Shattered Glass (2003) - Hayden Christensen takes a break from playing Anakin Skywalker

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Anyone heard of this movie? It's based on the true story of disgraced journalist Stephen Glass.

I just watched it for the first time a few nights ago and it actually was really interesting. The premise:

The story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was discovered he fabricated over half of his articles from the publication The New Republic magazine.
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That may not sound too exciting but I really found the movie to be quite good and it was interesting to see a young Hayden Christensen play a character other than Anakin Skywalker. And his performance actually turned out to be quite good. I really think it's a shame that, as much as Star Wars was his big break, it also seems to have derailed his career at the same time.


 
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Did you watch it cause I mentioned it, or just coincidence? But yeah, it’s a really good movie.

Think it’s funny how hank azaria is basically known as the simpsons voice guy but he’s actually a really good actor.
 
Johnson said:
Did you watch it cause I mentioned it, or just coincidence? But yeah, it’s a really good movie.
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Actually I watched it because @ufcfan4, @Anung Un Rama and I were recently talking about movies that involve journalism/research.

On that same note, I also watched The Insider and Truth recently as well.
 
This was a good movie. I'm not sure Christensen was or would have become some DDL type wunderkind but he definitely proved he could act, and that the performances he turned in in Star Wars were due to Lucas' direction more than anything else.
 
"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." - Kenny Florian
 
I agree direction had a lot to do with it, because I found Ewan terrible as well. But he has had long stretches of no work so it’s hard to judge him. He was good in b movie Jumper. But dippy in Life as A House. And TERRIBLE as Anakin.
 
Organic Damage said:
This was a good movie. I'm not sure Christensen was or would have become some DDL type wunderkind but he definitely proved he could act, and that the performances he turned in in Star Wars were due to Lucas' direction more than anything else.
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LogicalInsanity said:
Great film...shocking good acting by anakin
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Agreed that his acting was surprisingly good, then again, I don't think he was nearly as bad in the Star Wars films as other people act like he was. I think he was hampered by some clunky dialogue in those movies, but otherwise did well, especially in Revenge of the Sith.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Agreed that his acting was surprisingly good, then again, I don't think he was nearly as bad in the Star Wars films as other people act like he was. I think he was hampered by some clunky dialogue in those movies, but otherwise did well, especially in Revenge of the Sith.
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I have to disagree. . Attack of the clones and anakins performance was comically bad...

And the big showdown between obi wan and anakin in revenge of the sith...their argument before hand...
The dialogue and acting were atrocious.

Maybe you're right...maybe ..just maybe if they had a real screen writer could hayden's performance been saved
 
It’s small and subtle but it’s damn good.

Not many things in movies make me cringe, but the sequence where Sarsgaard is taking Glass from place to place and he is just digging himself deeper into lies as Sarsgaard unravels them was ultra uncomfortable to me. Very well done.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Agreed that his acting was surprisingly good, then again, I don't think he was nearly as bad in the Star Wars films as other people act like he was. I think he was hampered by some clunky dialogue in those movies, but otherwise did well, especially in Revenge of the Sith.
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Yeah man.

Didn’t think he was too bad in them either. In fact I liked his work in the best prequel Revenge of the Sith.

Attack of the Clones he was an easy scapegoat cause he was the new cast member and the movie was rough. But Portman and him had anti-chemistry thinks to poorly written romance.
 
ufcfan4 said:
It’s small and subtle but it’s damn good.

Not many things in movies make me cringe, but the sequence where Sarsgaard is taking Glass from place to place and he is just digging himself deeper into lies as Sarsgaard unravels them was ultra uncomfortable to me. Very well done.
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It's crazy that the story is essentially true. From what I understand, every major plot point in the film is something that happened with the real Stephen Glass.

It does make you wonder how many other journalists are out there right now, doing the same shit. It also makes you question the quality of The New Republic's fact checking team, considering the fact that it was just simple fact checking that tipped Forbes off to the fact that something wasn't right here.
 
ufcfan4 said:
Yeah man.

Didn’t think he was too bad in them either. In fact I liked his work in the best prequel Revenge of the Sith.

Attack of the Clones he was an easy scapegoat cause he was the new cast member and the movie was rough. But Portman and him had anti-chemistry thinks to poorly written romance.
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Yeah, Lucas himself said he was going for a more theatrical, old timey kind of acting style. That's the direction and that's what Christensen delivered.

I wonder where Christensen would've ended up as an actor if he had never done Star Wars. It no doubt was a big break for him, but as I said in the OP, it also seems to have kind of derailed his career as well. Would he just be a total nobody today without Star Wars or would he actually be more successful? And will he have an uptick in his career at some point in the future or is he destined to just work small projects, like he's doing now?
 
shadow_priest_x said:
It's crazy that the story is essentially true. From what I understand, every major plot point in the film is something that happened with the real Stephen Glass.

It does make you wonder how many other journalists are out there right now, doing the same shit. It also makes you question the quality of The New Republic's fact checking team, considering the fact that it was just simple fact checking that tipped Forbes off to the fact that something wasn't right here.
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Yeah insane to think about. Very interesting. What became of Glass? What is he up to now?

That reminds me- you might want to give True Story a try. It’s not great but it’s a good serious performance from Jonah Hill and solid work from James Franco. Another film based on real events that had me shaking my head in disbelief at times.
 
ufcfan4 said:
Yeah insane to think about. Very interesting. What became of Glass? What is he up to now?
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I actually looked him up after I watched the movie.

Apparently in 2003 he released a novel that was, ironically, a fictionalized account of his life story.

Now I believe he works as a paralegal at a law firm. He applied to the California bar but they rejected his application due to poor moral character.

ufcfan4 said:
That reminds me- you might want to give True Story a try. It’s not great but it’s a good serious performance from Jonah Hill and solid work from James Franco. Another film based on real events that had me shaking my head in disbelief at times.
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Can't say I've heard of it but sounds interesting. I'll have to give it a look.
 
Saw it a while ago, remember thinking it was just the usual whiny Hayden performance he did in Star Wars and Life as a House.
 
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