I've been extremely critical of this movie for 20+ years, and for good reason, but rewatching it this time has made me really sad. Not because it's a terrible Star Wars movie -- it's not -- but because of poor Jake Lloyd. He was barely 10-years-old when the movie was released, and he received such an inordinate amount of hate for giving the exact performance Lucas wanted. Hayden Christensen would go on to get the exact same amounts of hate for the exact same reasons; Lucas was not a great actor's director, and would demand line readings that resulted in the ham-fisted performances the prequels became infamous for.
Point being, poor Jake did not deserve the world of shit that was gonna befall him because he played a young Anakin exactly how Lucas wanted; nor did Ahmed Best. Sure, it's unlikely that Lloyd's schizophrenia is only because of the backlash and hate he received over this, but it's just so damn sad that such a sweet little kid who'd landed the role of a lifetime quickly quit acting after this because of that hate.
Shout by Digital PhreakerVIP BlockedParent2024-03-10T01:10:19Z
I've been extremely critical of this movie for 20+ years, and for good reason, but rewatching it this time has made me really sad. Not because it's a terrible Star Wars movie -- it's not -- but because of poor Jake Lloyd. He was barely 10-years-old when the movie was released, and he received such an inordinate amount of hate for giving the exact performance Lucas wanted. Hayden Christensen would go on to get the exact same amounts of hate for the exact same reasons; Lucas was not a great actor's director, and would demand line readings that resulted in the ham-fisted performances the prequels became infamous for.
Point being, poor Jake did not deserve the world of shit that was gonna befall him because he played a young Anakin exactly how Lucas wanted; nor did Ahmed Best. Sure, it's unlikely that Lloyd's schizophrenia is only because of the backlash and hate he received over this, but it's just so damn sad that such a sweet little kid who'd landed the role of a lifetime quickly quit acting after this because of that hate.