From denofgeek, young Anakin Skywalker, Jake Lloyd, has revealed that damage he took as a result of his work in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace...
The current 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace has brought in, at current count, nearly $90m worldwide at the box office, which should make the bean counters at LucasFilm really rather happy.
Less happy, though, appears to be Jake Lloyd, who in 1999 was cast onto the world stage as the young Anakin Skywalker in the film. Lloyd had already done a bit of acting, most notable in the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Jingle All The Way. But The Phantom Menace was his major breakthrough role. As it happened, though, it turned him off acting for good.
He was eight years old when he played Anakin in the film, but in an interview with Blackbook, he revealed that the role pretty much ruined his childhood. “Other children were really mean to me," he said. "They would make the sound of the lightsaber every time they saw me. It was totally mad." Furthermore, the article reports that Lloyd “was so upset by the filming process and the subsequent blowback that he decided he would never act again”.
And, with the exception of one role over a decade ago, he hasn’t. At most, he attends the odd sci-fi convention, the article reports, but that’s as far as he goes.
He’s rarely talked about his experiences on The Phantom Menace and, now in his 20s, it’s only recently he’s opened up about how tough the aftermath of the film was. “I’ve learned to hate it when the cameras are pointed at me”, he revealed.
It’s hard not to have some sympathy with Lloyd. He was the centrepoint of a massively criticised film, and took a lot of flack as a consequence of that. But can you blame him? Not really. He wasn’t even in his teens, and to hear him talk about how his school life became a “living hell” as a result of the film seems really quite sad.
Read full interview here
8 comments:
That video made me really sad. I can only imagine all the bullying he has had to endure over the past decade.
Nobody deserves to be bullied... except Jake Lloyd.
He should just be thankful that he didn't grow up anywhere near me because I would have given him a jedi wedgie every single morning.
It's not his fault. He was a little non-actor who was cast by Lucas because he fit his inappropriate, Ewok-like, way-too-young "blond-hair-blue-eyes cute-kid" mental image (just like Hayden Christensen was obviously cast because he looks like a middle aged man's idea of a teen idol). Then he was given impossible lines (which is hardly a Star Wars first, but he's no Liam Neeson or Carrie Fischer) and, most important, really badly directed. You can tell from watching the featurettes on the TMP disc: Lucas just isn't monitoring the performances; the control of the acting is really half-assed and sloppy. The really good, trained Brits (MacGregor, McDiarmid) can pull it off; the less disciplined Americans (Portman; Lloyd) do far, far worse with the bum lines.
Of course my first impulse was to say his departure did the world of acting a favor... but I think about being teased for liking Star Wars in junior high and then wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Poor guy. I hope at least George throws some behind-the-camera film work his way.
in full honesty, i went to grade school with him. he was a grade below me at Wildwood Elementry School in Thousand Oaks, CA. the reason why everyone was mean to him was because he was a pompus DEUCHE. alot of people (myself included) just plainly wanted to be genuine friends with him. but he was constantly a mean little kid telling people they didnt matter and we were nothing compared to him, what he has done, and what he was going to do (Phantom Menace). cry cry eat cry, no one cares, if you want people to like you, than simply dont be a dick. (yeah, we started doing the light-saber sounds to annoy him for being such a prick
)
My brother Adam was in his class at Wildwood too. Do you remember a Adam Coon?
Poor little guy. It doesn't help with his misery that Jake was sexually abused as a little boy, either. Can't say how I know, but Jake was molested on an ongoing basis starting when he was 8 years old. I think that Phantom Menace had something to do with that. It's a common thing in Hollywood does women and children to be taken advantage of and shared among the Hollywood elite. Maybe that's how little Jake got the job... by giving and/or receiving a "job".
Mmmm i bet there's videos and pics out there of cute little Jake naked and getting his little boy penis touched and sucked
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