Attack of the Clones: Acting Is Hard

[@JM-mh1pp]

About Padme: it is called the royal voice. You are not speaking as yourself, you are speaking as a queen so changing your speech patterns makes perfect sense especially if your main defence strategy is being able to just vanish as soon as the make up is of. No one knows how Padme sounds, they only know how queen Amidala sounds.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

I'm pretty sure this was it. Whenever in the makeup and behaving as The Queen, she effects a deeper, slower, vaguely British, officious drone. She does that throughout the movie, in all settings, to all characters. Whereas she actually sounds like Natalie Portman when in the guise of Padme the Handmaiden. I can think of three purposes for this: 1. She's a 14 year old girl, and commander-in-chief of an entire planet. She does that because it's how it occurs to her to sound big and powerful. 2. Padme Amedala routinely inhabits two personas: Queen Amedala, and Padme the Handmaiden. Disguising her voice like that helps disguise her. 3. The reveal that Padme was the queen near the end of the film was supposed to be a surprise, and so they had Natalie Portman do a different voice to keep the characters from catching on.

[@RowdyBoy82]

Right? Superman doesn't switch his voice between him and his alter ego, it doesn't make his disguise convincing. Neither do the glasses. There actually seemed like there was world building behind the concepts of Amadala and her hand maidens. The vocal and tonal changes made the whole deception more authentic. Plus, it's drag hunty! Get into the gig and change your voice. Amadala was my first drag queen! 👑 👠 💄

[@Nurk0m0rath]

@@RowdyBoy82 On the flip side, the fact that Amidala was elected leader of a planet at 14 may suggest there *wasn't* a lot of world building. I mean, unless there's world building to explain that teens on this planet are way more mature, who would elect a planetary leader so young? And a lot of emphasis was placed on the fact that she was elected, that she didn't inherit her position after a tragedy (where her age would actually have made sense).

[@azrf1004]

For me I feel like Padme changed her voice on purpose since *SPOILER* she had one of her hand maids act as her double throughout most of the movie and that hand maids voice might have sounded different from Padme’s normal speaking voice or she did it so that she could do what I mentioned above AND so she could walk around as a normal person and people wouldn’t be able to recognize her especially her political enemies

[@psoma_brufd]

@@Nurk0m0rath the more weird thing about that is how did they 'elect' someone without knowing who she actually is? I mean she could theoretically have been disguised the whole time but then that means that almost everyone is in the dark about who actually is the queen which could prove detrimental and or does it mean that all candidates were disguised?

[@DualKeys]

I remember seeing an interview with Carrie Fisher where she mentioned having been trained to use RP when acting, and hadn't quite dropped the habit when they filmed the movie. In-universe, though, I just see that as her senatorial voice. She uses it when talking to Tarkin and Vader as she touts her position. Once they make their escape and she's back to her normal self, the façade drops, and so does the accent.

[@kirstenpaff8946]

I am pretty sure the Amidala robot voice was done in order to make it harder to tell that Padme was the queen and the person in the fancy clothes was a decoy. That is probably also part of the reason behind the heavy royal makeup and elaborate hairstyles. The queen's position is emphasized a lot more than her individuality, so we as an audience don't notice that there is a completely different person wearing the fancy clothes.

[@jessenoelle262]

Yeah, I gotta agree with you there. We, the audience weren't shocked when the big, 'Amidala=Padme' reveal happened in Ep. 1. But most everyone in the SCENE has a reaction, and that's maybe the more important thing to keep in mind when it comes to Queen Amidala robot voice. As I recall, here in the States, that particular detail (Amidala=Padme) was "spoiled" before the film was released.

[@alltheleaveswerebrown]

I can get behind this!

[@42roadsforman]

Apparently then drunken lemurs are very good actors. 😛 With regards to Carrie Fisher or Leia's accent, she uses a Mid-Atlantic accent when she is dealing with the military and especially Tarkan. This is probably the formal form of speech she uses as a senator in political discourse. The same holds true for Padme as she only speaks this way in similar situations. I actually really liked attack of the clones when I first saw it, but that was because I was expecting it to suck as bad as phantom menace, and was greatly relieved that it wasn't nearly as bad and was especially, for the most part, Jar Jar free. I agree with you with regards to the love story and how it played out. The problem is Anakin and Padme did have to fall in love in order to serve the story of the original trilogy. A better writer could have Incorporated Anakin's anger and frustration and still made a good believable love story out of it. See 'Love Story' for example. Hayden Christensen gets a lot of flack for his delivery of lines. However he did very specifically attempt to emulate James Earl Jones inflections. Once knowing that watching him deliver the lines it makes more sense. I'm not saying that it makes the scenes great it just makes more sense. 'Any-hoodle' ??? Haha. Shakespeare was known for inventing words too.

[@starsun6363]

I recently watched AotC for the first time. I went into it shipping Padme and Anakin. I am willing to make a lot of excuses for my ships. But... wow. The romance was bad. Reeeeeeally bad. As in, badly written and makes little to no sense. I was so frustrated that I wrote a twelve step plan to fix their romance.

[@Treya1991]

7:28 Hearing this done correctly... my jaw literally dropped and immediately yelled, "What the... HOW??? How did he mess this acting up!" I thought it was clunky dialogue that had me twitchy during this scene and to be shown how wrong I am is just mind-blowing magic.

[@MidnightOwl92]

A note about the unfortunate implications bit when it comes to the sand people. It comes down to the Force Anakin is strong in the force and Yoda knows him personally it's makes it easier for Yoda sense his pain however the sand people are not strong in the force. The pain Yoda shows in Revenge of the sith is thousands of Jedi almost all of whom he personally trained at some point dying. For contrast Obi-wan in the original trilogy only senses the death of non-force sensitives when millions of them die but easily senses Vader while on the death star.

[@MrChickennugget360]

ya that should be clear. There are Trillions in the galaxy you can't feel all of there pain- but if someone is close to you you will feel that.

[@Alias_Anybody]

There's also the unfortunate (?) implication that Padme ultimately isn't that much "holier than thou" in some cases, aka her not giving that much of a damn about Sand People genocide. Which actually kind of makes sense in universe and seems to be glossed over when people (over) analyse that scene. The expectation is that she as a noble senator and, ehem, woman, would be naturally empathetic, but you only need to look into history that even "enlightened" people often had pretty big black spots in terms of who "deserved" to live or die.

[@VERITAS-eh3pp]

I haven't heard the emphasis on the wrong syllable joke in almost a decade. Good on you.

[@adiposeNarnian]

My favorite choir director in college used it all the time. She had to. Sorry Mrs. W.

[@aussiebloke609]

"We can always use more Christopher Lee." Christopher Lee - the cowbell of acting. :-P

[@Phantomsbreath]

I was in that arena scene! I am right in the very back of a shot. I'm on screen for all of two seconds in the entire film!

[@Tim3.14]

That's awesome :)

[@wellwhoknows9567]

really, that's so cool!

[@nathanhook8351]

It does make sense that Yoda senses Anakin is in pain (as someone he knows personally) but not the suffering of the sand people. (Anakin beind so strong in the force that his pain creates a disturbance might also be a factor). In a similar way, In V Luke senses Han is being tortured, but presumably doesn't sense every random person the empire is torturing across the galaxy.

[@xCorvus7x]

6:26 Wasn't it the case that force-aware people can sense other force-aware people better than normal people? Aside from the chance that some of the sand people were force-aware (I mean, there's a chance for everyone, right?), it would make sense that Yoda can sense other Jedi over farther distances than other beings. Unless of course there are counter-examples to this.

[@xCorvus7x]

And obviously, Yoda only senses emotions, he doesn't read minds and glean information about some one's surroundings.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

Yes, that's it, usually only force users sense each other and their feelings over further distances, and even that only if they have a prior connection (e.g. Vader and Luke only started to sense each other after they first met. When they first arrived on the Death Star in Episode IV, Vader could only sense Obiwan, not Luke). It generally depends on the force sensitivity of the recipient and the scale of the ripple the "emitting" individual causes in the force. The one counter example where Obiwan sensed the destruction of Alderan was due to not only a few, but millions of people suffering and being extinguished in an instant, thus creating a massive commotion in the force. So, Yoda could feel Annakin's distress because he knew him and Annakin was a powerful active force user, but not the death of a few random sand people on the other end of the galaxy.

[@daverage4729]

Looking very smart in this video Jill. Dare I say...senatorial? And yes, we can ALWAYS use more Christopher Lee. His voice alone deserves its own listing in the movie credits.

[@El_oh7199]

Interestingly enough, Yoda doesn't acknowledge Anakin murdering Sand People, but Qui Gon's spirit form does

[@darth_dan8886]

Very interesting to listen. I'm a bit disappointed you skipped over the character of Jango Fett tho. Fore personally he was one of the most memorable in the film, and in my opinion has pretty good acting at that, including the asteroid field chase scene. And yes. I love the asteroid chase scene.

[@Сайтамен]

Who doesn't?

[@junecampbell2152]

The fact that Keira Knightly is in this movie is one of the only things it has going for it...

[@Сайтамен]

Hayden played awkward teen monk who should supress his emotions, never talked with girls, suffers from nightmares. Also Darth Vader talks monotone, that's why he does.

[@Teatime7771]

Some of the Phantom Menace lines Padme spoke in makeup were done by Kiera Knightly, not Natalie.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

Natalie Portman re-dubbed Keira Knightley's lines in post so they would sound consistent for the scenes with Natalie Portman in the makeup.

[@lewstone5430]

Jill, how do some of your videos not have more views and comments? Your writing is excellent and analysis, brilliant! Keep on keepin’ on you red-haired beauty!

[@catsaresocute650]

-Yoda senses Anikin because Anekin is strong in the force and he's meditating -the Jedi DO teach handeling feelings- but in a sense of meditation etc.

[@U2QuoZepplin]

I'll probably regret or revise these thoughts once I've published this on here but i think I agree with most of these points about Episode 2 and the Prequels in general. I think you've got a better way of putting it in to words than me. I'm a big Star Wars and Star Trek (general sci-fi ;) fanatic so new Star Wars , way back when the Prequels and Episode 1 were announced was the best thing in the world. I still get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the Prequels even now because I seem to have the entirely exclusive ability to look round the gaping anomalies such as awful dialogue and dodgy acting in the post Original Trillogy releases.

[@adiposeNarnian]

My screen froze and buffered at 7:43. It should truly have been the thumbnail.

[@maddie9602]

"he just committed mass murder, shouldn't you maybe get him some help?" I'd argue that he needed help a _while_ ago, and once he crossed the line to child murder ... yeah, you don't just casually forgive something like that, that's "this guy needs to be put in a cell" territory now. I'd argue it would have worked a lot better if he didn't kill the Sand People, if he almost crossed that line, then pulled back at the last minute. Because when he's already murdered children, it's kinda hard to justify him murdering children-we're-actually-supposed-to-care-about being the point where he crosses the moral event horizon. Also, avoids the icky issue of how no one seems to care about the murder of a bunch of Sand People. They're clearly sentient beings, it's not like he went off and killed a pack of wolves or something.

[@AndrewBlack343]

Is no one else going to mention Jill's "necklace of variable chain length"?

[@thegreenmanofnorwich]

Hayden Christienssen is actually not a bad actor, so I think it must have been direction. I got annoyed by the separatist thing. Someone wanting to leave the Republic (which seems to function like the UN) having to be fought is strange. They talk about demands, but I don't understand who these people are or what they want. Then suddenly... they do want to fight... for... er... something. Also the use of clone troopers. Huh. We know there's a conspiracy involving a dead Jedi and clones to force us into a war... yeah okay then, we'll just go with the conspiracy. There's also that the senate deliberately circumvented itself. They say the senate will never create an army, so they vote powers to the chancellor so that he can create an army. The army they don't want. But have... and apparently there's a fleet now. M'kay

[@rareroe305]

10 seconds after you synopsize Attack of the Clones, I've already re-forgotten most of what happens in that movie.

[@anna-katehowell9852]

Love the hair!

[@PtolemyJones]

I agree, we could indeed always use more Christopher Lee. I wish there had been more of him in the Lord of the Rings.

[@keithklassen5320]

Yoda not noticing the deaths of the sand people seems to me more to do with them not being Force-sensitive, whereas Anakin is, and is connected to Yoda.

[@Joshua-fi4ji]

It's funny how you state they are acting in front of a green screen whilst showing a scene in the background with them walking though on the plaza in Seville. There is a lot of CGI, but that bit had very little if any.

[@ChildOfDarkDefiance]

I think Queen Amidala's android voice was real world just to make Portman and Knightly sound similar.

[@mysteriouscolours1532]

Geonosis is my favourite sequence in all of StarWars (That might be an over exaggeration but still it's up there)

[@fortheloveofxenos6249]

Yoda did not feel the death of the sand people kids death because they were not force sensitive

[@DozyBinsh]

Importantly, the eyes on a stick wrt blue screen aren't real eyes.

[@thedoctor755]

"Liam!!" Yeah, I'm thinking you're Irish maybe after all ;)

[@pboudrea01]

Two things: - these are supposedly beings with eyes in the back of their heads and sh#@, so twirly rules for us mere mortals don't seem to apply. - Love the pendent. :)

[@katiehelms8903]

The star wars prequels are my favorite movies and Anidala is a beautiful couple and nothing will change my mind That said I still love this channel even though she is a prequel hater (:(

[@hansakkerman2611]

Clearly, she's not a prequel hater. You can critique something and still like it.

[@katiehelms8903]

@@hansakkerman2611 She really did diss the movies... her criticism really could have been said constructively...

[@marcgregory3290]

Wait count duku was played by saramon.

[@guardrailbiter]

Wait! Are there drunken redhead lemurs???

[@_aullik]

The reason why Attack on the clones is my favorite of the movies, even over the original ones, is because it is the intro clone wars, which is just the best part of star wars! Also having watched it in a translation first might have helped with the dialog.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

There is a video about how A New Hope was saved in the edit by Lucas' wife and friends. Lucas is good at ideas. Execution on film, not so much.

[@anna-katehowell9852]

Sarah Brightman > Emmy Rossum

[@FuzzyGlowCar]

They used green screens not blue screens.

[@JillBearup]

No, definitely blue, see here: starwarsplaces.com/locations/episode-ii-aotc/studio-aotc/ (I'm not sure how common blue is as a keying colour though, I always use green).

[@johntabler349]

I am forced to confess that I am underwhelmed by Natalie Portman in every role

[@Teatime7771]

The original Clone Wars, animated By the Samurai Jack animator is better than the Canon Clone Wars.

[@snowwhistle1]

I disagree. The Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars (2003) was a good series, but I watched it myself a few years back and I found it to be a bit stale outside of the animation and choreography. Don't get me wrong, Tartakovsky is a genius with staging and cinematography and I think that every action piece in the show holds up remarkably to this day. But I don't think Tartakovsky is as strong a writer as he is a directors. The characters feel as flat as they did in the prequel movies, and we don't really learn anything in the miniseries about the characters that we didn't know from watching the first three episodes. Outside of some stilted dialogue and perhaps one or two subliminal visual metaphors, I got no context for how any of these characters had grown or changed between Episode II and Episode III. For me the original Clone Wars is a well directed action/cinematography piece, but I don't find much substance to it beyond its art and animation. The Clone Wars (2008-2013) certainly had its growing pains as a series, but I found it to be far more ambitious and far more successful because it told a story. It informed to me new things about characters like Anakin, Obi-wan, and Yoda that I didn't learn through the films, and retroactively helped ease some of the storytelling issues from the prequels. Anakin's character development in particular is greatly enhanced by this series and probably went a long way to endearing him to the greater fandom at large. And honestly, by the end of the series I found the CG show's art direction, animation, and visual design to be on par with the bar that Tartakovsky set.

[@Rain-King]

@@snowwhistle1 This is one of the more nuanced and even-handed comparisons of the two "Clone Wars" series I've read on the web. It highlights how they are fundamentally different series with different creative ambitions. It's for that reason that I like them both. Tartakovsky is a master of 2D animation, pacing, editing and choreography and "Cone Wars" puts these talents at the forefront through its micro-format and focus on action in, while allowing for brief and strategic hints of characterisation. These moments work best through the visuals, like in Anakin's sword fight with Ventress, as opposed to dialogue, in which Tartakovsky shares a similar lack of talent with George. It is a fantastic series for what it set out to be and is still a visual splendour that I return to every now and then. The 3D "Cone Wars" series, like you say, is far more ambitious in its storytelling, characterisation and themes and accomplishes a lot more in that regard thanks to its stronger writing and long-running, half-hour format. Considering the storytelling missteps of the prequel trilogy, this series fits very comfortably as a stronger backstory for the original trilogy. Even though I'm only on the third season so far, the animation and art style has already improved to such a degree that I am equally as blown away by its visuals as I am by the 2D animation of Tartakovsky's series. Again, both visually impressive, but fundamentally different beasts. It is strange to me that people compare them as if to have one "replace" the other, when they co-exist quite nicely as two wildly different approaches to the concept of the Clone Wars.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

​@JillBearup >>> 👍👍