It wasn't just the dialogue that makes people criticize Haydan's acting. His delivery is still very average. I am the complete opposite about the chemistry between he and Portman. They had 0.

Throughout both movies, it seemed like they were 2 strangers who were meeting for the first time in every scene. Those were the worst parts of the movies.

Absolutely. And I reject the notion that anyone who thinks that HC wasn't "excellent" just won't admit that he really was as a way to annoy people. I do give him a break in that Portman was hardly any better, but there's just so much you can attribute to difficult or corny dailogue. In the end, it was just frustrating to watch, especially when McGregor began to show some very nice range, making HC look even more like a cardboard cut-out.

It was one of my personal annoyances with the films. The only reason I ended up caring about Anakin at all was because I was supposed to, not because I wanted to. And that can't be attributed soley to Lucas.

I don't have a problem with casting Hayden over Leo.

I DO still have a problem with Lucas picking Jake Lloyd over Haley Joel Osment.

Leo can act in circles around Hayden, that's for sure.

BUT, considering the limitations of the so-called "dialogue", I don't know if he'd do much better.

This is the truest thing ever said in this forum (I think I have said it a few times myself). Man, of all of the Lucas blunders in the PT, this one is first on the list and towers over Jar Jar, animal farts, etc. Just horrible.

Maybe because they were portraying Obi Wan and Padme?

Don't have a problem with Hayden, I think he brought as much as he could to the role. Having said that though, I was I think one of the very few people who would've looked forward to Leo as Anakin. I think he would've been great.

When an actor has a certain "magnitude" they can often influence or "force" a director to make a movie better. (Such as requesting retakes or even rewrites of scenes.) Ewan is a good enough actor that he could go along with the flow of the film and still end up giving a decent performance. Hayden, on the other hand, seemed lost in it all and probably did whatever George requested. My feeling is that if Leonardo was in the film, he's an accomplished enough actor who gives a damn about his films and performances that he would insist that Lucas raise the bar in certain crucial scenes of the movie.

They should've gotten the guy that played Bahrooz from 24.

Well, Luke was whiny in ANH, so he at least got it honest....

I kept waiting for Ewan to break out into song..... He was great in Moulin Rouge

True, but I don't think the same when I see man-boy Leo. I see Leo.


Very well said.

Point of fact...Leo wasn't passed over for the part. By most accounts, he turned it down so he could work with Scorcese in Gangs. I finally saw "The Aviator" last week, and if a tenth of the confusion, anger, and depth in that characterization had been brought to Anakin Skywalker...that would be something to see.

Agree on principle, but both were too young.

Ewan did.

As for Leo, he's hit and miss as far as I'm concerned. He was totally unconvincing in Titanic and The Quick and the Dead as far as I'm concerned. Nor did I find him all that good in The Man in the Iron Mask. Plus, he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in Star Wars. He would have taken away from Star Wars, because all I could concentrate on is Leo playing Anakin. If Samuel Jackson has proved one thing, it's big stars do not belong in Star Wars, ever.

You really need to read the Making of Episode III book if you believe that Franchot. It sheds light on Lucas's style and puts and end to the silly "faster, more intense" nonsense.

He should have used Leo just to increase the box office receipts bigtime since all the teenybopper girls would want to go to Leo.

I have read the book. And I also realize that the author is the senior editor at Lucasfilm Ltd. Now, I'm not saying that the guy is "lying", but I'm sure he wrote the book with Lucas's approval. (And anything that might put Lucas in a less favorable light was "probably" edited out or never even written.) If I believe 50% of what was written in that book, I'm probably standing on firm ground. (I've talked to a couple of people who work at ILM and sometimes what they say about Lucas doesn't gib with what was written in the book. Take that information for what it's worth, but I don't believe I would be able to convince you that there just may be more than one side to the stories about Lucas.)

or Orlando Bloom.

I shudder to think of Orlando Bloom as Anakin.