10 Highly Questionable Actions Committed By George Lucas
6. Casting Hayden Christensen
When the Star Wars prequels were announced, a big question on everyones mind was Who would play the role of Anakin Skywalker, future Darth Vader?. It is the central role that the prequels revolve around and quite possibly the most interesting facet about them. So obviously, this is a huge role that every actor in Hollywood would absolutely kill for, the role of a lifetime for many.
Episode I centered on Anakin as a child and went to Jake Lloyd, who did about as well as he could possibly do given the source material and the fact that it was shot mostly with green screen. But for Episodes II and III, the anticipation was a lot higher since the character would be older and thus, may have a star attached to it. When Hayden Christensen was announced, the world uttered a collective WHO?! that possibly caused several earthquakes and tsunamis. For a relatively unknown actor to take such an iconic and highly sought-after role, you must really have some chops. What we saw on the screen was the opposite of chops.
Haydens performances have been highly panned and rightfully so when you catch even 5 minutes of him as Anakin Skywalker. Hayden is extremely awkward in the role and spews Home Depot-level amounts of wooden acting. His motivations seem inconsistent at times, as if he doesnt know what it is that he is supposed to be doing or feeling. His line readings seem as if he is reading from a teleprompter right outside of the shot. Did he memorize any of the script?
What exactly did George Lucas and his creative team see in him that they couldnt see in ANY of the other actors they auditioned? To be fair though, much of this may be the fault of George given that it is his job as director to shape the performances to exactly how he sees fit. I guess George was too busy playing with his shiny new toys and didnt have the time distract himself with such trivial things as acting.