Bottom line is, you sum all the annoying things in TPM and you are still way below the annoyance level of Anakin in AOTC. And it is not Hayden’s performance that should take the main blame. He basically just acted perfectly in accordance with the annoying character that was conceived/written.
Yes, apart from some bizarre expressions/and ‘emoting’ that we got from Hayden in quite a few shots, there’s no doubt that’s it really down to George that we ended up with such a generally unappealing characterisation. The ‘earlier backstory’ for one of cinema’s best creations should have been a ‘golden’ role for anyone to land…but unfortunately for Hayden (and Jake Lloyd before him), far too much of Anakin’s scripted dialogue is laughably bad unfortunately…especially when it came to the various ‘romantic’ interludes between him and Padme in ‘AOTC’!
I don’t doubt that the character is unfixable for you, no matter how anyone re-edits him…but as I previously said, I spent the time to see if I could come up with things that would improve the numerous issues with the prequels that bugged me personally.
Anyway, one of the biggest things which I despaired about was George’s mishandling of Anakin and Padme’s ‘relationship’ build-up…so I’ll describe what I’ve decided to amend for my own eventual version -
Firstly, I’ve settled on a shortened, re-edited version of the short chat about Padme between Anakin and Obi-wan, when they are in the elevator on the way to see her.
…and I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of the initial meeting between Anakin and Padme, as we’ll as a shortened re-edited version of Padme’s ‘security arrangements’ discussion between Anakin and Obi-wan in front of Padme.
…and that is followed later by a shortened, re-edited version of the discussion between Aanakin and Padme concerning Obi-wan’s attitude to Anakin, as Padme packs ready to leave Coruscant.
…and I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of Anakin and Padme’s chat as they are about to embark on a transport to Naboo with Artoo.
…and I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of the chat that they have aboard the transport to Naboo…
…and I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of their visit to Padme’s family home.
…and I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of their ‘gondola’ trip to the Naboo retreat, where they walk in a courtyard, and end up having their awkward kiss - but they do not kiss at this point in my version, and won’t until they face their impending ‘arena’ doom towards the end of the movie. So by the time we see it now, the moment between them seems as if it been ‘earned’ a little more.
…and I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of the ‘Naboo picnic’ scene - which does not involve Anakin’s critter-riding antics, nor rolling about in the field with Padme afterwards.
NOTE - I also initially spent a fair bit of time working out a shortened, re-edited version of their ‘floating pear’ dinner table scene for myself…as well as working out a very shortened, re-edited version of their excruciating ‘fireside discussion’ scene…and in addition to those, I also spent time on coming up with a very shortened, re-edited version of their scene together in the ‘Lars homestead garage’ that I could live with - each of which drastically improved things for me over the existing versions. However…I’ve finally realised that I can do without seeing any of that particular footage and dialogue ever again…and decided that even my cut-down versions were just plain unnecessary in the scheme of things, and just slowed/dragged down the pace of the movie too much - even though I liked the nicely recreated ‘Lars garage’ setting.
Therefore, ALL 3 of those scenes are totally GONE from my ideal ‘AOTC’ version now…and I find that Hayden’s role immediately becomes more bearable, while the movie’s momentum is given a boost too. (and in the case of the ‘fireside’ scene, it’s total removal also helps with my intention to completely do away with all references by anyone to the ‘Jedi code’ of ‘personal relationships’ being frowned upon - I don’t happen to like this aspect that George came up with, as it really gives a po-faced tone to being a Jedi…and puts both Anakin and Padme in poor light for pursuing their relationship together - I’d prefer to see their ‘romance’ play out in a far less deceitful way, so that it all seems a bit more ‘tragic’ when things go wrong eventually…so I’m really hoping that this Jedi ‘rule’ isn’t mentioned in the upcoming sequel trilogy!)
…so that’s the majority of things I’m changing to keep their ‘build-up’ more subtle…and along with one or two other slight re-edits where Anakin and Padme interact together, I’m also including a shortened, re-edited version of their ‘arena’ entrance, to remove some of the clunkier dialogue before their (first) kiss.
(and of course, there’s an extensive amount of their scenes together in ‘ROTS’ that I’ve ended up altering too…seeing as my issues didn’t end with ‘AOTC’! But that’s for another day…) 😃