Jake Lloyd in high speed chase

[darth_mcbain]

Now _this_ is podracing...

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/star-wars-star-arrested-carolina-high-speed-chase-200515584.html

In all seriousness, I feel bad for him. His performance in Ep. 1 really wasn't all that great, and it seems like things maybe went a bit off the rails for him afterwards...

[Rutabaga]

I agree, I actually feel really sorry for him. He was subjected to such ridicule and hatred for something that wasn't his fault, he was a just a kid. I just hope he can get his life straightened out before something even more serious happens.

[Rutabaga]

Oh wow, it's worse than we thought...according to TMZ, Jake is schizophrenic and went off his meds. Such sadness. :(

[Padd]

I agree, I actually feel really sorry for him. He was subjected to such ridicule and hatred for something that wasn't his fault, he was a just a kid. I just hope he can get his life straightened out before something even more serious happens.

Wait, his acting in Episode 1 wasn't his fault? Or the script and aftermath?

[Rutabaga]

Nope, his bad acting wasn't his fault. I lay the blame for what happened with TPM at the feet of the casting director and the person who happened to write a bad script and also directed the movie very badly. George Lucas got some atrocious performances out of good actors thanks to his wanting everybody to be emotionally constipated. Natalie Portman has won an Oscar and was phenomenal in Black Swan. She's basically good in everything (except for Thor because it's obvious she doesn't want to be there). People make fun of Hayden Christensen, but have you ever seen Shattered Glass? He was amazing in that. Yet his career is basically over thanks to the prequels. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were lucky to make it out relatively unscathed. You see the behind the scenes footage from TPM and you know they realized they'd made a mistake in casting Jake Lloyd, that he was not up to the job except in the scenes with Pernilla August. And yet they did nothing about it. I can show you countless examples of when actors were let go from movies after filming has started because it was realized that they just weren't right for the role. (Back To The Future and Eric Stoltz, anyone?) Having a much better young actor in the role might have made the movie better. Marginally, maybe, but better nonetheless. Recasting the role might have been embarrassing but it would have been for the betterment of the production in the end. Yes, Jake Lloyd was not up to the role, but there was much more going wrong around him that he was simply not to blame for. He, as a young boy, was ridiculed and harassed by people--by ADULTS--who were misdirecting their anger and should have pointed it more squarely at George Lucas. Whenever I do catch TPM on TV and leave it on for a while, I don't find myself shaking my head and thinking geez, that was some shit acting, I find myself thinking geez, what the hell was Lucas thinking? If I were in Jake Lloyd's place, I would have been really sad and upset that people were saying such mean things about me and to me. No wonder he gave up afterwards. And his being schizophrenic does not help the situation.

That's what I was getting at. I just hate seeing kids blamed for the mistakes of adults.

[Rev Solomon]

I just hate seeing kids blamed for the mistakes of adults.

+1 and repped. More people need this kind of perspective.