Jake Lloyd says that his role as a young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace made his life a “living hell” causing him to burn all his Star Wars toys and ultimately step away from the world of acting.
“Other children were really mean to me. They would make the sound of the lightsaber every time they saw me. It was totally mad,” he told the Mail Online. “My entire school life was really a living hell—and I had to do up to 60 interviews a day. … When you have something like that there’s a lot of expectations for it to meet the standards of the public, and I don’t think George [Lucas] did that.”
Lloyd says he’s vowed to stay away from acting. And he’s done that, avoiding acting except for a few voice over roles for Star Wars related video-games.
BOO HOO HOO- I see it says that he is still willing to make money from Star Wars by doing voice overs. Maybe he is not meant to be an actor? Then that is all they did is make sounds? Surely that would have gotten old after awhile. If it did not- why not private school or home schooling? Surely they were smart enough to make sure they got paid well. This was not be unexpected in a bigger town.
So Jake now knows how we feel about that movie and George Lucas raping our childhood.
I knew George Lucas was a genius! He secretly developed a time machine, went back to a precise moment in Michael Lonergan’s childhood, and took advantage of that poor little boy who loved Star Wars.
I’ve had enough of this “raping my childhood” argument. If your childhood is ruined by watching a movie, perhaps you should analyze your priorities a little closer. I wasn’t as enthused about The Phantom Menace either, but that film makes little to no impact on the joyful memories I attribute to my love of the original trilogy.
I seriously doubt that your memories of your first time with Luke, Leia, and Han are tarnished by Jake Lloyd and the “yippee” heard ’round the world. If they are, you’re taking this stuff far too seriously.
I think Jake would have been better off named Sue. At least then he’d have sacked up and learned to deal with it.
Grow a set Jake.