PT Anakin Skywalker MEGAthread - Don't talk to him about sand, it makes him uncomfortable

Hayden's acting of 20yo boy who suffered through mother loss was on point. Id even say that he is underreacting.

Hayden's acting of conflicted 23yo young man whispered by Palpatine on Invisible Hand was on point.

And his realization of that he did something pretty bad

Hayden's acting of suffered man who burns out everything good left in him screaming was absolutely on point.

Hayden's acting of angered hateful man was absolutely on point.



It were mostly some of the quiet moments with cardboard dialogues about politics or love where he acted not good, but neither do some more famous actors like Samuel L.J or Natalie Portman.

And did you look at Adam Driver in the the scenes where he is not screaming? His voice always trembling, and eyes always wet, like he is gonna cry every time he need to talk someone. Maybe thats the distinctive side of his personality but its by no means less annoying or whiny acting that Hayden's in AotC.

And when it comes to dramatic scenes, Hayden in RotS third act trumps everything Adam did in ST. The gifs above are enough to prove it.
What about Kylo's dramatic moments? That 30yo grown man who supposed to act like a 30yo man?
"Im torn apart"(c)
That was the moment in TFA when i cringed. I hate when authors aren't able to show us the suffering, so they need to tell us this through the words of characters. When it comes to Kylo, i still dont know why he is specifically torn. He acted pure evil all the time.

So yeah, i completely disagree with those who say that Kylo is what Anakin should be. Thats nonsense, as well as Adam's abilities to pull off better Anakin than Hayden.

 

^ Yeah, Kylo is and Anakin shouldn't be compared in terms of mental state etc.

 

@Harbour - those are gifs are great! I'd also include the ruminations scene. It communicates his inner struggle well for me.

I remember watching an interview with Hayden where he talked about his mindset on how he first thought he was going to be playing Vader- he was anticipating that the intensity and the anger was where he'd be going from the beginning. He said he was not expecting to be asked to hold back for so long with all the romance/political aspects. I think if the films had started in a different time frame, there would have been more of the anger, more ass kicking action which would have been awesome.

 

Not starting the prequels with AOTC and spreading ROTS out into two films was the biggest loss from the prequels. Would have loved to see Hayden as Anakin in three films.

 

I understand why George wanted us to see him as a little boy. It broke my heart to watch him have to choose between going with Qui Gon and or staying with his mother, but I do agree it would have been awesome if there had been more fleshed out action with teenaged Anakin.

 

The problem fundamentally with anakin's character in the prequels is that in the OT he is said to be this great war hero and a good friend by obi-won kenobi but we never really see either of those in the prequels. the second movie is only the beginning of the war and he gets his ass kicked by count dooku. In the third movie he ****s over the entire jedi order because palpatine somehow convinced him that the jedi were evil after murdering mace windu.
the clone wars tv show makes anakin look very heroic in my opinion but the movies do not. We see him arguably at his very worst in episodes 2 and 3. 1 doesn't really count because hes a little kid and doesn't really do all that much.

 

Did it ever occur to you those were nostalgic memories of an old friend spoken by an old man? We already know Ben lied to Luke about his father. So why would he not emphasize and maybe exaggerate a little bit the good qualities of his apprentice before he became evil? I'd say that's all very natural. And YES, Anakin in AOTC and ROTS was indeed a good friend to Kenobi. "You were my BROTHER, Anakin. I LOVED you!". Hardly the words of a man who isn't genuinely heartbroken at having lost a good friend. When did he ever say "war hero"? He merely said something like "good pilot and cunning warrior", not exactly the same as "hero"!

 

I agree. There had to be elements of Anakin being reckless and aggressive interwoven with him still being a likeable character. It's a gradual descent. I think it's fascinating how icons don't necessarily see themselves as icons. Vader, this mythical identity, was once just a person who made a deal with the devil. And out of love. He was a master of the Dark Side, but only because he was tricked into that life. It's fascinating.

 

Seeing him defeat Palpy was the best part for Anakin in my opinion.. He showed Luke his true self

 

I remember cheering in Episode III when Anakin drew his saber on Palpatine after finding out he was a Sith. Always makes the adrenaline pump, and makes me wish Anakin would bring the blade down. Of course, we all know how it has to end...so it's always a tragedy to see Anakin was so close to defeating the Sith then and there.

Gotta love Palpatine being slightly nervous.

 

I always enjoyed the PT, having grown up with it. After being thouroughly disappointed in the ST however, my appreciation continues to grow. The PT, plus Clone Wars, has really moved Anakin up there for me in terms of favorite characters. He's right behind Luke as one of my favorites in the saga. I thought Hayden did a more than fine job with the material he was given. I hope we see him again too, via flashback or dreams in a kenobi film. Lucasfilm can give up the act that the PT was so bad now that they've managed to bungle up their own trilogy. Embrace the actors while they still can.

 

R.E. Kylo vs Anakin. Two different characters with completely different motivations, to say one is what the other 'should' have been is a huge disservice to both. (Personally I'd argue that Kylo's arc in the ST doesn't work nearly as well without the context of his Grandfather's in the PT. But that's a whole other can of worms.)

R.E. Hayden vs Adam, I feel both actors performed to the best of their abilities given the material they had to work with.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I would read the beginning of the thread before posting, you will find anwers to your arguments. And generally is the the better way. Welcome to the boards!

 

Or maybe he doesn't like sand because he grew up in Tatoonie and was a slave there, so maybe since Tatooine is a desert planet it makes him think about his past

 

^^^TBH I've never quite understood what all the drama over the 'sand' line is about. It's purpose is to highlight the contrast between Anakin's childhood and Padme's. She had a privileged upbringing, with wealthy parents, on a planet that's supposed to resemble paradise. He led a harsh existence as the bottom rung of society, in a godforsaken part of the galaxy, being exploited for money.
Personally, I'd argue that this gulf in upbringing and perspective is one of the biggest reasons their relationship is ultimately unsuccessful.

 

Me neither. Anakin casually mentions something from his childhood, maybe because he can't think of anything else to say, or because he feels comfortable opening up to Padmé, and people act like Hayden is the worst actor in history??? What's the big deal here?

 

It's not even out of nowhere, Padme was literally talking about sand in the line before.

 

I think it would have been better if Anakin was somewhere between 12-15 in Episode I and then Episode II set not quite so long after, so that he would be 18-20, with ten years and different actors between the films there's just too much of an unseen, barely covered gap in his development.

 

Would have been very difficult to find a suitable actor at that age and then play the same role again 3 years later. No, it's fine as it is. We have Jake Lloyd playing the kid, then Hayden took over, worked very well for me.

 

I agree with your post except for that last paragraph. We have no evidence that Padmé's family was "wealthy". And wealth or lack thereof played no part in Anakin and Padmé's relationship, therefore it was not a reason for why it failed. It failed because of lies and Anakin's greed.

 

Sure it would be pretty difficult but Portman was somehow able to pretty successfully/believably play 14 in '97 and then 20/22/even actually 24 just three years later.

 

Yes, Natalie did it, but she was really special, and already had acting experience at 12 in Leon. What male actor could have done the job of playing Anakin at those different ages? I can't think of anyone. Hayden was perfect as 20-year old Anakin. I'm not sure if he would have been convincing 3 or 4 years earlier. Even if Lucas had ever considered a 13 or 14-year old Anakin, I don't think the same actor could have done the job. Besides, he had always wanted to introduce Anakin at age 9 or 10, for storytelling reasons. A shorter time gap would not have worked well in this situation. Natalie was convincing as both a 13- as well as 23-year old. But I don't think at that point there was a male actor that could have pulled that off.

 

@Harbour, good points up above.

I challenge ANY actor to perform those scenes-really the majority of ROTS-better than Hayden did. IMO he really sold a "conflicted, troubled Anakin, who ultimately turned to evil to save those whom he loves, yet still is aware of the atrocity of his actions, as he realizes there is no turning back-before ultimately giving in to the Darkside." I had NO difficulty seeing the emotion of all that in his performance.

 

I agree. His audible anguish during the slaughter of the Separatists on Mustafar was a great emotional moment.