knew someone who was still severely socially impaired, mentally unhealthy, and prone to suicidal tendencies in their late 20's and early 30's because of childhood bullying that was nowhere near what Jake Lloyd was subjected to.

I appreciate George Lucas' work myself, but I would never chastise Jake Lloyd for feeling resentful towards him or the movie because of what the experience brought on. Some things, like mental health and stability, are more important in life than appreciation for being in a movie of a big franchise. I think being aware of the damage of childhood bullying is a far more important priority than defending an adult artist's controversial work (and again, coming from someone who really enjoyed The Phantom Menace myself).

 

There's a difference between the 40 year old basement dwellers attacking a child online and the majority of the fanbase, which is much more mature then that. Don't pool the whole fanbase with those cretonnes.



There's a BIG difference between the people who did stuff like attack Jake and laughed at the death of Christopher Lee

and

The rest of the fanbase. People who aren't the personification of cancer. The 501rst donate their time to help sick kids, the average fan looks out for fellow star wars fans and gets along with them.

Does the victim have a right to hate the bullies? Yes. Definitely. But he should hate the franchise and fanbase for SOME of it. You and him shouldn't group the good fans with the bad.

 

I get what you're saying. however if people harassed you your role in TPM, do you think it's fair to hate on George and Bash him publicly for simply giving him a HUGE honor? It's one thing if George was trying to screw him over, but George isn't the bad guy, he doesn't deserve hate, Jake hating on George is LITERALLY parallel to people hating him.

trolls bash Jake because they don't like kid Anakin. He did nothing wrong but they focus their hate on him. That's WRONG

Jake hates George for putting him in a movie people didn't like Jake's role in. That's also WRONG

Both cases are just people hating on someone who had no bad intent and just did their job. (Quite well in both cases). So Jake's being a hypocrite and it shouldn't be justified. Neither should people attacking Jake, or any child for literally no good reason.

You know you're a terrible person if you'd hate on George or a innocent child. Like really? You need to attack a child? People need to take good hard look at themselves in the mirror.

 

That's not really misfortunes for them. You also have to remember that times changed a lot between the 80's and the last fifteen years. People have become more crueler due to the internet and social media. In Jake Lloyd's case, he had the unfortunate timing of coming into this right as the internet was taking off and had to deal with a lot of angry fanboys.

 

Coming from someone who's been bullied, most schools do not care if you're bullied unless things get serious.

I don't understand why there's so much hate towards little Anakin. How else did they expect a ten year old boy to be like?

 

Jake is entitled to his own opinion, and considering what this franchise did to him, I think he's MORE than entitled to hate Lucas and the entire damned thing. Hell, he could film himself chucking all the films, books, comic books and action figures into a bon fire while blasting out the Imperial March on a radio and dancing and I'd think he'd be entitled to it. It's what I'd do if I were in his shoes, to a franchise that gave me nothing but bullying and harassment.

Apparently they were expecting that boy to act two decades older than he really was at the time.

As for the rest of you: you're expecting him to be a saint, a PollyAnna figure who says, "Life is just wonderful, despite its many flaws." Bully affects people in tons of different ways, and with Jake, it make him very cynical. Not everyone can shrug their shoulders and 'just deal with it'. Some just break. Well, Jake broke. Good job, fandom. Good job. You're lucky Jake didn't commit suicide over this, being called the 'kid who ruined Star Wars'. Don't think bullied victims commit suicide? You'd be surprised.

 

Yeah, seeing how much the Original Star Wars fans bashing and bullying him has nothing to do with Star Wars, other child actors failed because they had grow up and questions they life decisions, like for example Jack Gleeson that left the business voluntarily because he didn't like the celebrity worshipping and the over enthusiastic GOT fans, but GOT and A Song Of Ice and Fire fans, specially the Jon Snow fans, are nothing compared with the Original Star Wars fans, they win in the toxic aspect.