The Acolyte star Dafne Keen first came into the limelight with her groundbreaking performance in James Mangold’s Logan, starring with Hugh Jackman. The character that Keen played in the film, Laura Keeney, was emotional and volatile, something that came through in her portrayal of the character. However, thanks to all the extra makeup, the work that Keen put in did not come through to show creator Leslye Headland.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Dafne Keen revealed the revelation that she had after she was fitted with the makeup, which was extensive, thanks to her character’s human-Theelin heritage, as she realized that her eyebrows were not visible to the audience. This made it very difficult to discern what her expressions were like.
Lesley Headland spurred Daphne Keen on to act, despite the actress feeling like she was overacting
Dafne Keen, in an interview with CinemaBlend, revealed how the makeup that she wore for her character prevented her from using her eyebrows to act, which made it seem like the actress was not putting any effort into her performance at all. She revealed:
I use my eyebrows a lot, but it’s really difficult to act without any eyebrows. And I kept being told off by Leslye. She’s be like .” You are not acting!”, and I’s be like, “I am doing so much.” But obviously, if you cover this it looks like you are not doing anything. So I was giving like the most deadpan performance ever.
While Leslye Headland felt that Dafne Keen was not putting her best foot forward, the actress was actually hampered by the appearance she had to work with. However, the actress tried her best to deliver a performance as Jecki Lon, the padawan of Verosha Aniseya’s former master, Sol, essayed by Lee Jung-jae. She does manage to deliver quite the performance, despite the amount of makeup.
The Acolyte seems to have broken Star Wars canon and the fanbase
There are a lot of things that were revealed in the three episodes of The Acolyte that did not sit well with fans. To begin with, the reveal that Osha and her sister Mae are actually born of the Force, like Anakin Skywalker, dilutes Anakin’s story and the way people look at it, making the chosen narrative that surrounds him less important.
The series takes place at the tail end of the High Republic, about a hundred years before the events of The Phantom Menace, and fails to account for a number of things that would have had lasting repercussions for the wider Star Wars Universe. For example, if the secret coven of the witches that the protagonist hails from is so powerful, how did their perishing not cause a disturbance in the Force? Given that they were so powerful, it should have been a glaring signal to any trained Force-sensitive creature, similar to how Yoda felt the youngling’s massacre.
The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+
