Survey says Anakin/Padme least convincing on-screen partnership

Something that confirms what some fans have believed for years:


Star Wars duo 'least convincing'

Star Wars couple Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen have been voted as having the least plausible on-screen chemistry by film fans. The pair beat Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's performance in Gigli - which was made when they were a real life couple - into second place.

Former duo Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman also made the list with Eyes Wide Shut.

British pairing Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom were thought "too stiff upper lip" in Pirates of the Caribbean.

The 3,000 movie-goers who were surveyed for Pearl and Dean said their screen relationship was punctuated with too much old-fashioned romance and "not enough lust".


LEAST CONVINCING SCREEN PARTNERSHIPS

1. Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen - Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
2. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez - Gigli
3. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom - Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy
4. Madonna and Adriano Giannini - Swept Away
5. Catherine Zeta Jones and Sir Sean Connery - Entrapment

Source: Pearl and Dean




Taken from the BBC website at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6953790.stm

 

To which I say hogwash.

--MissPadme

 

I'd agree with he article, though I think it largely has to do with Lucas's script.

 

That's such bologna. I just don't understand why people crack down so hard on that couple--I thought they were scorching hot. Is there something I'm seeing that they're not seeing?

[image=http://www.thepensieve.net/moigallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_aotchdpa14.jpg]

[image=http://www.thepensieve.net/moigallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_aotchdpa06.jpg]

[image=http://www.fantascienza.com/magazine/imgbank/ARTICOLI/kiss.jpg]

[image=http://www.thepensieve.net/moigallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_kiss.jpg]

 

The dialogue. It's not consistantly great in the Saga, but the Anakin/Padme romantic dialogue is some of the weakest.

 

Well, yeah....maybe it could have used a female screenwriter's touch or whatever, but that doesn't mean they didn't look totally hot together and have chemistry.

 

True, and that's why I think it's not so much that Hayden and Natalie have no chemistry, but that that Anakin and Padme just doesn't seem quite convincing. They're also both good actors(I know Natalie is as I've seen her in other films and heard Hayden is in other things and thought he was good in RotS) and given how little direction Lucas apparently gives to his actors, I think it likely lies with the directing and writing.

 

It has everything to do with the writing and directing.. I loved them as a couple but..the dialoge was weak and strange,(but I understand why it had to be like that)so people probably don't respond to it.
I did BTW.

 

Well to me the one relationsship that beats Natalie & Haydens in being less convincing is Naomi Watts and a 25 foot CGI ape in King Kong.


But in all seriousness, I do think Natalie and Hayden do portray one of the least convincing relationships I have seen in movies.

 

I agree with the article. I liked Anakin/Padme when I was 14. But now, years later, I see them for the cheesy chemistry lacking relationship that they are, and I no longer care about their story. I was hardly moved by RotS at all as far as they were concerned. I also agree about Keira/Orlando, which is sad, because they have chemistry off-screen. I don't know why movies today insist on pairing people together that have no spark

 

Strilo edit: Don't bring politics into this.

 

I thought they were great. I took the writing for what it was, in the Star Wars universe it made perfect sense. Back in the Old Republic things were more regal and people were moved by high and mighty honorable ideals. The dialog reflected that. It is entirely different with the Rebellion, where the word Rebel implies that the old ways have been rejected, and therefore Han and Leia's romance was totally different.

 

But there's nothing about it that feels all that regal. It was definitely supposed to be more of a courtly romance and that makes sense given that both Padme and Anakin come from the societal elite whereas Han certainly doesn't, but I just don't see that in the Anakin and Padme relationship.

 

Anakin's part of the elite? He was born as low-class as it gets. His courtship is clumsy because he has no experience with women. Not that that's really an excuse, but I think their relationship is supposed to seem stiff and not exactly convincing. Anakin is trying all these awful, awful lines on Padme because he doesn't know any better. And she puts up with it, for whatever reason.

I don't think pictures of them kissing show that they had a convincing on-screen relationship, btw. Almost all couples in movies kiss. It's what they do between the kissing that makes the relationship seem plausible or not plausible.

 

The Jedi seem to occupy a high position in society given how often they meet with the Supreme Chancellor and everyone constantly deferring to their judgment, at least imo.

 

If you're trying to convince me that all of the Anakin/Padme dialogue is worse than what had transpired between Leia and Han in ROTJ, you're failing miserably.

I think that this survey - like all other surveys - is nothing more than a piece of crap. If the only way people can appreciate a romance is for it to be portrayed in modern style (Leia/Han) then I can only marvel at the narrow-mindedness of the human race. In my personal opinion, Leia and Han's romance was no better or worse than Anakin and Padme's romance.


The dialogue. It's not consistantly great in the Saga, but the Anakin/Padme romantic dialogue is some of the weakest.


Give me a break! This is STAR WARS! Like LORD OF THE RINGS, it's always filled with cheesy dialogue. Han and Leia's romantic dialogue wasn't that hot either. And I consider their exchange on Endor in ROTJ to be the worst in the entire saga.

 

I'm not trying to convince you of anything.

I'm fine with the more courtly style as I noted earlier, I just don't think the romance between Anakin and Padme is even believable as a courtly love.

Yeah, that was the point of my statement.

Which exchange? The last one where Leia is telling Han that Luke is her brother or one of the earlier ones?

 

Why don't you learn how to calm down a few pegs. The chemistry is lacking, whether or not the dialogue was for shiz. Nothing is believable if the two actors aren't connecting on screen. Then again, maybe some people like low key things. But I've seen real natural chemistry (in other movies, and tv shows), and since Natalie was sleep walking through AotC and RotS, she wasn't radiating much, and neither was Hayden.

I also think their story is unbelievable because they knew each other for 5 minutes before getting married (and I think they only got married because GL was trying to send a good message to the kiddie crowd about pre-marital sex). I have a hard time buying that they were really connected after only a few "hot nights" together. Sounds more like an ongoing physical infatution to me. In Rots, they can't even have a full conversation.

 

Let's not tell others how to post okay? Leave that to the mods.

 

I don't really like the love scenes at all!

 

I was so moved by what i perceived as the chemistry betw them in AOTC and caught up in waiting for the next film that i joined theforce.net. for that i will always be grateful <warm memories>

 

The on-screen partnership wasn't really that good, however to put it above Gigli completely invalidates the entire list.

 

I have to agree with the article. their romance was stiff & bland. At times a little forced. & to me it felt a little rushed. I'm not saying they need to be exactly like Han/Leia, but that relationship was way more interesting by the way it began. That fire & ice aspect.

With Padme & Anakin, I was like," Yawn, ok when is the next lightsaber duel."

 

Sleepwalking? What? I thought that maybe in TPM Natalie was her least emotive (and little Jake Lloyd did a mediocre job portraying Ani's emotions) but she was back in full swing by AOTC. The actors performances both blew me away in ROTS. People pick on them (Ok, there was some strange romantic dialogue on the Coruscant balcony) but I don't know how they could have done better.

It is an epic romance, and I feel everything from the way they kissed to the way they looked at and held each other came across very well. Someone mentioned something about kissing-Hayden/Natalie tend to get very close physically and literally taste each other when they are kissing. What was wrong with the chemistry from that end?

Well, to be fair, they met ten years before that, so in a sense they were childhood sweethearts. Anakin says there was never a day he didn't think about or dream about her, so the devotion and time he put into that relationship was very much legitimate. About the pre-marital sex...I don't really think that was GL's goal by marrying them. I think it was more along the lines of Anakin loved/respected her so much he wanted her for a wife rather than a lover. Not to mention the fact that marriage (not sex) is forbidden by the Jedi so this illustrated his rebellion and attachments. Also, if they weren't married, their children might not have carried the Skywalker name (just her maiden name). Just a thought.

 

I agree with the list except for Entrapment. In my opinion, Catherine and Sean were very good in there.