Was Jake Lloyd duped?
Was Jake Lloyd promised or led to believe that he would continue to play Anakin Skywalker in Episode 2 and 3 or did he know going in that Episode 1 would be his only time to star in a Star Wars movie?
shareNo, but he was duped into thinking it would help his career. A lot of people don't know this, but much of Hollyweird hates actors that work in the sci-fi genre. If you have starred in or acted in a sci-fi film, chances are you will never make it in other genres unless you start from the bottom again, like Natalie Portman did. Harrison Ford was lucky in the fact that he was friends with two huge producers that were happy to take him on for Indiana Jones, so that helped his career.
I read up on what happened to him, and it's pretty sad. His career dropped off a cliff after this movie, he went back to school, had a lot of problems, went through drugs and rehab, and had to spend the next 20+ years of his life getting his crap together. He's yet another casualty of the beast that lives in Hollyweird and swallows up the minds, souls, and lives of child stars and spits them back out worse than when they came in.
Plus, now he's all grown up, he looks absolutely NOTHING like Hayden Christensen.
There are so many counter-examples to working in sci-fi.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Vin Diesel, Amy Adams, Ryan Gosling, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Clive Owen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jim Carrey, Donald Sutherland, Bruce Willis, Cillian Murphy, Sam Worthington, Tom Cruise, Jeff Goldblum, Charlton Heston, Sam Rockwell, Richard Dreyfuss, Sigourney Weaver, and of course, you already mentioned Harrison Ford and Natalie Portman.
Finding success is rare, that lightning striking twice is rare, and of course typecasting does play a factor (Leonard Nimoy, for instance, wasn't failing to get roles in other works because he was in sci-fi, but because he *was* Spock), but generally speaking, I don't think sci-fi hurt these actors' careers. Several careers were launched by sci-fi, and I think it's less and less of a stigma with more and more "nerd" properties coming to screen.
Those people are either in the minority in the sci-fi acting community, or the sci-fi they were in was actually a lesser-known sub-genre that was
not as popular as, say, Star Wars or Star Trek. The majority of actors who work in the sci-fi genre rarely see success or branching out like that.
To be clear, I'm challenging the statement that, "If you have starred in or acted in a sci-fi film, chances are you will never make it in other genres unless you start from the bottom again."
I'm not sure what you mean by the "sci-fi celebrity community," or "lesser-known sub-genre".
Regarding the former, actors like Jeff Goldblum and Sigourney Weaver (on my list) are pretty big in sci-fi communities. Regarding the latter, I cited many actors from films both popular (Reeves in The Matrix, Ewan McGregor in Star Wars) and less popular/mainstream/big-hit-successes (Sam Rockwell in Moon, Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko).
That's not the whole list either; there are plenty of other examples that could be cited.
And while there are actors who get typecast or pigeonholed, that can happen to a lot of actors in different genres, and I don't see how that's indicative of a hatred towards sci-fi. It applies equally to horror, for instance, and being the "funny guy" can prevent one from getting dramatic roles (and vice-versa). Breaking out of these types is difficult for any performer. Jim Carrey was known for being wacky, but eventually became known for his skills as a thespian as well. But he also had to take more risks and do smaller, indie projects instead of taking $20 million paycheques on movies like The Mask and The Cable Guy.
I have to agree with you. There seems to be some sort of logical fallacy in effect here. Many actors don't continue with A-list careers after having initial success. I don't know that there's any more or less correlation to sci-fi, specifically. Every genre has this phenomenon.
It's easy to list a number of examples from sci-fi and say "see, all these that started in sci-fi didn't make it" when it's likely you could build a similar list from any genre if you gave it the same level of time and effort.
Now, if the statement was, "Sci-fi doesn't get as much respect as other genres like drama," I'd agree 100%. But actors can hop genres. It is quite apparent, however, that drama is the most revered and other genres - especially stuff like sci-fi, fantasy, and horror - get "lower status".
It's also kinda easy to see why. Those genres contain far more schlock than others. It's easier to identify the awful stuff. It's also got a lower "silliness threshold".
You bring up an interesting point. Because of the low threshold for sci-fi, does that mean there is more of it being made vs serious drama and other genres? And therefore the pool of participants is simply larger to draw from, providing more examples of actors that didn't "make it?"
I don't know that there's an easy answer, but it seems to make sense.
I think there's more drama out there. By "low silliness threshold" I meant that it's easier for sci-fi to look dumb. Picture Clerks, which is a great movie on a minuscule budget. Now picture trying to do alien adventure sci-fi on the same budget. It ain't happening without looking insanely goofy. Another factor might be that bad sci-fi is hilariously memorable (Mystery Science Theatre 3000) but bad drama isn't always The Room, sometimes it's just dull and forgettable.
I dunno. Some of this is just perception, too, of course.
"A lot of people don't know this, but much of Hollyweird hates actors that work in the sci-fi genre."
" went through drugs and rehab, and had to spend the next 20+ years of his life getting his crap together. "
You're just making shit up.
Lloyd is schizophrenic. He was driven mad by bullies for his performance and TPM in general. He wasn't an addict, you psycho. His sister's death also broke him. Educate yourself before speaking.
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1237002/Star-Wars-Anakin-Jake-Lloyd-where-is-he-what-happened-Phantom-Menace-schizophrenia
https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2020/02/04/star-wars-jake-lloyd-update/