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PT: Directors, Actors, Writers?

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Hello!

Although I know not every one on this site dislikes the PT, however, for those who were expecting more or something different, who would you pick from the cast and crew to be replaced to make (in your opinion) a better film? Me personally, although I like Samuel L. Jackson, and I have nothing against Jimmy Smits, I never felt as though they fit in well in the movies. Most of the time, when I saw them on the screen, instead of listening what they were saying or watching what they were doing I would think “When is Samuel L. Jackson going to use the F-word?” or “What’s Jimmy Smits doing here?”

Also, I’m not familiar with Christensen’s other film work, but I wish he was replaced… With whom? I’m not sure yet… I would still use Lucas as a producer, and as the story’s creator, but use someone different for the directing and writing efforts (much like ESB and ROFJ).

Any thoughts?

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The cast was the best thing about the trilogy. Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Samuel L Jackson, Jimmy Smits...the cast reads like a who's-who of the acting elite of the early 21st century. And Hayden Christenson, unconvincing as he often is in the films, is a terrific actor--one has to only look to his other work, which is consistently of high quality. Portman too is completely stilted and unconvincing in the PT--using these films as a point of reference, one would have to conclude that she should have never got into acting in the first place. Until you look outside the PT and realise the astounding talent she displays--Cold Mountain, Leon, Closer, etc.
The cast was absolutely first rate, especially when you add Ian McDiarmid and Pernilla August to the mix, underrated actors that are mostly of the stage background (for other instances of August one has to look no further than Ingmar Bergman's many wonderful plays and films).

If you have a cast as talented as that, one which outshines in pure talent and range such star-studded actor-vehicles such as Ocean's Eleven, how can you possibly, concievable do any wrong? What is most incredible is not that the PT wasn't a film which theater students should have studied, not that it didn't manage to garner any acting nominations at the Oscars or any other awards shows, but that the actors on display were so consistently poor in performance. Now, some of them are quite adequet, and in a few rare instances they actually impress, but when you consider the potential that lay in there it is a crime of galactic preportions that the PT had such tame and unremarkable performances.

How can anyone suggest that the cast was inadequet? On the contrary, i can hardly think of anyone to add. Thus, you see where the problem lies. Leave the cast alone--get a new director. If this is what Lucas can produce when he has such sickening levels of talent surrounding him i would hate to think he would have done had he not been supported by such generosity. Any director would kill for the cast Lucas recieved. One only needs to compare Natalie Portman's performances in Attack of the Clones and Closer--the actress is the same, but in one she is so bad that i often laugh out loud in embarrasment, and in another she is so captivating that i become lost in the illusion that she is not actually the person she is depicting onscreen.
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Great reply, Zombie. I agree completely.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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Yes, I think the key person to replace is Luca$h as the director.
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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Zombie, you know I always respect your opinion, but I have to respectfully disagree with ya here. I think Portman is very overrated actress, and Hayden is very average too. I am not saying Portman is a bad actress, cause she has done some good work, but I have never been blown away by anything she does, although she is super hot!

Christenson to me is just average, and sure he was good in Shattered Glass, but to me every actor has that one role to fit them perfectly. If you watch the TV show Higher Ground which was on in 2000, right before filming AOTC, Hayden plays a troubled kid who does the same whiny voice and whiny expressions, and that is cause I believe he is a symbol of alot of actors today, good looks but not much talent. Sure good looks have always been a part of Hollywood, but I feel the quality in acting has surely dropped in the last 15-20 years, and most of the great actors now are secondary actors.

As bad as a director as Lucas has become with the PT, McGregor, McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, Pernilia August, and Liam Neeson all turned in good performances in those movies, mostly cause they are seasoned actors that even though the dialogue is very campy in SW, they can overcome it the same way Alec Guiness, Phil Brown, Peter Cushing, were able to do it in the OT movies.

I think if Lucas would have made Anakin in late 20's, he could have hired a more experienced actor to play him, like an Eric Bana, someone who could carry a movie with those dramatic scenes. I think McGregor is great in ROTS, and when he is yelling at Anakin when he is burning up is one of the few times I got goosebumps, but Hayden/Natalie and their acting in the PT is downright average most of the time, but they are good looking, and that is what sells in Hollywood now.
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Cjedi, Hayden's "whining" and general poutiness in certain parts of AOTC and ROTS is less to do with his actual acting and more to do with the way the director chose to conceive the character. Some people think Dicaprio would have been a better choice, and while i do indeed find him to be a better actor, it would not have made the difference--instead you would have Dicaprio, another fine actor, rendered into an annoying brat whining "its all Obi Wan's fault! *pout*". Thats what it comes down to. As you said, if Lucas made the character older--more mature--he could have had better and more compelling options; but he didn't--he chose to characterise him as young and immature, and no mater who filled the shoes of Anakin Skywalker he would have still had to portray a young and immaturely characterised person. The conception and dialog that Lucas chose to shape Anakin with turned him into a whiney poutey sissy, and Christenson did what he could--and he even admits that he was utterly perplexed why Lucas was pushing him in that direction, instead wanting to play it cooler, more controlled and Vader-ish. As for Christenson's other roles--yes, he is typecast as the "angsty/troubled teen" and so the whininess is often seen. But thats not a limit of his acting ability--thats an inherant flaw of the characters he is unfortunately stuck playing. In the scenes where he is granted more realistic characterisation where he can show his range, he is utterly convincing--perhaps not brilliant, but certainly above-average (whatever the case, not flat-out bad).

Portman too, while not always someone who will blow you away with a performance, usually delivers ones that are natural and that make you forget you are watching an actor pretend or read from a script (unless you are constantly directed by the self-awareness of her celebrity, which is a common roadblock). Films like Leon, Closer, Beautiful Girls, Cold Mountain and Garden State all show what range and believabiliy she can project, even if not all of these examples are necessarily in the same category as the likes of Neeson or August.
She was i think 16 at the time she made TPM, and 18 or so by the time AOTC was shot, and of the available actresses to play a role of that age bracket, i can't think of anyone greater than her.

Samuel L Jackson too is a great performer--he has a larger-than-life personality that is often self-aware of his own image, and this frequently needs to be controlled and shaped--and used to proper benefit-- by a competant director in order to render a good character out of him. Films like Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever and A Time to Kill show him at his best, but ever lesser efforts like Changing Lanes, Sphere or Jurrassic Park show the variety and subtle characterisation changes that can be wrought out of him.
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Zombie, I agree with ya that Lucas made Anakin into a whiny teenager, and is not the fault of Christensen in that respect. But how come the older, more experienced actors can overcome Lucas's bad directing and dialogue?

I still stand by that every older actor turned in good performances: Neeson, McGregor, August, McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, and I will concede that Sam Jackson's performance wasn't that great, but I still feel he is TOO big of a star to be in a SW movie, I couldn't get past that bad mo-fo from Pulp Fiction being a jedi.

I just think that Christensen couldn't deliver on those dramatic scenes, especially in ROTS. I won't fault him on the AOTC love story, but the big scene at the end of ROTS with Padme/Anakin/Kenobi on Mustafar is just awful to watch. When Hayden says, "You will not take her from me!!!!!!!!" or "Don't lecture me Obiwan...." Do you think an actor like Eric Bana or Christian Bale or even Ed Norton would play that scene any better? If Lucas would have nixed Jake Lloyd, and hired a real good older actor from the getgo in the PT to play Anakin, I think alot of us would feel differently towards the movies, even with their other faults. The main problem is none of us care about the main character in the PT, and now in the saga too, and I can think of so many better actors that could have filled those shoes, just like Christian Bale did over Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney in Batman Begins last year.
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Who would you want for a different director? Ivan Kershner, perhaps? Spielberg? Cameron? Scott? Or perhaps someone else?

I do agree that most of the actors used in the PT are exceptional at their art and craft. Most of them gave at least memorable performances; however there are some actors who, unfortunately, have certain stigmas slapped on them due to past performances in films. Samuel L. Jackson is one of these actors in my opinion. I cannot see him as a Jedi, no matter how hard I try. I thought Mace Windu would have fit better if he were to be older, and wiser, much like Yoda. An older actor would have to be cast.

Again, in my opinion, Jimmy Smits does not fit the role... I felt an older-looking actor, perhaps Brain Cox (Profile) or Brendan Gleeson (Profile) would have worked more for the film(s)...

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I'd have loved to see a Japanese director's take on it.

Hell, I'd settle for Quentin Tarantino. He might have got a more lively performance out of Samuel L Jackson...
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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Going on with the whole Sam Jackson thing, I thought about Jurassic Park, which was the first role I ever saw him in, and I just realized that there's no way you'd ever see him in a role like that again. Like someone else said, he's become too famous, especially of the variety where his "real-life" (which in this case, is more of the movies he's famous for) image consumes people's perceptions of him, and if you didn't give him a role where he was a badass or screamed a lot, people would say, "What the hell? You're just wasting Samuel L. Jackson!"

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Samuel L. Jackson doesn't bother me. He's a good actor in my mind. I'm sure that someone smart could use him in ways where he wasn't forced to be a bad-ass motherf*cker. Though I'm sure that Jackson doesn't mind being stuck playing those types of characters at all. He seems to enjoy them.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005