Jake "Anakin Skywalker" Lloyd: 10 years after The Phantom Menace

The Force Is Not With Him: Anakin Skywalker 10 Years Later

The plucky kid with the pod racer from "Star Wars: Episode I" is not a kid anymore. And Jake Lloyd wants you to know that having a major role in a George Lucas film really put a damper on things when he was growing up.

OK, fine: The guy doesn't really deserve our pity, but think of it from his point of view. Ten years old, getting blamed for ruining the Star Wars series. (Well, that was mainly the fault of George Lucas, but the kid was there, wasn't he?) And people just won't let it go. The Sci-Fi Australia blog caught up with the glum "Star Wars" alum Down Under, who sounds more Eeyore than "Episode One."

While every word drips with sarcasm (he is 20, after all) the Anakin actor also can still speak geek. On college: "You'll never find more intelligent, charming people than the drunk students of the college world." 'Nuff said.

Hey, Jake, don't worry: We know how you feel. Jar Jar Binks pretty much ruined the whole Star Wars thing for us, too.

The webpage says there's a video interview, although I'm seeing it in my web browser.

 

lol I just saw this on Yahoo and came straight here only to see it posted.

I dunno, I don't think his portrayal of Anakin was all that bad. Compared to how awful other aspects of the PT were (*cough cough* battle droids, illogical AOTC plot, last half of ROTS), young Anakin's depiction is downright good.

 

From the way Ms. Zap framed the interview I was expecting Lloyd to be much, much more negative about the experience than he actually was.

 

True, but for those who were really harping on this film, he was one of the major grievences. Read some of those old AICN posts from 1999 and 2000. Very savage. It also stems from those who don't like watching kids in a film. And a lot of them didn't want a kid in TPM, much less the younger version of one of the most badass villains ever.

 

This is sad. I have heard about this before, there was an interview with Jake on G4 a while back where he basically said the same thing and seemed really tired of Star Wars. I think some of the bashers went too far. You don't bash a 10 year old kid just because you don't like his acting. That's just wrong. I never understood why bashers have to make things so personal.

 

It's hard to believe it's been ten years sense The Phantom Menace came out. What's funny though is that Jake Lloyd never really did anything after TPM.

 

I'm going to go ahead and lock this thread and direct your attention to an old thread on Jake Lloyd that was focused on a similar topic. We can take this discussion there.

 

On second thought, let's keep this thread open instead. Sorry guys.

 

....

 

He's still getting used to having the shiny mod buttons back...

 

I hate the way the media is framing this interview.
Jake doesn't seem to be a bitter and disturbed former child actor.

In recent years, he has even appeared at SW weekends in Disney, and some fan conventions as well.

 

Very true, even in the interview he says that although he hasn't seen The Phantom Menace for about ten years he doesn't regret starring in it, even going as far as saying he enjoys the fan base the franchise has built up. He doesn't seem bitter about anything other than bullies! Unlike certain OT actors...

 

I really don't think the evil, mainstream media is too preocupied in trying to make Jake Lloyd seem like a bitter and disturbed former child actor.

 

You'd be surprised at what the media does these days. Regardless of how unimportant it seems.

 

My brother, who is almost oblivious to current events/news, just walked into the room, and said " I heard the little Anakin hates Episode I, and regrets being in the film."

He read it from a headline on Yahoo.com.

 

I watched that interview friday, and he says in it that Star Wars was made for kids, and adults are trying to make too much into it. Then you read the yahoo interview, and the moron that wrote it did the same old thing. the prequels suck, jake sucked, jar jar is awful, blah blah blah blah blah.
Oh and remember, Jake was 10 when TPM came out, but he was 8 when filming began. The criticism of his acting is way overblown. To me, the first two or three Harry Potter movies, Daniel Radcliffe has some moments that aren't too perfect.

 

Ya gotta feel sorry for the kid, though. All the "Mannequin Skywalker" wisecracks.

The fact is he was commissioned to play one the silver screen's most iconic villains...when said villain was 9 or 10 years old. The kid lost Qui-Gon, whom he had known for only a few days, and he had to leave his mother behind to train to be a Jedi. There's some drama there to be sure, but not the transformative experiences of watching your mother die or having to make a Faustian bargain to try to save the lives of your unborn children.

The Phantom Menace, and Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker, were more prologue than prequel in a lot of ways.

Cut the kid some slack.

 

Its not that strange. The majority of child actors, of whatever ability or success, often go on to different careers as adults. There are a number of reasons. I can't imagine Jake would have stayed in the business, even had his portrayal of Anakin been universally acclaimed.

I've always said the assessment of his acting in TPM was enormously unfair - the odd bit here or there isn't quite on the nose but show me an 8 year old actor who can have that much screen time in any such movie (acting with blue-screen and characters who aren't even there) and nail every line. Many parts of TPM I love for his acting alone - the dinner scene "you can make him think it was yours and get him to let me pilot it for you" is one such delivery which I adore - he's perfect in that scene, brilliantly conveying the selflessness, kind enthusiasm that his character was written to have. I think he's great in all the space battle stuff, when leaving his mother, on meeting the Jedi Council and the two main scenes with Qui-Gon - thats the bulk of his performance really. I also think there's a lot of naiveity in the character which some rightly or wrongly regard as bad acting - where he asks Qui-Gon about midi-chlorians for example.

The reaction of the media and the fans to his performance was over-exaggerated and aptly childish at best.

 

Did you watch the video? There's no way you can say he's as bitter in the interview as the article seems to indicate.

I'm not saying the media is evil or that there's some kind of conspiracy going on, but clearly they are trying to create a "story" here. I thought Jake handled himself pretty well in the interview, and didn't come across as bitter at all.

I've honestly never seen Jake Lloyd since TPM, so it was kind of cool to see the interview.

 

well this is the problem with blog journalism. i dont think this inept "reporter" is looking to sensationalise the story as much as use it as a platform to jump on the bandwagon and bitch about george lucas "ruining" his own creation, as the popular trend goes. i wouldnt be surprised for a second if this person hasn't even seen star wars.

 

Nice interview


Jake,seems like a real cool cat that sucks he had it rough in school over a stupid movie.

Yeah really,I don't see anything that's painting him as a disturbed actor.The media conspiracy against SW is my favorite crazy SW fan theory so I hope this thread catches on.

 

I should change line one of my siganture.

"Lucas didn't ruin my childhood, but he sure wrecked little Ani's..."
Er, I mean little Lloyd's.

 

he had to wreck somebody's

anyway, we wrecked it with our hype.

 

From the looks of it, he seems almost thankful for Star Wars..

 

Why wouldn't he be?
He just got access to the trust found not too long ago.


I like the kid. Sounds like he's got a good grip on things.