Does this explain why Anakin speaks so formally?

So, as I saw the Revenge of the Sith trailer I heard Anakin speaking stiff and formal once again with limited inflection.

Now I know he speaks the exact same way in Attack of the Clones and this lead me to conclude one of two things:

a) Even though Hayden is a good actor perhaps the poor dialogue and Lucas' direction has him speaking too rigidly.

b) Listen to the way Darth Vader speaks. Vader has a very deliberate delivery. He is methodical and precise with his choice of words. Could this be Hayden mimicking Vaderspeak?

What do you think....a or b? or c if you have one.

Darth Lacerus

 

I always saw it as Hayden trying to tie in his character to the OT character. So, B.

 

Could this be Hayden mimicking Vaderspeak?

Yes. Hayden even says so himself...

 

Where did he say this himself? That's interesting. I never read that. Can you provide a URL so I can read it too. Thanks.

 

C. Perhaps Anakin's rigidness is what Obi-Wan meant by a "more civilized" time in ANH

 

They are trying to tie it with the OT...i mean this vader will lead in the the old vader

and look at obi wan...look pretty similar there with the OT one

 

b Anakin also walks like Vader.

 

It was said in an interview somewhere that Hayden attempted to integrate as many of Darth Vader's mannerisms into Anakin's character as possible. His poise and walking are big ones, as is the tendency to put his hands on his belt, but there's also quite a bit of Vader-ish voice inflection throughout the film. The big ones I can recall are the sports bar scene and the fireplace sequence.

Also, keep in mind, character-wise, Anakin has been hanging around the Jedi for quite some time. In particular, his master has been a massive influence on him, and Obi Wan tends to have very cultured speech. He might not have as eloquent a speaking tone as he does as Vader, but he's starting to pick up on the Coruscanti accent. And given Anakin's desire to be the greatest Jedi ever, it wouldn't surprise me if he was using Obi Wan as a gauge to emulate a refined personality.

 

This topic was brought up a while ago, I actually found several pre-AOTC interviews where he said he was doing this on the filming. I can't remember the exact magazines, but I did a google search for something like "hayden christiansen inflection vader" or something like that. He said something about how he didn't want it to seem weird when Anakin went into the suit that his way of speaking just completely changed, so he tried to incorporate the rhythm and inflection (including slight british accent, which does pop up in AOTC) that JEJ used.

After hearing this, my viewing of AOTC completely changed. My view of Hayden as good actor (Shattered Glass, wow!) struggling with Lucas direction turned into good actor getting into character and pulling it off. I don't like how Lucas directed him to act 'more childish and whiney' (that's a direct quote from a Natalie interview in Empire magazine during the AOTC release), though I understand the decision to do it.

Anyways, if you thought Hayden struggled before, keep this in mind when you view AOTC again. Some of his Vader-isms are so dead-on, it's frightening.

 

Practically everyone in the PT speaks formally, since this is the Victorian Age of SW and the OT is the flyboy WWII era. I really don't think it has to do with Hayden's limitations, but the society they live in.

 

I know there was an interview with Hayden in the SW-Insider around the time AOTC was released, where he talks about the Vaderisms he incorporated in his performance.

 

Maybe it's because he was raised on Tatooine? LOL just kidding.

Yeah, now that you mention it, Anakin does have a very peculiar speaking tone. I guess the only logical reason behind it would be to connect him to Vader some how. One Vader line that reminds me of Anakin's tone is in ROTJ when Vader tells Luke "I... MUST... obey my master."

 

Yes, Hayden explained that in an interview thing on AotC DVD.

Vader speaks very coldly (JEJ) and Anakin should also speak sort of similair to that.

 

These are great ideas... good observations. I hadn't thought of it that way- Hayden is actually trying to do all of the stiffness. I've known he's a pretty great actor, judging by his other movies, but this makes me breathe a sigh of relief.

By the way, what exactly denotes a Coruscanti accent? Is it more British or what?

 

I don't think Coruscant would have a particular accent that *all* of its citizens have, only because it's such a beehive of movement and culture, but for those who reside there, there seems to be a "refined" accent of sorts for the upper class. I wouldn't define it so much as British as just very formal and elegant.

 

Anyone who saw Jake Lloyd in TPM can easily see that George Lucas isn't very good at picking actors to play Anakin, excluding the OT. Hayden was great in Life as a House. What happened? Is it the writing /directing or is Hayden trying to hard?

 

Mike! *hits you like when we were playing that board game* Have you read the rest of this thread? I don't think he was trying too hard... I think he was trying to find a hard medium between Jake Lloyd (I'll concede to him having been a bad actor) and James Earl Jones/David Prowse (who were each good actors in their own right). I don't think it would be such an easy job.

 

I watched ESB for the first time after having rewatched AOTC AFTER learning about Hayden's 'getting into character'. Put the two side by side, you'll see that Hayden actually does a magnificent job of mimmicking the cadence and rhythm of JEJ's Vader.

I just wish this got more publicity so people knew about it instead just thinking Hayden was a monotone actor. I'm really surprised it only got mentioned a little bit when AOTC was released.

 

b) Listen to the way Darth Vader speaks. Vader has a very deliberate delivery. He is methodical and precise with his choice of words. Could this be Hayden mimicking Vaderspeak?


I've been yelling to anyone that would listen (and some that don't) that people have been too quick to judge Hayden as a bad actor or Lucas as a bad director without looking at whats going on in the film. Yoda is still Yoda. He still speaks in Yoda-speak. Obiwan still speaks with the same accent. But when you get to Darth Vader, people forget that his voice (JEJ) was 50% of his character. Without that, Vaders lines are rather LAME!!! Now we have a young actor who now must play Vader without that cool voice. He must now 'show' facial expressions with rapidly changing emotions, and convey and them in the context of a teenager who is infatuated with a 'forbidden' love.

 

Hayden is too whiny in AOTC. I can't see how such a whiner could grow up to be voiced by James Earl Jones. The whinyness will probably go away in ROTS though. Gallia is right, the voice makes the character. I did notice in the Revenge of the Sith trailer that he was doing Vader's walk. He looked scary but without the voice it just isn't Vader for me. Hayden is doing a good job, he does have a lot to live up to and without the scary voice he is lacking a lot of ammunition.

 

Let's remember that it's not Hayden being whiney, it's the way Anakin was written. Lucas has explicitely stated that he wanted Anakin to act younger and more childish. Why? Because as a character, he was taken from his mother at an age where he was still immature and then thrown into a Jedi environment - not exactly the easiest place to figure out your adolesence.

And besides, whining is a Skywalker trait. Watch ANH again and compare the amount of times Luke whines to the amount of times Anakin whines. Lucas has said that he wanted to draw parallels between the two characters, essentialy making them the same, except they make different decisions. Every time Luke says no, Anakin says yes...and look who gave in to the dark side.

 

Also, Jake Lloyd does the 'Vader point' when he's at the dinner table in TPM. I've always liked that.

 

Practically everyone in the PT speaks formally, since this is the Victorian Age of SW, and the OT is the flyboy WWII era. I don't think it has to do with Hayden's limitations, but the society they live in.

I agree with Moleman's statement. The two trilogies are positioned in a rather specific aesthetic opposition to one another, in part to create a purely figurative sense of divide between the respective eras. This saga would appear static, unformed, and lacking in conflict if Lucas were to employ the same tonal rhythms to every single one of his pictures - there needs to be an arc to these pictures, as they are each designed to feed into the larger schematic.

The intonation, inflection, and rhythm of Hayden's speaking pattern serves a couple of purposes: 1) It allows the actor to encompass the stylisitic qualities of Lucas' dialogue in a manner that is consistent with not only the type of character that he is playing (and the point in the character's development at which he is playing him), but the sort of pre-method acting that Lucas is attempting to impart on his film; and 2) more subtly, as others have already mentioned, Hayden uses his voice to bridge the characteristic rhythms inherent in both Jake Lloyd's and James Earl Jones' voices. The result is a character who is in transition - his speech is merely an extension of his psychological conflict and emotional instability. All of this, of course, adheres to the parameters of the film's tone, and should be regarded as such - although I do respect that this is a rather "love it or hate it" matter for many individuals.

 

Jazzatola, can you tell me what the Vader point is and where to look for it?

 

Let's not forget that the JEJ voice isn't really the true voice of Darth Vader it is the mechanical voice in the mask...which changes when Luke takes off the mask.

When I first saw AOTC I HATED Hayden's Anakin but now that I have really watched it...A LOT...I have found that I think he does a very good job in the context of the other 4 movies so far and his speech patterns goes with the character very well.

He acts sometimes like a whiney teenager and sometimes like an adult...which is the way 20 year olds act.