Jake Lloyd and the Needless Hate He Still Receives.

        

    Jake Lloyd was only seven years old when he was selected out of however many hundreds or thousands of young boys auditioned for the much hyped role of young Darth Vader to be Anakin Skywalker in the first of George Lucas' still much maligned, and so unfairly in many cases, Prequel Trilogy named Episode One - The Phantom Menace. I was only thirteen years old when Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace was unleashed onto cinema screens around the world in May of 1999. Such massive hype and anticipation followed the film onto the screen, even from me, that of course there was bound to be a segment of the filmgoing public that would be disappointed in the final product that had been seventeen long years coming. I remember watching the trailers for Phantom Menace on tiny little Quicktime Windows (remember that?) that took forever to load on dialup internet. For the new generation who doesn't know what dialup is, it is what we old-timers had before the digital revolution took over in the new millennium. I remember getting genuine chills watching the fantastic images in the trailers, all accompanied by the stirring and majestic chords of John Williams' revelatory Star Wars score. I loved The Phantom Menace when I saw it in the theater finally. It gave me everything my thirteen year old imagination craved. I loved it when it was released on VHS back when DVD had yet to fully catch on. And when George finally decided to switch to DVD and released a magnificent two disc DVD edition in glorious Anamorphic Widescreen and with a huge array of bonus documentaries and other features I was hooked. 

However, there was a dark shadow spreading throughout the Star Wars universe that had nothing to do with evil Sith Lords or the Dark Side of the Force. It was instead the dark side of humanity itself that was spreading over the once fertile imaginative plains of The Phantom Menace. The shadow of hatred for a child who had no comprehension when he was signed for the role of a lifetime the sheer size and enormous scope and scale of the shit storm that was about to blow over his whole life from then on as reviews poured in and he was singled out for particularly vehement ridicule and just plain unwarranted animosity from "fans" as well as the critics. The hate continues to flow freely today, and even I for a time was swept up in it until I watched the films again on Blu and realized what an ass I was making out of myself following such blind hate. It hit such a fever pitch that Jake has since destroyed all of his Star Wars memorabilia and "sworn off" the series for pretty much ever. And even now looking at some of the vitriol that is thrown around about him on Facebook, Twitter, and film forums around the web TO THIS DAY I cannot say I blame him or that I would not do that same thing if I had to endure the relentless hounding he has from this film. When you are being called a "child monstrosity" in the press how the hell would you respond? 

My reason for writing this entry is something I heard just a little under a week ago when I was browsing through the videos of a certain Youtube reviewer called The Flick Pick. It was a review of his from 2012 for the 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace and something he said in that video so shocked and reviled me that after some time thinking about it, and to be honest some other stuff, I just had to get this out there. When I heard this guy say "why hasn't Jake Lloyd overdosed like other former child actors and died yet?" my mouth fell open in shock. I could not believe what I had just heard. This... callously hateful remark about someone he did not even know personally was just sickening. Now I'm thinking someone should walk up to this guy in the street and pop a cap in his skull. You so callously make a death wish for someone else you should have that thrown back at you. 

Now, I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of Jake Lloyd at age nine when he's just been told that he's won one of the most coveted roles in film history in the world's most popular space adventure Saga. What would you be feeling in that moment? Because I imagine little Jake at the time was excited beyond words. Filming commences and you show up to set to work for a scant few hours a day because of the labor laws for children and you do what your director tells you to do. He tells you to say the line and say that line and to do so "faster and more intense". He yells "cut, print, and check the gate". Your day's work is done. You go off to school. You have no way of gauging your performance in any given take. This continues for however many months the film is in principal photography. Principal photography wraps and the film moves into post-production as you go your way until the premiere day. The director goes into the editing room and sorts through all of the footage filmed over the shoot and selects every take that you are in that he wants to go into the finished movie. Premiere time approaches and you have not even seen the film, let alone your own performance in it, and the world is alight with high feverish anticipation for the film event of 1999 that is destined to go down in history. The film opens. The reviews come in and YOU are singled out and ridiculed and lambasted and just generally dragged through mud and filth with critics calling you "unctuous" and "annoying" and "monstrous" while fans scream about how you "killed Star Wars". What do you do with that kind of reaction at age nine, or ten probably by the time the film came out? How do you cope with that kind of hatred being thrown at you by the most critical audience in the entire world? I doubt any child that young would have the strength to stand against such vile regard and walk away unscarred. Jake has been scarred. He still very much is and I personally would love to get to meet him and just give him some kind word of encouragement and let him know that not everyone hates him for something that he had no control over when all was said and done. What would you do if it was your child in that position? And as for The Flick Pick and others like him, though he seems at first glance to be a funny guy, I say screw all of you and I ask what any of you would have done if it had been you cast in that role and you receiving all of the hate that Jake has? My guess is you would have probably overdosed by now. Be careful what you say.

Yes there are a few choice words in here because this genuinely pisses me off. 

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