r/MadeMeSmile • u/moonpies4everyone • 27d ago

This letter from Ron Howard to Newsweek after they grilled 9 year old Jake Lloyd’s performance in The Phantom Menace. Favorite People

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453

u/MakingItElsewhere 27d ago

I'm not a star wars fan. I'm a star trek fan. We often don't get along. But the one thing we mostly agree on is that kid deserved no hate for that movie. He did a great job with what he was given.

Some fans really are just toxic.

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u/Micu451 27d ago

The greatest actor in the world can sound like a hack when they have to work with George Lucas dialogue.

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u/zadtheinhaler 27d ago edited 26d ago

Not only did no less than Sir Alec* Guiness call his dialogue "ropey", even Harrison Ford thought his dialogue was atrocious.

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u/MadRaymer 27d ago

Which is why he changed it up at times. His famous, "I know" line in ESB wasn't scripted. He was supposed to say, "I love you too" but Lucas didn't direct ESB (he gave the job his film school teacher, Irvin Kershner) and after dozens of different takes that didn't feel right, Harrison Ford tried that line instead. Kershner thought it fit better than the other takes they did, so he went with it.

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u/zadtheinhaler 27d ago

That tracks. I imagine a little bit of improv would have massively improved the dialog in the prequel trilogy.

Here's a hint folks - do NOT let nerds write love scenes. Just...don't.

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u/MikeArrow 27d ago

Anakin: You're so... beautiful.

Padme: It's only because I'm so in love.

Anakin: No. No, it's because I'm so in love with you.

Padme: So love has blinded you?

🤮

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u/zadtheinhaler 27d ago

EXHIBIT A, YOUR HONOUR

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u/reddit_sucks_clit 27d ago

It's like a double rainbow. What does it mean?

She admits she realizes she thinks that he thinks that she's beautiful, because she's in love with him, and then seems to say she isn't beautiful because she's ugly but she only seems beautiful to him because love has blinded him.

If only #metoo happened in the 90s maybe some people would be more brave in standing up to Lucas and just saying "no," to certain things ;)

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u/MikeArrow 27d ago

If the intent is that Anakin has all the grace and charm of a slave raised in isolation on a backwater planet - then Padme shouldn't find it endearing and comment on it, instead of legitimately being charmed by it.

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u/MakingItElsewhere 27d ago

"But....but...they're so in love!"

I'll take 1 trip off the planet, please. No return.

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u/reddit_sucks_clit 27d ago

From my understanding that's not exactly how it happened. They didn't do a bunch of takes of "I love you too," or even 1 take. It was just they discussed it before shooting it that it didn't feel right and he should say "I know." Which is something that happens all of the time when making movies. They make changes on the day or day before to parts of the script. This one just happened to be one of the greatest changes of all time. But as far as I've heard they didn't ever film any version where he says he loves her.

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u/MadRaymer 27d ago

Kershner did a commentary track for ESB where he described it as a multiple takes situation.

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u/The_Autarch 27d ago

A direct quote from Ford: "George, you can type this shit, but you can't say it!"

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u/zadtheinhaler 27d ago

That's the one!

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u/PilotsNPause 27d ago

Alec*

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u/zadtheinhaler 26d ago

You're right, I wasn't paying attention!

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u/MakingItElsewhere 27d ago

That's the thing. Sci-Fi fans WANT TO BELIEVE premises we're given. We're susceptible to the crazy. We WANT crazy, unhinged, off-the-wall things thrown at us, as long as they make some semblance of sense.

Bad writers keep trying to lead us down dark roads, lit only by the fires of past writers mistakes. We smell smoke, and we're out.

If you told me Barbie would be a better story than Matrix 4 twenty years ago, I'd have scoffed at you. But here we are. Barbie makes sense. Matrix 4 doesn't. So I recommend Barbie over Matrix 4.

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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 27d ago

I believe I heard matrix 4 was intentionally bombed by one of the creators because they didn’t want to make it but the studio said it was being made with or without them

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

For those who haven't watched it, a character literally says that in the movie, specifically mentioning warner brothers.

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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 26d ago

Really though it was a fine film. I wish they used more guns because the matrix scenes always look way cooler with guns but it was fine. It didn’t break the lore or anything. Really I think the idea of downloading a persons consciousness is pretty cool. I think it leaves a lot of room open for further exploration. Like “am I talking to the person I have always known, or are they a reconstruction? Am I a reconstruction designed to be attached to this person?”

I liked it. Not the best movie ever. I really wouldn’t recommend anyone run out and see it, but as a continuation of the Matrix, especially considering the creators disdain in making it, I feel like it’s a good movie to watch both in terms of science fiction, and commentary on current real world trends.

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u/Excellent_Key_2035 27d ago

Can confirm I read this too. It was a big fuck you statement.

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u/MakingItElsewhere 27d ago

So....how do you feel about Matrix 5? Because the whole idea makes me want to bomb a studio.

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u/Excellent_Key_2035 27d ago

Man they needed to let the series end ASAP. But Hollywood, she be hungry.

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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 26d ago

Dude chill. Someone else might make “the matrix 5”, and it might be a perfectly fine movie. It might also be a giant pile of trash.

Neither of those outcomes warrants violence, or even the pretend make believe exaggeration claiming you would want violence.

Fight club is my favorite movie of all time. Fight Club 2, and 3 are weird nonsensical graphic novels stuck in a bizarre meta world that I personally don’t enjoy. I don’t wish any ill will on Chuck, or anyone involved in the graphic novels creation.

It’s okay to not like subsequent entries in a series. You don’t need to be so serious about it.

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u/kibbles0515 26d ago

Aw, I liked Matrix Resurrections.

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u/Lazy_Experience_8754 27d ago

Jar jar killed that movie for me. The kid did a decent job

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u/caylem00 27d ago

Yeah I agree. 

Tho  if the Jar Jar sith fan theory actually happened, it would have been an epicness reflective of 'im your father' (unless you spoke German then it was kinda spoiled from the get go).

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u/MoridinB 27d ago

Not really. I'm not German, but I'd assume a bad guy named Vader was meant to call back to an even worse guy called Fuhrer. I don't think they knew they were supposed to have taken the name seriously.

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u/smellexisb 26d ago

"Vader" is German for "father". I believe that's what they to.

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u/Oseirus 27d ago

George Lucas may not have had a hand in the Sequel Trilogy, but they definitely had the same issue: good actors subjected to mediocre writing. John Boyega got especially fucked over.

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u/PeterJuncqui 27d ago

Daniel Day-Lewis would look like a half ass actor with that script in hands.

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u/CaptainWat 27d ago

I’m now imagining an adult Daniel Day-Lewis playing the part of young Anakin. It’s beautiful.

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u/Pans_Labrador 27d ago

You’re right. Ewan McGregor, widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, delivered a lot of cringy lines, and in many cases sounded like a hack (ex. Reminiscing on falling into a nest of gundarks.)

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u/BKoala59 27d ago

From time to time Ewan leaned into the terrible writing and tried to bring the campiness of the OT and I think if the entire cast had done that it would have turned out better, even with the shitty writing.

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u/Careful_Farmer_2879 27d ago

A boring performance out of Samuel L Jackson. That says it all.

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u/DrunkOctopUs91 27d ago

They did the same to Will Wheaton. I believe he now runs a recovery support group for child actors. He paved the way for a lot of the stuff we are finding out about Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. It’s fucked how they treat children in Hollywood.

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u/Sportsfanman2 27d ago

Interesting, because Ron Howard's brother, Clint, was also a child actor, and was on an episode of Star Trek.

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u/WeAreGray 27d ago

Two episodes. He was also in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

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u/misterpatient 27d ago

Also in Discovery and Strange New Worlds.

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u/Sportsfanman2 27d ago

Ohhhh, I didn't know that. Good info!!! Thanks.

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u/AnarchistBorganism 26d ago

He played a Ferengi in Enterprise as well.

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u/WeAreGray 26d ago

Honestly, this is one of the things I appreciate about the producers of Star Trek. The reusing of quality actors in multiple roles. Back in the day we used to note how much work Mark Lenard got in the franchise. Now it happens all the time. Clint Howard, Jeffrey Combs, Mark Alaimo... it's become a very long list.

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u/Mist_Rising 27d ago

Clint is in star wars too iirc.

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u/Sportsfanman2 27d ago

I forgot about that.

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u/AssociationDry4915 27d ago

You often don't get along?

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u/MakingItElsewhere 27d ago

One has teleports, one doesn't. One has force ghosts, one doesn't. One has "warp" factors, one doesn't.

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u/datodi 27d ago

One is science fiction, the other is fantasy dressed up as science fiction.

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u/AssociationDry4915 26d ago

I just find this type of thing so embarrassing. To be so personally tied to some corporation's intellectual property that you "don't get along" with people who like the other corporation's intellectual property. Why be tribal over what basically are children's toy commericals diguised as stories.

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u/MakingItElsewhere 26d ago

You do you, beau. I'll take my Star Trek vs Star Wars arguments any day. Because it's not like we're such big fans we're firing off terrorist attacks at each others conferences. We're not demanding laws based on our prospective universes. We're not using them to remove people's rights.

If anything, these "corporate intellectual properties" unite people and give them hope, without all the down sides of most religions.

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u/TheCatInTheHatThings 26d ago

I’m a Star Wars fan and a Star Trek fan. The universes are different enough to both be enjoyable. They’re just different. Besides, just like in Star Trek, there’s a lot of really great politics in Star Wars. The original trilogy is lacking in the department, but the prequels are full of politics, and clone wars (the animated show) brilliantly expands on the politics.

Now Andor, the live action show, finally brings proper politics to the era of the original trilogy.

I love Star Trek to bits, and I also really enjoy Star Wars. Both are very different from one another.

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u/mopxhead 27d ago

I don’t understand how the fans can blame the actor/actress for the role they were given, especially a child actor! Star Wars fans are some of the oddest, and most nitpicking kind, and I’m a huge fan myself.

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u/ItsWillJohnson 27d ago

We often don't get along

Nah, trekkies hate Star Wars. Star Wars fans like both.

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u/rathat 26d ago

Of the four Star franchises, Gate, Trek, Wars and Search, Wars is easily my third favorite.

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u/--2021-- 27d ago

My friend was a star wars fan when we were kids, then converted to Trekkie.

Traitor.

(She would start to pick a fight and that would be my response to make her laugh).

But yeah that's true. She flipped to hating star wars, and I like both.

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u/margittwen 26d ago

Yeah it annoys me when people criticize any kid’s acting. Having that kind of scrutiny in your formative years must be awful and we don’t need to contribute. And acting is fucking hard!

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u/LanceFree 26d ago

Shut up Wesley.

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u/longhegrindilemna 26d ago

Nancy Cooper was an editor.

Nancy Cooper was toxic, yes?