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"Now this isnt podracing!"


RelentlessMalice
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He could have stayed clean, changed his attitude, studied and worked over his craft, done some theater work, proven his mettle and remade himself.

 

Big genre roles can be a curse. For every Harrison Ford or Patrick Stewart there's... well, every other Star Wars and Star Trek cast member who never gets out from behind their role and makes a living doing the convention circuit.

 

Uberfans criticize Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford for not embracing fandom, but they are actors and they wanted to work and not get trapped.

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That's ridiculous logic. "Because some child progidies in the past really nailed it let's blame a little boy for a ****ty movie." If you believe a 9 year old boy is supposed to:

 

1) recognize the film's failings on his own

 

2) stand up to the Director and force him to make changes

 

-then you're smoking that Walter White blue meth.

What is ridiculous is conveniently forgetting that child actors are....actors. They are not empty-headed plastic dolls being moved around like a kid at playtime. Furher, one does not have to be a prodigy to be a good, effective actor. Hell, none of the Our Gang actors were prodigies, but they knew how to get the most out of their characters. There was no assumption of a master acting plan from Roach, so if anything went wrong, it was all on his head. That was between the raw days of the 1920s - 40s. So are you telling me that in the 55 years between the last Our Gang short and TPM, no kid should have been expected to take any responsibility for his or her performance, and we can just use the old blame everything on GL stand-by?

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That's ridiculous logic. "Because some child progidies in the past really nailed it let's blame a little boy for a ****ty movie." If you believe a 9 year old boy is supposed to:

 

1) recognize the film's failings on his own

 

2) stand up to the Director and force him to make changes

 

-then you're smoking that Walter White blue meth.

NAILED IT!

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So are you telling me that in the 55 years between the last Our Gang short and TPM, no kid should have been expected to take any responsibility for his or her performance, and we can just use the old blame everything on GL stand-by?

You know Lucas was the director, right? If he thought Lloyd could or should do better, then it was his job to do something about it -- yell "CUT", coach the kid a little, explain what he was doing well and what he could do differently, try again, and again, force him to do 55 takes like David Fincher if that's what it took, and either get something worth filming out of him, or fire and replace him.

 

Why, yes, the buck does stop with the director and owner of the entire intellectual property, and not with the eight-year-old who never studied under Lee Strasberg.

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So are you telling me that in the 55 years between the last Our Gang short and TPM, no kid should have been expected to take any responsibility for his or her performance, and we can just use the old blame everything on GL stand-by?

You know Lucas was the director, right? If he thought Lloyd could or should do better, then it was his job to do something about it -- yell "CUT", coach the kid a little, explain what he was doing well and what he could do differently, try again, and again, force him to do 55 takes like David Fincher if that's what it took, and either get something worth filming out of him, or fire and replace him.

 

Why, yes, the buck does stop with the director and owner of the entire intellectual property, and not with the eight-year-old who never studied under Lee Strasberg.

 

This is the screwy fans' pick and choose about Lucas: when actors are bad in the SW films, its all his fault, since he's the director / puppet master / whatever, yet that same level of credit never, ever applies to the man if actors were good (or better) in the SW films. He's still the guy in control, yet no one gives him credit for the performances that worked.

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I don't buy that one, if that were the case everything would be even-- the writing/performances across the saga are not created equal.

 

At the end of the day, Lucas is responsible for all of it. He wrote, guided other writers, casted and in the case of 4 out of 6 times directed. If an actor is a weak link, that is on him. The actor can carry some blame of sucking, but at the end of the day a director's job is to make all the parts work.

 

I get what Justus is saying that this means when a performance in SW is good we should thank Lucas for it, but near as I can tell based on behind the scenes footage and what every actor has said-- Lucas is not an actor's director. Any performances that stand out are the result of better actors being good at their craft. We could congratulate Lucas for casting Ewan McGregor that can make anything work-- but at the same time Lucas' track record leans so bad that I find his successes to be flukes of luck instead of directing prowess.

 

Lucas deserves credit as a great idea guy, and concept man. He was a visionary in terms of wrangling the scope and idea of myth into a pop film. In terms of cinema technology and effects he was a groundbreaker and trailblazer. What he was not-- was a director or writer.

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At the end of the day though Jake Loyd should not be blaming his life for sucking because of a movie. Everyone is responsible for their own actions.

 

Build a ****ing bridge and get over it! If you think the movie killed your career etc... Then why the hell did you show up to conventions? Oh yeah that is right you still wanted to cash in a little on the very thing you blamed for ruining your life.

 

I do not blame Jake for his acting in tpm. That comes down to the script and delivery that the director wanted.

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He did recieve death threats and hate mail from people for screwing up Star Wars. That's on top of all the shit that gets heaped onto child "stars" as standard course (pushy controlling parents, no life etc). Have that happen to YOU at 10 years old and see if you come out well adjusted without any hang ups. I feel for the guy.

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I almost posted the same thing, Odine. Personal responsibility is certainly a factor, and he's the only one ultimately responsible for his actions, he quite likely doesn't have full control based on the abuse heaped on him at a young age. The fact that the same "adults" who talked about killing him now go visit him at conventions doesn't mean that there weren't deep psychological scars formed by it. Hopefully he was protected from most of it, but I doubt he was saved from all of it.

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Fandom is absolutely the WORST. I say that as a guy who has posted for 15 years on an internet message board, but I think hardcore fandom does more bad than good.

 

Or, again, I'm just sad cause I know I'm incapable of liking ANYTHING as much as Nanci likes Star Wars.

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BB is great, but since it doesn't have a strong genre element (outside of "crime" which isn't geeky) it gets excused from crazy fandom. Uberfandom really seems to stay focused around scifi/fantasy/comics/videogames. Westerns, crime stories and police tales have their fans, but it's not the same.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know I am a part of geek culture-- but I've never let it become so dominate that I decorate with toys or feel obliged to consume every little thing.

 

And for the record, the only fanfics I've ever written were Star Wars, and I was 13.

 

That said, I do have a rough outline of what I would do if the X-Men ever fell into my lap, which i think I've posted before...

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