Hayden's Vader voice MISTAKEN for bad acting?

"You'll find me full of surprises"

Yeah, it reminds me of "I am a slow learner".

Although Anakin was being sarchastic.

 

But on the acting part he portrayed a young Anakin and when I think on it I don't know who else could be him.

For me, that's the definition of a great performance. When you can't imagine another actor in the role, that means the actor nailed their character.

 

Someone said:
"i will say this, hayden's young vader did take time to grow on me. His performance is much deeper than it appears at first glance, and more complicated."

Yet, isn't that the lifestory of Anakin Skywalker?
(slash Darth Vader)?
That he is MUCH deeper than he appears at first glance and much more complicated?
How his feelings are NEVER to show and his emotions are always being supressed, pushed aside, and ignored by either himself or his masters?

I went nuts when I began to hear people cut down Haydens performance. They used words like "wooden" and they asked why he wasn't as emotional as Luke.
God I went nuts. Because Anakin is such a different character than any in the typical emotional movies we are used to.. he is alive in an age of repression and supression for the Jedi. The only reason he is ever accepted to be trained by the Jedi (as they are and with their old rules).. is because Qui-gon rebels from the order a little. He trusts his instincts about the child and he is not going to be told to supress those feelings. He tells them he WILL train Anakin. So when Qui-gon dies and Obiwan (who was always a bit more of a conformist than Qui-gon) takes over the training of Anakin you see Annie having to supress all kinds of fears, nightmares, emotions, thoughts and if that wasn't enough he even later has to repress his own love for padme.

He is constantly trying to please and trying to be a wise looking jedi padwan learner.. kind of seen and not heard in a way. Hayden does a great job of looking like he truly is in love or feeling hate, or hurt and sad inside but yet will not let others around him see it. No way. Almost like he already wears the black mask he is destined to wear.

So, to me... Hayden rocks.
IT is difficult to play such a complicated role!
I was the ONE person who thought there was NO WAY on earth LUcas could find an Anakin Skywalker out there. No way no way no way. Anakin is duel sided, he must hate and love, fear and dominate, regret and forget, be happy and yet sad, hopeful but fearful.. etc. Because that is the way we see Vader act later on. (Only much more concealed behind that mask, until that is he meets his son.)

But in that elevator in the beginning of ep2.. wow.
There I sat in the theatre.. and then there way Hayden on screen with obiwan.. he looked nervous, confident, in love, in denial, fearful, cocky, happy and sad, he expressed in his face almost 10 different emotions under the surface.

Take another look at that part...
And also see how obiwan does not see any of those emotions except the nervousness and when obiwan tells him to relax he almost snaps out "I haven't seen her in 10 years master." As if he is frustrated that his master doesnt understand such a simple
concept as that.

 

You hit it on the head Gemini. Hayden's performance is a complicated one...but one that was needed for the character. Many were looking for a carbon copy of Luke Skywalker and yet, GL went totally the other way eventhough they share a trait or two.

I always felt that Hayden's performance was good in that you could see the emotional confrontation he has within himself throughout the entire film. It's quite great if you seriously look at Hayden's performance.

I'll be honest. I didn't initially pick up on Hayden's voice in the film until after I'd seen Attack of the Clones a few times. Something about it struck me as interesting and on one afternoon it clicked and I understood what Hayden was trying to do in his speech pattern. It's not that when Anakin became Vader in the suit that that character was given that speech pattern. It was that he had had it all along and it definitely goes against Hayden's normal speech pattern. It's quite stunning that he even thought about doing that for the character because I know many people would've never thought about doing that.

And yes, I believe this choice for doing Anakin's voice in the manner he choose was the main reason why Hayden's performance was labeled as wooden.

It's also interesting to note that GL hired a dialogue coach for Episode III. Maybe he's decided that the end is coming for the characters and it's every character for themselves that he's gonna loosen them up a bit. It's a much more dramatic story this time anyway so emotions will be high. It's gonna be interesting for sure.

But I'm not worried about Hayden. As GL said in an interview, he actually hired Hayden for Episode III and not Episode II. It'll show in spades next May.

 

And you also have to take it into account that he has one of the most difficult people to portray being that he is in the middle, if you know what i mean.

 

well ya'll said what i had to say before i got through saying it....oh well i tried.

 

NeoBaggins

Thank you for finally understanding what Hayden was doing in this film, and the next.

Not only does he perfectly utilize his Jedi robes and gait to emulate Vader, but his speech patterns sound EXACTLY like him.

The absolute best scene to really notice this is the fireplace scene. If you ignore the dialoge (which some people live to rip apart ) and just listen to Hayden speaking - imagine Vader's breathing in the background...he sounds EXACTLY like Vader.

You are in my soul tormenting me.

Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.

The cadence is the same. This, IMO, gives that scene and the rest of the film. especially whenever he's professing his love to Padme, an overlaying chilling element that would've been missing from the film had Hayden not worked so hard at studying JEJ and Vaders speech.

The young man is a brilliant actor and it is just impossible for film critics who aren't big time fans of the films to notice such tiny nuances and layers in the film, such as this point, especially in the midst of being dazzled by spectacular special fx.

It's nice to know that such things can be recognized years later, at least

 

Perhaps some people will start to change their minds once they see where Lucas and where Hayden were going with Anakin's character arc after they see ROTS. Picking up the Vaderisms in AOTC was half the fun in watching Hayden's performance. I was amazed at how carefully he picked up so many of the details.

--MissPadme

 

NeoBaggins...I couldn't agree more. Hayden is definitely doing this on purpose. As a matter of fact, I saw/read an interview (sorry, can't remember which one) where Hayden HIMSELF addressed this very issue and said he carefully studied the original Vader's speech patterns and tries to emulate it. I think he's done a remarkable job at accomplishing that.

Besides, anyone who's seen any interviews can tell that Hayden is well-spoken. His usual speech pattern is a lot more alert and animated...not the slow, deliberate voice he uses in Star Wars. And believe me, if you see Life as a House...he has plenty of acting range.

Thoughts?

 

The scene that caught my ear was during the club entrance exchange between Annie and Obi. When he says "I am trying" the Vader thing hit me. After that I watched the whole film and saw that he had embodied Vader in his deliveries. And when hes whiney, it is only fair to sum it up as a family trait that wed later see in Hamill's delivery.

 

Sorry but if you've seen that movie in which Christensen plays the son of a man dying of cancer (Kevin Kline), 'My Life as a House', I think. Christensen sounds the same ashe does in Episode II and the scene after his dad tells him he's dying he sounds just like he does when talking to Shmi Skywaler.

And just before that he even shouts to Kline that he's being selfish, which sounded just like "It's all Obi-Wan's fault!"


And believe me, if you see Life as a House...he has plenty of acting range.

Oh apparently you have seen it. Sorry but the acting seems to be the same as Episode II to me.

 

He also sounds just like Hayden Christensen. Now, Hayden's got a rather unique voice.

I don't think he's talking about the actual sound of his voice, but the delivery and rhythm of his talking.

 

I recently told this to some of my prequel-bashing SW friends. One gave me a "hey, that makes sense" reaction, the other (more jaded one) said, "that sounds like post-movie justification." some people are just set in their views, I guess. Anyone got a link to the interview so I can show them that this isn't just fanboy imagination?

has anyone taken any sound samples of Hayden as Anakin and electronically distorted them to sound like Vader? I'd be very curious to see how close he is. Now that I pick up Hayden's Vader manner, just gets better and better for me. If only I could fix the choppy editing and edit in/take out some of the original love story script, it just might rival ESB for me.

 

I think that Hayden was picked to be Anakin because of his boyish crackling voice....he played the part of a teenager in the ATOC. He was acting the part of a kid that grew up too soon with too much responsibility. He never un-learned what he learned...thats why he fell. He plays the part great...and no, I am not a Hayden fan...I've never seen any of his other movies, I just recognize that he did very well in AOTC.