Acting in Episode I

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queeq
HA!!!! Several times before I talked about the acting in EPI, about how I found it rather 'wooden'. Long-timers here might remember that, and for those who disagreed with me I found this rather interesting bit on TFN:

"Admittedly," Neeson said with a wane smile, "we all come across as pretty wooden. But a lot of that was interacting with blue screen, which was difficult and was also a great challenge, you know, to try to make it seem as an everyday thing that (you're with) a winged beast that talks."


Interesting that Neeson rather criticised AOTC, in the sense that "That last (Star Wars movie) was just pyrotechnics, you know," Neeson said of Episode II -- Attack of The Clones, lamenting that the "computerized stuff" fails to connect with either the actors or audiences.

But he loved working on SW, and with George Lucas. So not just negativity there. wink

Dejio
I think he was really just being polite.

queeq
Maybe. But why would he lie about that?

finti
because some of the acting just sucked big time

Ushgarak
I thought Liam was rather good, it was Ewan having trouble with the part in TPM in my opinion. And I LOVE Ewan.

mephistodesigns
Ewan definetly got better in II, all of his Kamino scenes are top notch. On the I DVD theres a deleted scene of young Greedo fighting with Anakin over cheating in the race, i'm sure a lot of you saw it, that had the WORST acting i've ever seen. I know its hard to work with blue screen and interact with people who aren't there, but I thought that's why people become actors-for the challenge and to use their imaginations...kinda just seems lazy to me.

yerssot
oh well, TPM isn't the greatest out there imho,
but nick did a marvelous job with making OB1 look like a little over-confident brat during fights

Lyn
I thought Liam & Ewan were great!!
And Nat (maybe I'm a little biased there), Jake was the one that annoyed me a little bit. I know he's a kid playing the young version of Darth Vader and, as a child actor, he did ok. But at times I felt he was trying too hard. I dunno, just my opinion.

vvvrulz
Liam and Ewan were definately good. Dont expect much from child actors these days. Compared to AOTC, id say the acting in TPM was actually better, some awful miscast's in AOTC, take Temuera Morrison as Jengo Fett for example.. just awful.

Darth Hater
temuera morrison did sound funny in his scenes...

i don't think he was supposed to though

queeq
Liam obviously didn't think he was that good in TPM. I thought his acting was wooden too. I still cringe at that line "The negotiations never took place". Maybe it's my deformity from making television programmes, but I am 100% certain that line was completely shot separately for a single shot and perhaps it even took a few takes, but it really sounds like a one off line without anyone there.

As for the acting in the Greedo fight, imagine that that particular scene was even shot on the Tunisia set, not in front of a blue screen.

Ushgarak
No... well, I cannot agree with either yours or even his interpretation; I thought that Liam, alongside the duo of Maul, was the best thing in the film.

queeq
He was, but I've seen Liam better in other films. Several times.

vvvrulz
I agree Ushgarak, without him and Maul, the movie was nothing at all.

Dejio
And since both of them are not in AOTC, that movie pretty much sucked big time.

yerssot
queeq, that "the negotiations never took place" shot...I agree, but I have the same shivering feeling when I hear him say "Do you have transport?" messed

Ushgarak
Ah no, I don't agree there because Ewan was much better in AOTC and Christopher Lee was superb as well- though he should have been in the film from an earlier point.

Ian McDiarmid is also great but that was obvious; with any luck he will be in III enough to make more of an impact.

vvvrulz
Well i dont think the acting in AOTC, apart from Ewan, was any better. The thing that made this movie better was the more serious tone. Shying away from the almost 'kids flick' Ep I was.

Dejio
Oh yeah, almost forgot Ewan. I do think he's the only noteworthy actor in this movie. And although I like Christopher Lee; his role felt like a 'filler' for the movie. You know he's not going to stick around for EpIII (Just like what they did to Darth Maul's role).

But alas, no matter how much Ewan McGregor or Christopher Lee tried their darnest to make their characters shine, it's never enough to salvage the rest of the motley crue (Not to mention the rest of the stinkin' movie).

Sorry for the harsh comments to the rest of the SW fans.
It's just I still can't get over the fact that the last two movies dissappointed me big time. After all those years thinking how it would be like...
Well, that's reality for ya.
Dejio, get on with your life..... smile

Lyn
Well Dejio, hopefully, Ep3 wont disappoint you...

Darth Hater
Lyn
JediChick

Forum Fanatic


Registered: Aug 2003
Location: The Wonderful Land of Aus



I thought Liam & Ewan were great!!
And Nat (maybe I'm a little biased there)



laughing out loud

Darth Hater
episodes 1 & 2 are no OT as far as acting/charisma goes

thats for sure

Lyn
I'm not a fanatic am I?? *smiles innocently*

mephistodesigns
i know, jeez...
I think people need to think of them in order. inwhich case, as the story logically progresses and gets deeper into the Skywalker destiny, the fall of a government and the rise of a new dictatorship, it gets better. which would have happened even if he had made them in order. all of this is BACKSTORY. We're watching set-up which is never as good as the payoff which is the resolution of the story. If he had made them in order, and we watched them that way, at this point in time we'd be saying how cool and inventive these movies are. Oh wow, I wonder what's gonna happen next. We'd be saying we've never seen anything quite like this. Dooku would obviously seem a lot cooler if we had not yet seen Vader. The real guts of the movies don't even start until 3, the middle, as in any story. First you have to introduce setting, characters, backgrounds, perspectives, and in the case of Star Wars: whole mystical orders, technology, and a lot of stuff you can't just gloss over because it hasn't and/or can't happen on earth. Try to pretend you don't know whats gonna happen while you watch the prequels. Look at all the mystery and intrique that you'd be trying to figure out, the let downs at having trusted Palpatine along with everyone in the SW galaxy, the sadness at Anakin's fall, and the new found fear you'd have of him. these would seem just as fantastic as the OT if we'd just seen them in order. So give it a go, try to enjoy them with childlike wonder, try to not think about what's going to happen and I think you'll appreciate them more.

Darth Hater
i totally agree,but i myself was just talking about the acting

the story itself is flawless(IMO)

Dejio
Well the fact is; they weren't done in order. So you can't tell everyone to "think" as if they haven't seen Episodes IV, V and VI.

If I did enjoy them with "childlike wonder", I would be bored till the last 30 minutes of the movie.

And yes, we are of course just talking about acting. Now back to the topic...

Darth Revan
If you want to know my honest opinion, I think that both Portman and Christensen suck. I have come to doubt if they are even real actors. I see that one of you has a signature that says that Natalie Portman is an inspiration. I disagree. Padme Amidala is an insperation, not the ditz who plays her part. She will never be able to measure up to Carrie Fisher, who really is and inspiration. And as for Hayden Christensen being a "hottie" as you put it, well... Maybe you are right. But he is *not* an even decent actor.
The two prequels are not very good overall. This is a Star Wars film, not a comedy. They are supposed to be in love, not acting like rocks and talking about how much they hate sand. They ruined the movie. I saw a cartoon at one of those stick figure killing websites that was a parody of episode II and was better than the actual movie. However, I really like both Liam and Ewan. Ewan did a better job in episode II than episode I. Oh, and I don't like the kid who plays the young Anakin enough to even know his name.

ps: (not that any of you have read this far) John Williams is a GENIUS!!!!!!!
pps: please don't hate me
ppps: I don't know the guy's name who plays Maul, but Darth Maul Rocks. However, the one line he had to say ("At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we sill have revenge"wink was possibly the stiffest in the entire movie.

Darth Hater
i respect your opinion and u made some fairly reasonable points but i totally disagree

i think hayden did a great job as anakin...i think he's a good actor

as far as natalie portman being a "ditz",that is far from the truth.she graduated high school with a perfect 4.0 GPA and got a scholarship to harvard

thats far from ditzy

as for the rest,they're your opinions and thats fine

but i have a little saying:

"opinions are like assholes...everybody has one,it's just some stink more than others"-darth hater

Darth Hater
just to add...

natalie portman is an inspiration...

she's very intelligent,a good actress,very well off(money wise),and she's gonna graduate from harvard

that's somebody i would want my daughter to look up to(if i had one)

so,you go lyn

natalie portman is an inspiration

vvvrulz
Strong opinion's back there about Christensen's and Portman's acting being hopeless. I have to say i agree partly, though they werent too bad, didnt exactly rock the world with their acting. They kinda just played by the formula and did what was expected of them, rather than pull off some brilliant pieces. Still not bad.

Darth Hater
oh and,this thread is about episode1

so whats all this hayden talk??

laughing out loud

queeq
Hey, did you change your mind on Dooku, taht he should have appeared earlier. I remember us discussing this before. I agree with you, I would definately liked to have seen Dooku maybe even in the opening sequence: him arriving on Geonosis to order the building of a grand droid army to overthrow the Republic. I felt the whole movie changed in atmosphere and mood when he appears. If GL had done that in the beginning it would have 'hovered' over OB1's quest for the killer. PLUS the viewer would have been cleverly misguided as if this was Sidious' plan: to overthrow the Republic with a droid army.

Darth Hater
on the episode2 commentary,GL said he didnt want us to know that dooku was evil until the very end

Ushgarak
Yes, but GL also says that the reason he does not have a streaking stars hyperspace effect in the Prequels is that it would 'reduce its impact' in ANH.

Not everything GL says is gold and queeq and I agree that the futile attempt to try and keep Dooku's evil nature a mystery came at the expense of a much better presence for his character if he had been introduced earlier.

Darth Revan
just my opinion maybe that was unfair i didn't really know anything about her other than that I don't like her acting based on your description she sounds like a great person overall but gee...Everyone I've talked to who's not a Star Wars nut agrees that her acting is really bad and same with hayden christensen
my apologies to lyn I didn't know what context you mean it in or anything

Ushgarak
She's a good actress. She just isn't into the part in the Prequel films. A shame but there you go.

queeq
GL makes few mistakes in his thinking IMHO. The Dooku thought is one, as Ush said. The other IMHO is that he chooses to officially keep the real identity of Sidious a secret. All the fans know and non-fans don't get why Sidious' role is so important.

Dejio
FYI.
The actor was Ray Park. He was Toad in the first X-Men movie. And that one line which Darth Maul said wasn't even his voice. It was a voice over by someone else. smile

Darth Revan
By the way, what other movies *has* Natalie Portman been in? Based on her acting, some of my non-Star Wars friends speculated that they just pulled her off the street because of the way she looked. (That's what they did with the Harry Potter kid) I also heard that the kid who plays Anakin in ep I was in it because he won a contest on a Pepsi can or something. Is that true or just a rumor?

I think I should stop posting on any threads about the acting or storyline in the prequels. I just can't make myself say anything positive about either one.

yerssot

Lyn
Mephisto...I couldn't have put it better myself, that is EXACTLY what I consider the prequels to be. thumb up happy

Lyn
Darth Revan, if you don't like Hayden or Natalie and think their acting is poor or whatever, that's your opinion and is also your RIGHT to think that way.
But I have to go with what Hater said ((which I totally appreciate, thanx buddy)). I think that Natalie Portman as a person, is an inspiration. Not only is she exceptionally beautiful and a great actress but she is incredibly intelligent and has wonderful beliefs and ideals. Even though she's been in some great films ((including 2 Episodes of the GREATEST SAGA EVER!!)) she hasn't lost any of those honourable traits. Portman accepts that she is pretty but isn't about to degrade herself by wearing skimpy clothes or starring in films with unnecessary nudity.
To me, a teenage girl in a world where image means everything, Natalie Portman is an inspiration.

Lyn
just to add...

natalie portman is an inspiration...

she's very intelligent,a good actress,very well off(money wise),and she's gonna graduate from harvard

that's somebody i would want my daughter to look up to(if i had one)

so,you go lyn

natalie portman is an inspiration...THANX BUDDY!! thumb up happy Happy Dance

my apologies to lyn I didn't know what context you mean it in or anything...s'ok--'tis your opinion happy

I think I should stop posting on any threads about the acting or storyline in the prequels. I just can't make myself say anything positive about either one....You said yourself you thought Ewan was good, there must be something you like about the prequels...

"opinions are like assholes...everybody has one,it's just some stink more than others"-darth hater...laughing GREAT saying Hater

ps: (not that any of you have read this far) John Williams is a GENIUS!!!!!!!...HE IS!! TOTALLY!! Happy Dance

Btw, great info Yerssot thumb up

Darth Hater
no prob lyn

you're a sweet girl

anytime big grin

Lyn
Thanx happy thumb up
You're a nice guy...

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