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Post by Cryogenic on Sept 23, 2022 13:17:45 GMT
I just want to make Natalie happy. xD A respectable aim.  |
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Post by Samnz on Sept 23, 2022 14:32:36 GMT
Cryogenic I like how you compared Natalie to great divas of past eras and that might have been a reason for her casting, indeed. Overall, the casting for the Prequels was fantastic. Robin Gurland and Lucas did a great job. What I might add is that Marvel played a much bigger part in her change of mind than LOTR, because she's been in Marvel movies and has then seen that Lucas wasn't some kind of mad man (what some traditionalist within Hollywood might have told her), but that this was the movie-making of the future. I actually think that LOTR might have even contributed to her negative attitude back when the Prequels were made, with LOTR becoming the new cool kid in town while the Prequels generated more negative reactions. She might have felt "betrayed" by her agents, fate, the universe or whatever force she believes in for starring in the "wrong movies" as a mean to become more famous. Let's not forget, she had been raised in the industry as a "coming star" and probably praised too much when she was too young. That does influence character - temporary, at least. Yep. I do and I don't get it, though. Like, okay, feeling betrayed or misled might have played a part in Natalie's feelings, but what about the time she actually spent making and promoting the films under George? It's like she completely failed to grasp his methods or understand what he was attempting with these films, in both the technical sense and on the more intellectual or thematic level. What bugs me about her and Ewan is that they supposedly have all this worldly intelligence, but they were happy to avoid saying one positive word about the underlying smartness of the prequels and all the political and historical resonances they are imbued with -- outside of the PR circuit, I mean. They can do it when they want to do it, for a respected director, but not for that kooky George. Yeah, I think she didn't really grasp the depth of Lucas movie-making and we don't know why. However, we should remember that Natalie was (excluding Jake Lloyd for a moment, who was a child) the youngest cast member when she joined the Lucasverse. She was only 17 when TPM was shot and still a teenager when the movie was released and then pretty much instantly the backlash and all kind of negativity kicked in. That must have been a shock for everybody involved, such kind of overblown bashing had not been seen before the internet. Maybe she just checked out at this moment and needed the distance and personal maturing of a decade to come to peace with that experience. I think Sam Jackson recorded a video for Celebration once Honestly Samnz , she can at least do what Jackson has done. Liam Neeson was sending video messages when he wasn't involved either. I'm not buying your ex-employee argument, Star Wars is a lot more than that, especially a Lucas made trilogy. Maybe Star Wars is more than that - for you, for me, for some. Not for Natalie, though. We shouldn't forget that Natalie just isn't into Star Wars. She openly admitted not having seen any of the films of the OT before she was cast. Sam Jackson, on the other hand, is as big a Star Wars fan as it gets (always has been) and therefore just a lot more likely to appear at Conventions or leave a video message. Liam Neeson also remained in touch with the franchise throughout, appearing in some episodes of TCW and returning for OWK. That makes it more likely for him to have some kind of presence at conventions. |
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Post by Cryogenic on Sept 23, 2022 16:36:46 GMT
Yep. I do and I don't get it, though. Like, okay, feeling betrayed or misled might have played a part in Natalie's feelings, but what about the time she actually spent making and promoting the films under George? It's like she completely failed to grasp his methods or understand what he was attempting with these films, in both the technical sense and on the more intellectual or thematic level. What bugs me about her and Ewan is that they supposedly have all this worldly intelligence, but they were happy to avoid saying one positive word about the underlying smartness of the prequels and all the political and historical resonances they are imbued with -- outside of the PR circuit, I mean. They can do it when they want to do it, for a respected director, but not for that kooky George. Yeah, I think she didn't really grasp the depth of Lucas movie-making and we don't know why. However, we should remember that Natalie was (excluding Jake Lloyd for a moment, who was a child) the youngest cast member when she joined the Lucasverse. She was only 17 when TPM was shot and still a teenager when the movie was released and then pretty much instantly the backlash and all kind of negativity kicked in. That must have been a shock for everybody involved, such kind of overblown bashing had not been seen before the internet. Maybe she just checked out at this moment and needed the distance and personal maturing of a decade to come to peace with that experience. She apparently needed closer to two decades to deal with it. Also, she was actually sixteen when principal photography began on TPM, and eighteen when it was released. Her confidence probably took a knock, but there were still two more prequels to be made, and time enough to see what Lucas was going for and to understand his methods. I'm really not trying to sound bitter or upset with Natalie, mind you. I think her involvement in these films does elevate them. There's such an Old World flair to them, and Natalie lends them real credibility in that regard, playing a character whose iconicity is obvious yet still underappreciated. And who can fail to be moved by her character's final moments in ROTS? While it would have been nicer if the films had had a warmer reception than they received, I don't think I'd wind the clock back on any of it. Yet there were other people who dealt better with the backlash. Hayden was born the same year as Natalie, yet he never went weird on the films as she and Ewan did. And I would say that Anakin was by far the most dislike and despised of the three main characters. There's a lesson here. Perhaps, being too wrapped up in one's own image, one can easily miss the woods for the trees. Yeah, Natalie not being especially into the films is part of the equation here. That said, there seemed to be a father-daughter aspect between George and her, at times, yet she paid this connection back by mostly going cold on the films. Already, by the time of Episode III being made, J.W. Rinzler revealed in his deleted blog series that Natalie basically shunned him all throughout the production of the film, forcing him to rely on EPK material. I always thought it was telling that Rinzler tactically wrote in one part of his "Making Of" book for ROTS that Natalie was sat there between setups one day reading a copy of "The New Yorker" in a corner. Just that one small, throwaway detail strongly painted the picture of someone who was bored and disengaged, closed off to others, not really wanting to be there. It seems she had already soured on the movies by then and didn't bother putting on a game face, unlike her stoic character who is able to weather many storms (until, of course, the events of the final prequel, in its final hour, become too much for her to bear). |
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Post by Samnz on Oct 2, 2022 18:27:00 GMT
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