Hayden "wins" Razzie

For some reason, I have a mental image of Hayden sweeping the platform to get ready for the scene.

 

I second that.

 

I'm with you guys too.

I thought that scene was awesome.

Hayden was awesome. We also have to remember that the OT set boundries to the story. Anakin had to be a good guy. He had to be a friend of Obi-Wan. He had to be a Jedi Knight. Given 4 1/2 hours of film to deal with a careful balancing act of "A good friend" and "More machine than man, twisted and Evil." while developing other charcters is hard to write and hard to act. Sure some of the lines and scenes may not have been the greatest pieces of film ever, but overall the story was solid and Hayden's portrayal was Solid.

Carnage

 

To me Hayden wasn't great in AOTC, but he was awesome in ROTS. If he didn't portray a believable Anakin then I don't know who could have.

 

I think the acting from Hayden was much better in ROTS than in AOTC but sometimes I wonder how they could be expected to act much better, while delivering lines like the ones at the Fireplace Scene, the Lake scene, the "are you an angel" scene or the Blacony/hairbrush scene.

 

Yeah I never really had a problem with the love scenes, they are a little cheezy, but people are somtimes a little cheesy, and both Padme and Anakin were I think entitled to their little bursts of drama. I mean, everything about heir romance was so dramatic in the first place, they were not supposed to be in love, they had known each other years ago, she was preggers, he was fighting a war etc etc. So that is fine. I think overall like I said his acting is good Star Wars acting, but if you put his dialogue in other movies it would probably seem out of place, but that is OK.

And while I do feel like his change was very very quick, that is not really Haydens fault so he did not deserve this reward for that.

 

Im sorry but being a huge fan of Star Wars - PT and OT, I have to disagree with most here. Hayden's acting sucked. In AOTC it was painful to watch and diminished the quality of the movie to the point that I still have to fast-forward through the love scenes. Ironically Hayden won this razzie for ROTS, where I believe his acting improved significantly. However, he is still pretty bad in a few of the scenes, the hairbrush scene being the worst but most of the ones where he is supposed to be anything but angry he's pretty mediocre and that's after George Lucas hired an acting coach just for the purpose of improving his performance. It's ridiculous to blame his substandard acting on the writing when all the other actors had to say lines just as bad and they pulled it off.

Hayden is just not that good of an actor imo. Life as a House portraying an angry teenager was pretty good - but very one note, Shattered Glass whiney manipulator was okay but really nothing special or believable and not even close to being on par with Sarsgaard. The fact that Hayden has only done 3 other films since he began Star Wars is very telling, he's obviously not a respected or a sought after actor and since he's great looking and intelligent it has to be due to a lack of on screen charisma and talent, but probably both. One can make it on charisma alone or talent alone, but not both.

 

"Yeah I never really had a problem with the love scenes, they are a little cheezy, but people are somtimes a little cheesy, and both Padme and Anakin were I think entitled to their little bursts of drama. I mean, everything about heir romance was so dramatic in the first place, they were not supposed to be in love, they had known each other years ago, she was preggers, he was fighting a war etc etc. So that is fine. I think overall like I said his acting is good Star Wars acting, but if you put his dialogue in other movies it would probably seem out of place, but that is OK.

And while I do feel like his change was very very quick, that is not really Haydens fault so he did not deserve this reward for that."



"He (Anakin) lets himself go there...he's spilling his guts out to her (AOTC couch scene). It's intended to be overly dramatic, even operatic... You've got to remember that this whole series of films is based on a
30s genre, The acting style is very much from the 30s,conceptually it's using the influence and the inspiration of the 30s films as its basis, the most central of which are the Saturday matinee serials."-

GEORGE LUCAS on AOTC DVD COMMENTARY

"I wanted to write a love story in a style that was extremely old-fashioned, and frankly I didn't know if I was going to pull it off. In many ways this was much more like a movie that from the 1930s than any of the others had been, with a slightly over-the-top, poeticstyle-and they just don't do that in movies anymore. I was very happy with the way it turned out in the script and in the performances, but I knew people might not buy it. A lot of guys were going to see this movie, and most guys think that kind of flowery, poetic talk is stupid--'Come on, give me a break.' More sophisticated, cynical types also don't buy that stuff. So I didn't know if people would laugh at it and throw things at the screen or they would accept it. Let's face it, their dialogue in that (couch) scene is pretty corny. It is presented very honestly, it isn't tongue-in-cheek at all, and it's really played to the hilt. But it is consistant with the over all Star Wars style. Most people don't understand the style of SW. They don't get that there is anunderlying motif that is very much like a 1930s western or Saturday matinee serial. It's in that more romantic period of making movies and adventure films. And this film is even more of a melodrama then the others."

--GEORGE LUCAS "Behind the scenes AOTC" book

 

I'm trying to keep myself from not laughing...I will be serious here. As a huge Star Wars fan who stood in line for the ANH, ESB & ROTJ I can tell you the same things were said about them and those who acting in them. There were what some would call cheesy line etc... but this is a science fiction fairy tale. As for Hayden Christensen I think his performance as Anakin/Vader is comparable to those from the OT. To make my point Harrison Ford in no way gave an Oscar winning performance (and no I'm not a fan of the Oscars) and in some of his lines he cames off as wooden.
Finally we all forget this was never our story it was George Lucas's story. So while I still can find some anger towards George for making Vader a crusty, pasty, pathetic shell of a man who for 2 movies I really loved to hate into nothing more then something to be pitied... I'm reminded this isn't my story to tell and I open to the possiblities of a different POV other then my own!

 

Exactly!!

 

This is just rediculous...plain and simple...

I truly thought Hayden did an amazing job protraying Anakin's inner conflict-

 

I thought that Hayden's performance in ROTS was good,he portrayed the inner turmoil of Anakin very well.
An underrated actor for sure.

 

I wouldn't go as far to say he deserved the razzie, but I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't too impressed with his performance. For a character that is so torn by his human wants, he comes off rather wooden. That was probably my biggest gripe with the prequels in general. Aside from Qui Gon Jinn, and to an extent Yoda... none of the characters seemed "real"...the most glaring example being Anakin Skywalker. Althouh he did shine at points, there were just too many instances where I thought he gave a cringeworthy line delivery and overall weak performance.

Again I wouldn't say he was dreadful enough to earn the razzie, if anything he was far from. But for a character that was to be monumental and iconic, I think Hayden fell a bit short. I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but DiCaprio would have indeed been the ideal choice. Aside from being an outstanding actor, he also could have easily passed for an aged Jake Lloyd.

I just don't think Hayden was human enough, and as a result he was less likeable than he should have been. Whether or not he or Lucas is to blame is up to you.

 

The only complaint I'd ever put upon Hayden was the mistaken assumption that he had to emulate Darth Vader's signature deep voice when in the throws of the Dark Side. He matched James Earl Jones' cadence wonderfully, but it's always been the suit that made the deep base, not Anakin. That's shown clearly when Sebastian Shaw speaks in RotJ. "You will not take her from me" is delivered well, very Vader-like, but it's the false attempt to also SOUND like Vader that ruins it for me.

Having said that, the Razzies prove once again to be clueless. Hayden gave a stellar performance in this STARRING role and no two-bit wannabe awards show is gonna change that.

 

It's really sad when a carefree, fun institution like the Razzies decides to have an agenda and make choices based on publicity.

Was Hayden great? Nah, I wouldn't say so. But he certainly wasn't terrible. His performance in RotS was a huge improvement on AotC, and I think he did a commendable job of rescuing Anakin from some pretty dismal lines and character portrayals. He wasn't as great as Ewan in RotS, but he certainly did better than Natalie.

 

Finally we all forget this was never our story it was George Lucas's story.

What does that have to do with Hayden performance? GL did the script, but Hayden brought Vader to the screen.

 

Good Point, but then again the Razzie's rationale seems to be more of a miff with the character of Vader than Hayden's acting, drawing the blame into GL's territory. That being said, Hayden didn't deserve the Razzie for Bad Acting just because the Razzies didn't like the overall characterization and backstory of Vader . Sure, Hayden deserves some of the blame (his performance was far from stellar), but not all of it.

 

Hayden sucked. He deserved that award. He can't act. He ruined Star Wars.

 

Hey man, nothing can ruin Star Wars, I mean, if you liked it in the first place just dont watch the prequels. However, you might want to give a more detailed version of your opinion, I mean, what did not work for you? Was Hayden just not what you thought Anakin would be? Or was it the character itself? Ill stick by him acting just fine. And it makes even more sense reading that quote from GL, I can totally see how he intended the love scenes to be taken, not that you have to like them.

Damn, Im scaring myself, I feel like every day I disklike the prequels less........hmmmm, we need curmudgeons, I can not fail lol

As long as I hate Jar Jar and love the unaltered OT I think I can keep my stripes ; )

 

Anakin is a horrible character who complains and spits the dummy when he doesn't get what he wants. I can't stand his arrogance. Anakin is a stupid food.I enjoyd seeing him catch on fire.

 

Do you think that perhaps his arrogance is important in understanding his downfall? Anakin can be whiny and irritating, but dosent that make it all the creepier to see Vader in ANH, devoid of anything save devotion to his master and hate.....and I suppose some blackltion?

 

For all the complaining about Hayden, where are the great actors his age?? What was he 19 or 20 in ATOC? I don't see any actors carrying movies at that age. And if they do it's like american pie or something. People say he whines, but you can't have a character %100 good suddenly turn %100 bad. There has to be some levels to the character.

 

Anakin is not a good man.

 

I thought Hayden did a great job with the dialogue he had to work with. The scenes I felt most compelling from him as an actor were the scenes like the Ruminations scene where he expressed the emotions without any dialogue. And I agree that the cheesy dialogue was written like a 30's/40's space opera. It was supposed to be that kind of feel.

Much of the dislike of Hayden was the character as some have expressed. They didn't like the Anakin of the prequels because they wanted to see a bad Vader-like character as opposed to a Hero, albeit whiny hero in AOTC.

 

I've never been a big Hayden fan, I must confess, and after AOTC I seriously doubted whether he was up to the job. In ROTS, however, he makes a decent fist of it, with one or two of his scenes being particularly powerful. For people to continue to put the boot into him is just bandwagoning. His effort in ROTS was a long way from the worst of the year. I know it's beside the point, but why doesn't anyone ever comment on how bad Elijah Wood is? By the end of three LOTR films I just wanted some big ugly orc to come down and slay the silly little git!