Digitally edit adult Jake Lloyd into every Star Wars movie as adult Anakin

The Issue

Mr. George Lucas-

I write to you as a member of the generation that remembers Star Wars as a fun trip through an amazing world. Unfortunately the legacy of your prequel trilogy has been unfairly tarnished. They are not inherently bad movies, and one of them was actually awesome. I believe this process began when the films stopped featuring young Jake Lloyd, the actor who played young Anakin Skywalker. He wasn't "old enough" for sex-obsessed audiences, so you replaced him after just one movie with Hayden Christensen, the untested star of 'Jumper.' You don't need me to remind you that this was an unmitigated disaster. Ridiculous.

Well, Mr. Lloyd is now 25 years old, and that means we no longer have to settle for second best. We are calling for you to reshoot Episode II and Episode III with the older Jake Lloyd replacing Hayden Christensen as the older Anakin Skywalker in every scene. Apply your famous "magic touch" of re-releases to right your greatest wrong. Jake Lloyd kissing Padme, Jake Lloyd fighting clones, Jake Lloyd massacreing younglings, everything! The movies don't have to change, we just want Jake Lloyd playing Anakin Skywalker again. We know what Anakin looks and acts like, and that character in the other two movies was not him. Not to us. Our Anakin is Jake Lloyd. He is peppy and enthusiastic. It's an obvious choice. He can save boring scenes with his unique energy, build on chemistry he ALREADY HAS with Padme and Obi Wan from the first movie, and maybe even (dare I say it?) save the prequels.

Hiring Hayden Christensen was a guess at what Anakin might look like at 25. Well guess what, we now know exactly what Anakin would look like at 25! And he looks pretty frickin cool. Nothing like Hayden Christensen, whose face is not nearly wide enough, and can't even grow a cool goatee. The character is supposed to be dark, because he grows up to be DARK VADER. Hayden shows his darkness by... staring ominously at the camera? Having bags under his eyes? Excuse me if I fall asleep!

Mr. Lloyd has grown up to be an interesting young man. If you watch interviews, he speaks with that rare combination of wry cynicism and furrowed expression shared only by people who are constantly on their guard. Where Christensen's eyes say, "Someone told me to look scary," Jake's say, "I've rehearsed what I would say to my childhood bullies if I saw them again." I don't know about you, but that sounds like a future bad guy to me! He's unfortunately retired from acting, citing constant bullying and stating that "(his) life was really a living hell" (Daily Telegraph). He clearly has the darkness necessary to play the part. Looks like you had your adult Anakin all along! You already made the questionable decision to thrust an 8-year-old child into such an enormous worldwide spotlight. Turns out you just had to wait for that move to have its reasonably expected effect on his self-esteem / ability to trust his peers, and bingo! You've got a relatable villain. If that's not a dark enough backstory, I'll cut off my right arm in a duel with Count Dooku. (just kidding!)

Look, this has gotten a little long-winded, but I think I speak for the fans when I say the reason we love the Star Wars movies is because they're constantly changing. As we grow up, so does our favorite movie. Your regular re-releases keep in time with the changing zeitgeist, (I'm thinking of the move to change the Emperor from a gross old lady to a man for sensitive post-9/11 audiences, making Han's shooting of Greedo defensible under current Stand Your Ground laws, adding a funny CGI song for the YouTuber generation, etc.) We know you're willing to stop at nothing to make old products perfect. We just want Jake Lloyd back. The fairest complaint I've heard about the prequels is that you got Anakin right the first time, and more iterations just stain the original. Well, we also think you got it right the second time. With Jake Lloyd. You just screwed up with the third time, when you UNCEREMONIOUSLY FIRED Jake Lloyd and robbed us of a great actor. He should sign on to this because he seems cool. Once you have him onboard, here are just a few other things you could do:

1. Re-shoot the end of Return of the Jedi with the silently nodding in approval ghost of Jake Lloyd replacing the silently nodding in approval ghost of Hayden Christiansen (who replaced the SNiAGo Sebastian Shaw).

2. Wait for Jake Lloyd to become an old man and re-shoot the scenes with Darth Vader's face.

3. Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker, is supposed to be his only parent. You can use motion capture technology on an adult Jake Lloyd to create an entirely digital version of Shmi that looks much more like Jake Lloyd. 

4. Droll one-liners. Grown up Jake Lloyd is very droll.

4. Change the babies in Episode II to look like Jake Lloyd and Padme's babies would actually look. I have an example from online (obviously yours will look better but you get the idea)
Luke Skywalker: http://makemebabies.com/shared/4/baby/1404291/babywb2014042903331323e7eea761984bf93ae7ededeb886807.jpg
Leia Skywalker:
http://makemebabies.com/shared/3/baby/1404298/babywb2014042903371623e7eea761984bf93ae7ededeb886807.jpg

6.  Jake Lloyd as a wise ghost in the new movies? i dunno

The new films are in the hands of JJ Abrams, and we trust him because we trust you. But the old movies are still yours. But more importantly, they're still all of ours. But more importantly, they're still Jake Lloyd's. All you have to do is finish the loop.

Sincerely, 
The fans of Star Wars.


This petition had 16 supporters

The Issue

Mr. George Lucas-

I write to you as a member of the generation that remembers Star Wars as a fun trip through an amazing world. Unfortunately the legacy of your prequel trilogy has been unfairly tarnished. They are not inherently bad movies, and one of them was actually awesome. I believe this process began when the films stopped featuring young Jake Lloyd, the actor who played young Anakin Skywalker. He wasn't "old enough" for sex-obsessed audiences, so you replaced him after just one movie with Hayden Christensen, the untested star of 'Jumper.' You don't need me to remind you that this was an unmitigated disaster. Ridiculous.

Well, Mr. Lloyd is now 25 years old, and that means we no longer have to settle for second best. We are calling for you to reshoot Episode II and Episode III with the older Jake Lloyd replacing Hayden Christensen as the older Anakin Skywalker in every scene. Apply your famous "magic touch" of re-releases to right your greatest wrong. Jake Lloyd kissing Padme, Jake Lloyd fighting clones, Jake Lloyd massacreing younglings, everything! The movies don't have to change, we just want Jake Lloyd playing Anakin Skywalker again. We know what Anakin looks and acts like, and that character in the other two movies was not him. Not to us. Our Anakin is Jake Lloyd. He is peppy and enthusiastic. It's an obvious choice. He can save boring scenes with his unique energy, build on chemistry he ALREADY HAS with Padme and Obi Wan from the first movie, and maybe even (dare I say it?) save the prequels.

Hiring Hayden Christensen was a guess at what Anakin might look like at 25. Well guess what, we now know exactly what Anakin would look like at 25! And he looks pretty frickin cool. Nothing like Hayden Christensen, whose face is not nearly wide enough, and can't even grow a cool goatee. The character is supposed to be dark, because he grows up to be DARK VADER. Hayden shows his darkness by... staring ominously at the camera? Having bags under his eyes? Excuse me if I fall asleep!

Mr. Lloyd has grown up to be an interesting young man. If you watch interviews, he speaks with that rare combination of wry cynicism and furrowed expression shared only by people who are constantly on their guard. Where Christensen's eyes say, "Someone told me to look scary," Jake's say, "I've rehearsed what I would say to my childhood bullies if I saw them again." I don't know about you, but that sounds like a future bad guy to me! He's unfortunately retired from acting, citing constant bullying and stating that "(his) life was really a living hell" (Daily Telegraph). He clearly has the darkness necessary to play the part. Looks like you had your adult Anakin all along! You already made the questionable decision to thrust an 8-year-old child into such an enormous worldwide spotlight. Turns out you just had to wait for that move to have its reasonably expected effect on his self-esteem / ability to trust his peers, and bingo! You've got a relatable villain. If that's not a dark enough backstory, I'll cut off my right arm in a duel with Count Dooku. (just kidding!)

Look, this has gotten a little long-winded, but I think I speak for the fans when I say the reason we love the Star Wars movies is because they're constantly changing. As we grow up, so does our favorite movie. Your regular re-releases keep in time with the changing zeitgeist, (I'm thinking of the move to change the Emperor from a gross old lady to a man for sensitive post-9/11 audiences, making Han's shooting of Greedo defensible under current Stand Your Ground laws, adding a funny CGI song for the YouTuber generation, etc.) We know you're willing to stop at nothing to make old products perfect. We just want Jake Lloyd back. The fairest complaint I've heard about the prequels is that you got Anakin right the first time, and more iterations just stain the original. Well, we also think you got it right the second time. With Jake Lloyd. You just screwed up with the third time, when you UNCEREMONIOUSLY FIRED Jake Lloyd and robbed us of a great actor. He should sign on to this because he seems cool. Once you have him onboard, here are just a few other things you could do:

1. Re-shoot the end of Return of the Jedi with the silently nodding in approval ghost of Jake Lloyd replacing the silently nodding in approval ghost of Hayden Christiansen (who replaced the SNiAGo Sebastian Shaw).

2. Wait for Jake Lloyd to become an old man and re-shoot the scenes with Darth Vader's face.

3. Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker, is supposed to be his only parent. You can use motion capture technology on an adult Jake Lloyd to create an entirely digital version of Shmi that looks much more like Jake Lloyd. 

4. Droll one-liners. Grown up Jake Lloyd is very droll.

4. Change the babies in Episode II to look like Jake Lloyd and Padme's babies would actually look. I have an example from online (obviously yours will look better but you get the idea)
Luke Skywalker: http://makemebabies.com/shared/4/baby/1404291/babywb2014042903331323e7eea761984bf93ae7ededeb886807.jpg
Leia Skywalker:
http://makemebabies.com/shared/3/baby/1404298/babywb2014042903371623e7eea761984bf93ae7ededeb886807.jpg

6.  Jake Lloyd as a wise ghost in the new movies? i dunno

The new films are in the hands of JJ Abrams, and we trust him because we trust you. But the old movies are still yours. But more importantly, they're still all of ours. But more importantly, they're still Jake Lloyd's. All you have to do is finish the loop.

Sincerely, 
The fans of Star Wars.


The Decision Makers

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Petition created on April 29, 2014