PT Hayden Christensen is Misunderstood

For several reasons that are far way from the topic of the thread I saw Hayden first in Life as a house and then in AOTC (I'm not sure the movies were filmed in this sequence). However when I learned that he will play Anakin in AOTC, I was 100% sure that he will handle it. And he did. I had no idea what I will see in AOTC exactly but I was sure that Hayden can show a young conflicted man with pure heart who made some mistakes that looks like there is no turning back from them. More or less is what happened in AOTC and especially ROTS. Also, I was interested in the potential love story: Hayden has the perfect look for something like Tristan and Isolde times and I think again he was the best choice for the role indeed.

 

I saw Life as a House, too, and liked him. Some iffy lines aside, folks just didn't want to see a conflicted teenage Vader (just like they didn't want to see him as a kid).

 

I think not enough time was given to build Anakin's relationship with Obi-Wan before it deteriorated and ultimately broke down. That can't be blamed on HC, just as it can't be blamed on him that he was given some of the worst dialogue in all the films put together.

 

As @Subtext Mining said earlier, the dialogue is typical SW dialogue and the only difference in this aspect between the PT and the OT is the archaic style of expressing that is deliberate as this era should be the past of what happened in OT.
By the way, Hayden was perfect in the so unjustly blamed sand scene. I liked the first time I saw it. Both Hayden and Natalie handled it very well. I didn't mentioned Tristan and Isolde incidentally. Anakin and Padme are not characters from some postmodern young adult romance. They are not exactly positively excited with their feelings. They feel uncomfortable as their feelings are in conflict with all their lives and purposes and dreams. The scene should represent the uneasiness of both and also the flourishing love that besides all would come to life in the end. They did it great but the question is would the audience accept to feel their uneasiness and internal turmoil. Would the audience accept that Anakin instead of being cool like Han would be just honest i.e. awkward and insecure which is much more realistic, actually. I think this is the big problem in the love scenes, especially in AOTC, not the dialog or the acting. The prejudice that the hero should be the cool guy from the regular comics and not so insecure and inexperienced in his feelings and thoughts James Dean-y character is the impact factor here for me. I'm relieved that Lucas went against the odds, made this character and had chosen the right actor for the role.

 

Hayden was an awesome actor, a lot of people say he was too monotone but if your mother had died and you were having dreams of your wife dying yet we're told to let go of your emotions, I'd be monotone as well. Also, Hayden did most of his stunts, his stunt double says he barely had to do anything which I think is very cool.

 

There is one blooper in ROTS where Anakin should go to the lift with Obi Wan on his back and the filming stopped with Lucas announcing : Wrong door. The surprising thing however is not the wrong lift door but that Hayden really had Ewan McGregor on his back in this moment.
Regarding to the monotonous way of speaking: I also think it is deliberate. Hayden showed enough intense emotion when he has to: the garage scene and the fireplace scene in AOTC are perfect examples. As Jedi he had to be restrained at least if not internally calm, he succeeded only in the former (and not always) and this is the reason for the monotonous way of speaking, I think. The real essence of Anakin, even after 10 years of Jedi training was pure emotion, not serenity. Hayden nailed this too.

 

Yeah I think thats a Major factor. back in the day many said that this cant be Vader, he is to soft and to whiny. You nailed it I think!

 

Oh, I just love it when people complain how "soft and whiny" Hayden is, and then crap their pants and get all soft and whiny themselves when Anakin first gets to be Darth Vader when he deals with the Tusken. So now your soft and whiny Hayden is suddenly your main object of hatred and gets dissed to no end when he finally does kick some ass? Hilarious!

 

Perfectly said and you point out the hypocrite! Paul agrees

 

The whole thing with the badass-ery lays on the most wrong fundaments, I think. We discussed this once on the mega thread (as is called now) about Anakin's character. I do not consider someone as bad ass because he makes people afraid of him till death as Vader did in TESB. The real bad ass acts are when someone stands in front of an adversary that is stronger than him, yet he/she still stands there. Speaking of this, the duel with Dooku is the real bad ass act for Anakin in AOTC: he stood there no matter that was choked by the lighting like minutes ago and Dooku was obviously the best duelist of all.
And again, as @Subtext Mining said something about this, not everyone who express their emotions spontaneously and directly is whinny. Hayden nailed this in Anakin too: he is like a volcano of emotions and expresses them at the moment he feels them. In a real world situation such person would be considered as sympathetic, emotional and sincere. In the world of the Jedi he would be considered as in risk, as all these boiled emotions could make him step on the path of the Dark Side in some situations. Anakin looks in a way too normal (I.e. human) in his behavior and Hayden nailed this perfectly.

 

I think the Rogue One scene when we first meet Vader on mustafar shouldve shown haydens face in closeup, that wouldve been great setting up also now what were going to see in kenobi story .

 

Agreed but it was a different actor for Rogue One. I'm glad they decided to use Hayden now though. I've seen YouTube videos over the last few years defending him as well. That's been nice.

 

Probably best they didn't show his face. Just a few years after Rogue One, Anakin will look like Sebastian Shaw. That's a pretty big change from Hayden Christensen...and it gives Lucasfilm an excuse to make another unecessary change to the original films.

 

I said in another thread that I would love to see Disney add/insert Rey somewhere into the PT for a special edition, just so the PT fans understand how we felt about the films we loved EXACTLY AS THEY WERE being messed with! See how accepting they are then of changes "for the hell of it"

 

Ugh Rey. Yes, that would make me want to burn every copy of the PT trilogy to the ground.

 

False equivilance. Anakin was in the OT played by Sebastian Shaw, he was replaced by Hayden to portray a younger version of the same character. Ian was inserted in Empire as the hologram of the Emperor. Again same person. Rey in the PT would make no sense because she was never mentioned in any of the original 6 films

 

Clearly I am being a bit silly... My point is that a lot of fans love the films exactly as they are - so don't mess with them!

 

I like both the OOT and the PT- I say that the OOT already exists as it was on video, including DVD.

And I’d be down for PT special editions still, done by George and/or somebody he trusts. Just not with Rey

I’m thinking of scenes that never made it past the cutting room floor that might be cool to see.

 

That would probably bother Abrams more than any PT fan.

 

I hope not lol. Brando had problems. Many problems lol George Costanza told me lol.

 

I think anyone who grew up with the PT are likely to be abit more open to change than what those who grew up with the OT are. Mostly because OT fans had several years of burning out their VHS tapes of the same films over and over. While anyone who grew up with the PT have always has some form of expanded media like Clone Wars adding new lore to the PT. So its not really strange to them.

But hey we will soon find out how fans react to the Obi Wan show. Thats bound to delve into the PT and the aftermath in a way that fans never thought we would see in live action

 

I have already seen a few complaints about Anakin/Vader meeting up with Obi-Wan again. Yes, it will probably get worse.

 

It's to be expected. We will see a meet up between the 2 no one ever thought happened 15 years after ROTS.

This will probably feel more like a lost sequel. Probably more of a sequel than the Sequels did to the OT.

 

Hayden is at the Comic Con in Seattle today, about 90 miles from here. I thought about going but I'm tired after a long work week. I'd pay 100 dollars to meet him.