Hayden Christensen! God, where do I begin! Let me tell you all a story...
I got round to thinking about his performance in Ep II and Ep III and said to myself, "His style is so... strange," I could never put my finger on it. Out of curiosity I read some reviews on his performance, you know, when you're bored on the internet and you check out all those little links at the bottom of the page on Wiki. So I found one on Ep II, said something like, "Performance is a little forced and awkward in AOTC," and I was like, hmm yeah. "The scene in which he and Padmé speak about the Jedi way of life (On the transport on the way to Naboo) is over forced, and his performance is un-authentic," and again I nodded. Read one on Ep III, "Seems more like rather than being Anakin, he's Hayden trying to be Anakin." Then it hit me. BANG! That man's a
GENIUS!
I mean think about it... In AOTC, he's not a nervous actor, he's an actor playing a nervous character!
Anakin is barely grown up, (19) trying to impress an older woman that he's absolutely
infatuated with, he's trying to express the way he feels and is constantly beaten back by his master and the Jedi. He's compressed under the heel of the Jedi, owing to his awkwardness.
Then look at ROTS, he's not Hayden having problems with Anakin, he's Anakin having problems with Vader! He may seem out of character ALOT, and he is because he's ever got Vader in the back of his mind.
I was flabbergasted! Ever since then, he's been one of the most amazing actors of his time in my eyes. He doesn't get the credit that is his due I swear! I even watched AOTC and ROTS to study his performance more and discovered a remarkable thing, just as McGregor had matched himself to Guiness, Christensen had matched himself not only to David Prowse, but Jake Lloyd too! (Anakin in TPM) Hayden took Jake's innocent, curious head tilts into account, and Prowse's domineering mannerisms! When Anakin shakes his finger at Padmé and says, "Don't ask me to do that!" It's the same as "You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor!" and even then, "That name no longer has any meaning to me!" It matches! He was only what? 23?
So thats my Christensen discovery story! *Wipes brow* I'm telling yas! Go and watch his movies, simply for the fact to watch his skill! And now Jumper is here, I remember telling one of my pro-Hayden friends, he couldn't stay away from those bluescreens for long!
Not so often you get an incredible actor like Christensen who's so easy on the eyes!