DESIRING HAYDEN.NET PRESS ARCHIVE

On October 6th, 2005 Hayden Christensen made his way to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch just outside of Oakland, CA for a special day of visiting with the press in support of the November 1st release of the “Star Wars Episode III” on DVD. Looking relaxed and a little less bulked up than he was in “Episode III,” Christensen settled back in a comfy chair to field questions about playing Anakin Skywalker and taking a walk on the dark side as Darth Vader:
Hayden Christensen on Getting in Touch With His Dark Side: “Well, as an actor, I usually try to keep my motivation in the context of what my character is going through. So I don’t think of my dog that died when I was 8 years old and how that made me feel. I try to stay within the psychology of Anakin. It was really just letting his frustration seep in and how that would affect me.”

Hayden Christensen on Reining It in for “Episode II:” “It was challenging, honestly it was, because you are cast as this character that is the connective tissue to someone who represents all that is evil and so your natural instinct is to try to take him there. And George [Lucas] was constantly asking me to pull back from that and to make him someone who is struggling and someone who allows his frustrations to present themselves in ways that aren’t necessarily perceived as evil but may be in other ways. And to keep it at that and to not really show any sort of a character arc in ‘Episode II’ because it was more about who he was at that time in his life.

‘Episode III’ was about changing him and making him evolve into Darth, which was why I was very excited to get to ‘Episode III’ to finally get to do that. Which was something that I sort of built up in my head for so long.”

Hayden Christensen on His Approach to the Pivotal Moments in “Episode III:” “With great joy and glee. It came very easily because I just thought about it so much already. It was just an eventuality for me, you know? It was orgasmic (laughing). I don’t know. It was amazing. I was waiting and waiting and waiting and finally I got to take him to the dark side.”

Hayden Christensen on Convincing George Lucas to Let Him Wear the Darth Vader Suit: “I just very politely asked if it was possible. And George and Rick - and the kind of people that they are - allowed me that privilege. I just said, ‘Listen, I’ve read the script. Now I know he’s going to make an appearance at the end.’ And I think they were already in the process of meeting with basketball players and really tall people to do that job. I just said, ‘I don’t know if you guys can even make this happen but it would be really great for me if I could actually put the suit on.’”

On How It Felt to Become Darth Vader: “It was indescribable, you know? It was one) a completion of a job. And then my sort of five year journey was over coupled with the fact that it was just this incredibly powerful feeling, this beastly feeling that wells up inside of you when you’re playing a character that is Darth. You walk by and people see Darth and you know you watch the reactions on their faces. The days that Darth came out was quite the event on set. Everyone wanted to see what was going on. It was a one of a kind experience.”

It may have been a great experience to slip into the suit but the actual costume itself was anything but fun to wear. Christensen said it was really heavy and the logistics of actually being inside the suit weren’t that great. “It was very hot. They tried to make some air conditioning apparatus that didn’t work. It was just very claustrophobic and your vision is very limited. And as well they had to compensate for the height difference so they put these big lifts in the shoes so it was like walking around with, you know, 20 pound weights on your shoulders in high heeled shoes. (Laughing) Not that I practiced that way, but it was something like that,” explained Christensen.

Hayden Christensen Shares His Opinion of the Relationship Between Padme and Anakin: “I really like it in that it’s what drives him to commit these horrible acts. He’s doing it for, he thinks, the good of his love. Obviously she doesn’t see it that way so the relationship goes south. But no, I mean that’s what sort of makes it all hit home, I think for me and most audiences. That transformation is something that is driven by love, which is something that I like.”

Hayden Christensen on Anakin Skywalker: Asked if Anakin is a mask, Christensen said that’s not how he played him. “No, that was just who Anakin was. He’s sort of this un-emotive kid who has a hard time with his emotions. You know, there’s a lot obviously boiling under the surface, stuff that shouldn’t be there, so he’s very hesitant to show it. That’s just how I saw it.”
Hayden Christensen on Learning from the Veteran Actors on the Set of “Star Wars:” “I think I learned the most - from all the actors I’ve worked with - from Ian [McDiarmid], not because he’s here, but because it was just an eye-opening experience getting to sit in that opera scene with him and listen to him tell that story and watch the subtly and still everything that he’s able to convey within that subtly.
I’d just sit there and shake my head and [be] like, ‘Ohhh, I’m not supposed to be shaking my head. Whoops.’ He’s such a kind man and is willing to share his wisdom and help you when you ask for it. So, you know, I learned an awful lot.”
On Which was More Difficult - Preparing Mentally or Physically for “Star Wars Episode III:” “It was the physical preparation which was probably the most challenging. George asked me beforehand to put on some size – which I’ve since lost. But he wanted me to bulk up and to physically show the maturity that had taken place between the two films. And I did that over about a 3 month period before we started filming. That was just a very grueling schedule. Actually getting to execute it on set was just good fun. And working with Ian wasn’t really so much challenging as it was rewarding and easy, because it’s very easy when you’re acting with actors who give a lot and are as good as he is.”

Hayden Christensen on Seeing Kids Dressed as Anakin and Darth Vader: “Now I’ve got two characters that people can dress up as. I don’t know. I was expecting a different reaction, to be honest. Kids still are enamored with this hero and I would have thought it would have changed now they saw Anakin [change], and maybe they would have been a little shy at first. But it really hasn’t changed anything. If anything, they’re just more drawn to him.

I still get little kids coming up to me wanting lightsaber training and I play along with it. I love it. But at Halloween…I sit home at Halloween now. I don’t go out. But when my mom calls me that there’s someone dressed up as Anakin, I’ll go to the door and give them their candy, which is fun.”

Hayden Christensen on How He Feels About His Involvement in the “Star Wars” Franchise: Some actors distance themselves from their “Star Wars” experiences while others wholeheartedly embrace it. In the years to come, how does Christensen think he’ll feel about his time spent working on the “Star Wars” saga? “It will always be very dear to my heart, without question. This has been like a wild ride for the past five years and, you know, has just dramatically impacted my life, 90% for the better. I don’t know. I cherish that and feel forever indebted to George for giving me the opportunity,” said Christensen.

Speaking about actors from past “Star Wars” films, Christensen said that although they may have appeared together in Vanity Fair, the older cast and the newer version weren’t actually together for that photo shoot. Christensen said, “That’s the magic of the computers they use. …Our shoot was on our day off and everyone who was working on ‘Episode III’ was obviously there, but Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford and that lot were not there. Through the magic of technology they were in the picture.”

Hayden Christensen on Becoming an Action Figure: Christensen said one of the attractions to signing on to “Star Wars Episode II” and “III” was the fact he’d become an action figure. “It was exactly that. The fact that I was going to have my own action figure. I was going to get to play myself in a video game and how cool was that? I mean, I personally have an older brother who was a fanatic and had all the action figures and memorabilia and so I was very aware of the merchandising aspect of being involved in these films, and at the time was very excited about it. Now you know you can walk into a convenience store and see your face everywhere when the film is out – it’s a different story.”

Hayden Christensen’s Involvement in the Video Game: “It was just sort of good fun. They invited me up for a couple of days to help sort of shape the character in the video game. It was a fun group of guys all very excited that they make video games. And Nick Gillard, the fellow who choreographs the fights, came out as well. We just, you know, fought with lightsabers for a couple of days and it was fun.”

Hayden Christensen on the Order in Which He’ll Someday Show His Kids the “Star Wars” Films: “At ‘Episode I’ as the storyteller has intended it. But yeah, that will be the day. I’ll have to preface it with the fact that it’s just a movie and wait to see their reaction. I don’t know. I’m looking forward to it.”
On His Personal Stash of “Star Wars” Props: “I keep them in my closet just because it would be a little weird if they were out on display, like on a mantel or something.”

On Which Deleted Scene from “Star Wars Episode III” He’ll Check Out First: “I don’t know. I mean there are lots of scenes that are cut.

George films a lot and then through post-production, pares them down, truncates the story and gives it more focus. But I think for me…we spent a couple of days in a big vat of water. They made this big water tank for this sort of water sequence, or sequence in which we were supposed to be in fuel, and that on the page and as we were doing it seemed like it was really cool so that’s something I’m looking forward to seeing first because it’s not in the movie.”
Hayden Christensen on What He’s Looking for in Future Roles: “Ones that I haven’t done before. Ones that are going to challenge me and hopefully make me grow more as an actor and all that good stuff. I don’t know. I just finished a film called ‘The Decameron’ which was very much a departure from what I’ve done in the past. It was more like a comedic thing. I’m about to start work on a film which is a psychological drama/thriller and it will be challenging as well. Just, to be honest, honestly it’s less about the character and more about the story. If I’m drawn to the story, then I’ll find a way to play the character.

{ After releasing Episode 2, I guess the circumstances around you changed completely. So, through making the Episode 2 and 3 did you personally feel any changes?
Hayden Christensen(H): Lots of change, lots of change. But I embrace it. I like the change. But without question since I was cast in these movies, everything around me was sort of different. But all for the good, you know. I’m very happy with all right now. So, I got no complaints.

{ So, what did you learn or gain from Star Wars?
H: Lots, lots, I mean so much. Um… you know, just as far as the craft of acting you know, it’s been such a leaning experience. The second Star Wars movie Episode 2 was sort of my first big role in a movie and I was a fresh at high school and with in each sort of big experience was lots to learn. And I felt like I was able to apply a lot of that to filming Episode 3, as far as blue screen and the way which these movies were made. But you know, what a learning experience and great people to learn from, you know, George Lucas has been a great Mentor to me. And I’ve really looked up to him and his been a huge impact in my life.

{ He said that you have a dark side. That’s why he chose you as Darth Vader. (laughs)So did you feel any sympathy with him?
H: With Anakin? Of course, yes. I mean you have to be sympathetic to the characters you play. You can’t be bias or judgemental. You know, but I think Anakin is easy to sympathize with and that he’s a good person for the most part you know, he’s just very confused and conflicted and has a hard time differentiate right from wrong. But that doesn’t make him a bad person. He makes bad choices but I think we can still be sympathetic to sort of choices he’s made, you know. I think they are understandable, reasons of love for most part. So I sympathize.

{ How about with Darth Vader?
H: Well, yeah, I mean you know we are talking about the same person. Um,,, you know he’s just very sort of had a isolated time in his life. But he finds redemption, and he emerges from the dark helm. But yeah, I think he’s sympathetic as well, little less so but still.

{ In previous interview, you said that when you were studying drama, you met this teacher who inspired you so much. And this made you decide to choose actor as your professional job, could you tell as more about that?
H: She challenged me you know. She …she challenged me and she pushed me in ways that I wasn’t always comfortable with. And I think that made me respect her for some weird reason. I don’t know, I did well in high school and got good grades, and drama was really the one class that I sometimes struggled with and it wasn’t until I got to this teacher who really pushed me and made me believe that it was a worthwhile thing to do. And really made me apply myself to it that I thought you know, there’s really something to this and I feel connection to this and I owe that her.

{ When I interviewed Rick McCallum, he said you’re so special. You’re the person who always try to the best and has a connection with the audiences. So, as an actor, do you have any professional rules that you follow?
H: Um… I don’t have a set of rules, no. I think that’s why I became an actor, because I don’t wanna follow the rules. But uh… I mean no, I try to be professional and I have a real respect for the work and believe that needs to be treated with the certain…I don’t know… amount of focus and concentration and….so when I go to work that’s the sort of mind that I go to, is that I really focus on the work. And I allow myself to be consumed by it. Um…but you know, when I go home, I em able to let it go.

{ So, what part of your work is the most enjoyable one for you and contrarily what is the most difficult part?
H: Oh…uh…I mean the most enjoyable part of it is the part between action and cut, you know, where you get to act and play these different characters. I guess the least enjoyable part of it is, I don’t know, it’s partly not enjoyable and partly a lot of fun, but it’s all the travel. I mean I like to travel but you miss the people who you love and I don’t get see my family as much as like, I don’t get to spend as much time home. But never the less I don’t complain about it.

{ There are many great lines in Star Wars. Which is your favorite one?
H: My favorite line…I mean…”May the force be with you” obviously. Cause it has such residence. Especially when you’re acting and you’re delivering the line, just before you say “May the force be with you” , there’s just something that you start thinking wow! I can’t believe these words are coming out of my mouth. And it’s probably the most difficult line to say because of that, but my favorite.

{ What is the most important word or advice that you got from someone? And how did that influence you?
H: I don’t know, I guess from an early age, I was sort of let believe that what you put into it is what you get out of it, you know. And that’s sometimes always the case in acting, that can be a little more ambiguous but especially liken in sports, I grew up playing sports and very much so, in sports is you know, how much devotion you have is the usually the amount of success that you’ll have and that’s really something I really believe in. So, I try to apply myself to whatever it is that I want.

{ So now, everybody knows that you are a great actor, but do you still have interest in architecture? How do you describe your future career?
H: (laughs) I’m an actor. I will continue to act. I do have an interest in architecture but I’m not giving up the architecture for acting, that’s just a miss quote. But no, I love what I do.

{ So, finally could you face the camera and give a message to WOWOW viewers?
H: Hi WOWOW viewers, I’m Hayden Christensen. “Star Wars Episode ‡V: Revenge Of The Sith” is soon to hit the theatres and you should all go and see it.

The fallen Jedi
Damned in some ways, blessed in others.
Damned because of his character, Anakin Skywalker, corrupted by the cynical Palpatine’s absolute evil, bound to a prison of metal and electric circuits, blessed because a young Canadian amateur (they mean someone who hasn’t been to acting school, it’s not meant in an offensive way) actor has become part of film history without even realising it. To say the truth Christensen doesn’t look like a Hollywood star and, even now, he thinks fate played a trick on him…
The “Star Wars” adventure has completely changed your life, could you tell us how?
Being a part of the incredible “Star Wars” universe has favoured (literally “has opened the doors wide towards”) fame and it has given me the possiblitiy to travel around the world and meet a lot of people. Making a distinction between life before and after “Star Wars” is like making a distinction between day and night. Before I did “Star Wars” I was an amateur actor who’d just come out of high school and who worked in a small tv show in Canada (I suppose he’s talking about “Higher Ground”).
Now I know I’ve become a part of film history even though it’s a concept I still can’t picture completely. It still feels surreal, it’s the same feeling I had during the auditioning process (for “Star Wars”) when I barely managed to pay the plane ticket from Toronto to San Francisco. I thought something like this could never happen. Artistically speaking it’s been an important learning process: we actors learn something from every film and character we play and a playing a character like Anakin, who had a very precise (psychological) evolution, helped me grow up a lot, while he was evolving so was I.

And now that it’s all over how do you feel?
I’m relieved. “Star Wars” has been a huge commitment, it has conditioned five years of my life. Now I’ll have more spare time. Just think that during the filming of “Revenge of the Sith” in Australia I had to ask my brother to choose a house for me to buy in Los Angeles without me taking a look at it first. Once my latest commitment (“The Decameron”) here in Italy is over I’d like to take advantage of the fact that I’m here.

In “Revenge of the Sith” we finally see you wearing the legendary mask. What did you feel when you shot a scene as Darth Vader for the first time?
I was breathless, in every respect. It’s difficult to imagine it’s me in the costume and I can’t give an exact description of what I felt. I only know it was painful because to adapt the costume to my body they had to fill up the shoulders and put heels under my feet: let’s not forget that the first actor who wore the black mask was ten centimetres taller than me. My first thought was however the fans’ reaction: I wanted them to be satisfied more than anything else. Even though I was so excited to be wearing that costume my greatest problem was to stand on my feet and not fall over and break it.
From the moment they had finished putting the costume on me, the cameras had started rolling and George had yelled “Action!” it seemed like a lifetime had gone by. However, wearing that costume makes you feel powerful and evil, even though it’s been two years it’s something I can’t forget and it’s really difficult for me to say what I felt.

And how intense was it to play the fall and corruption of the young and promising Jedi Anakin Skywalker?
It was certainly very intense. Anakin can’t control his anger and the frustration of not having been able to save his loved ones. Then of course the dark side is a powerful force that drains the soul of every bit of compassion, that controls your mind like a devilish posession and that makes you do things you never thought you could be capable of doing. The reasons for Anakin’s choice come from real issues, from experiences that have regarded us all and that we can all easily understand. Playing Anakin meant exploring new and complex aspects of this character nad as an actor it was very exciting for me.
Being able to play a character who has such a complex arch is a privilege: the greatest challenge during Anakin’s evolution - or de-volution if you will - was to make the character emotionally conscious of the terrible things he was doing, which at the same time, however, he thought necessary.
I think this conflict allows the public to hate him but at the same time to pity him for being prisoner in this dimension from which he can’t ever escape.

Why do you think Anakin chooses to follow Palpatine rather than Yoda or his master Obi-Wan?
Anakin is searching for a guide he can follow unconditionally, he wants a father figure he’s never had. Palpatine understands and indulges his most secret wishes and the uses them to his advantage.

What did it feel like to become part (digitally) of a movie that was filmed twenty years ago (“The return of the Jedi”)?
It was fun to see myself standing next to Alec Guinness. It was a great present. I think it contributes to the story and I think that was George’s intent, to show this character in his uniformity, to give him a sense of continuity, and personally I think it worked.

Tell us about your projects after “Star Wars”. We know you’re here in Italy to shoot “The Decameron”……
At the moment this is the only thing I’m filming, “The Decameron”, directed by David Leland, that I’m filming in Cinecittà (it’s sort of a Roman Hollywood).
My character is a young man from Pisa (here in Tuscany, near Florence) called Lorenzo (Lawrence in Modern English) and the film is very interesting because it’s not like anything I’ve ever done before, partly because it’s an extremely funny comedy, partly because it allows me to spend some time here in Italy where I’ve got a few distant relatives and where I can eat marvellous things (he’s welcome to stay *lol*).
For once, wearing Roberto Cavalli’s costumes rather than a black mask is fun…

So you have relatives here in Italy?
Yes. My grandma was from Naples and she always fixed delicious things for me. Just imagine, I’ve put on three or four kg (one pound is equal to 0.454 kilograms so exercise your brains girls )…

What is your favourite kind of music?
Just like movies I don’t have one: I like Rock and Roll, Hip - Hop and classical music (good man!!!). I listen to a bit of everything except for Country and Techno, I can’t stand them.

How do you spend your free time?
I like travelling, playing tennis and hokey, when I can. being an actor is an unusual occupation because there are periods during which you just work and others during which you have time for yourself and your interests.

Does that go for your private life as well?
It goes without saying. At the moment I don’t have a girlfriend and I couldn’t anyway since my job requests that I travel around the world. For example in Australia I was so busy with “Star Wars” that I didn’t have time to enjoy certain friendships….

And so it ends.

The legendary Star Wars saga comes to a conclusion—sort of—with the imminent release of Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. The film, written and directed by Star Wars grand poobah George Lucas, sends countless Jedi knights to their graves and witnesses the transformation of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) into Darth Vader, a transformation aided and abetted by the treacherous Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who’s revealed to be the mighty Sith lord Darth Sidious (also McDiarmid). And by the time the credits role, the stage will be set for the initial Star Wars trilogy: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Lucas recently opened the gates of his Skywalker Ranch in San Rafael, Calif., to a press corps eager to glimpse the final film in the Star Wars saga, which will open on May 19, and to chat with Lucas and his cast. Science Fiction Weekly was on hand to talk with Lucas, Christensen and McDiarmid.

George Lucas, how hard or easy is it to just step away from a franchise that’s so popular and such a moneymaker?

Lucas: I walked away from it before. For 15 years. I thought long and hard about coming back and doing the backstory. And the only reason I did it, ultimately, was because I was interested in the story and the fact that it would shift how you look at [episodes] IV, V and VI. IV, V and VI were really meant to be a story about Darth Vader, and it is a story about Darth Vader, but Luke [Mark Hamill] and Leia [Carrie Fisher] became more central figures; not really central, but the impact is stronger. But I thought if I gave Darth Vader his due you would understand what a tragic story the whole thing is, and it would change the way you look at the movies. So that’s why I did it.

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At the end of the day, what are you most proud of when it comes to Star Wars?

Lucas: I’m most proud of the fact that I was able to take special effects to where it is now. I mean, movies started as a special effect. All the first movies, that’s what they were interested in, the special-effects part of it, because that’s what wowed the audience. It was like a magic act. And that’s what the medium was, originally. And then, over the years, studios came in, and they had big special-effects departments, and it was a big part of the way that they designed movies. They could make movies with anything that they wanted. So they made big historical epics. They did fantasy movies. They could do all kinds of movies. There was nothing that they couldn’t do in those days, the ’30s and the ’40s.

And then in the ’50s they moved away from doing sort of epic movies and doing psychological movies and then doing street movies, and then by the time you got to the ’70s you were kind of forced to do a very narrow kind of movie. You couldn’t do big epics, historical pieces. You couldn’t do space films and science fantasy and that kind of stuff. You get one movie a year, maybe, and it would cost an enormous amount of money, and if you wanted to do a western they wouldn’t let you do that anymore, because there were too many horses or whatever. And none of the studios had a special-effects department anymore. They were all gone.

Disney had [one well-known] matte painter. Universal had Al Whitlock, who was a matte painter, and then there were a few matte painters in England. But basically the idea of a special-effects department didn’t exist anymore. They would just do a few matte paintings if they had to fake things. By bringing back the special-effects world I brought back the ability to make all kinds of movies, and not just space movies, but all kinds of movies which didn’t really exist before, in the ’70s.

The Star Wars films seem prescient in their explorations of democracy and dictatorships. Was that always your plan?

Lucas: Well, that’s been in all of the movies. The whole point of the movies, the underlying element that makes the movies work, is that you, whether you go backwards or forwards, you start out in a democracy, and democracy turns into a dictatorship, and then the rebels make it back into a democracy. That’s one of the uber-issues that everyone is dealing with. You’ve got the personal issue of Anakin and his turn to the Dark Side, and his children bringing him back to being a human being, but the larger issue is the fact that you’ve given up your democracy. And it was never anything where the bad guys took over. It’s always been a thing where it was given to them. It’s based on Caesar. It’s based on Napoleon.

You actually have the line, “This is how we lose a democracy.” How personal a comment was that?

Lucas: That was pretty much there 30 years ago. It really came out of the Vietnam War. It came out of Nixon wanting to change the rules so that he could get a third term, and with that—I’m a big history buff—I was beginning to study Caesar. Why did the Roman senate give his nephew a dictatorship when they had gotten rid of Caesar? Why did they do that? After they had a revolution in France to get freedom, why did they create an emperor? I mean, why did they do that? Why did the Germans, after they had a democracy after World War I, turn it into a dictatorship? Why did they do that? That was my initial question 30 years ago. And I’m not really saying why as much as how it gets done, because it always gets done in the same way. And it’s scary, the fact that the world has caught up to that theory.

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You’ve said now that the Star Wars films are finished that you’re going to direct the kinds of independent features you’ve put off for the decade you spent making episodes I, II and III. But, in the meantime, is Indiana Jones IV the next project for you?

Lucas: I’m doing a film called Red Tails, which is about fighter pilots during World War II. I’m doing Indiana Jones and that film at the same time. I’m producing those two.

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Ian McDiarmid, is Palpatine/Sidious the defining role of your career?

McDiarmid: Oh, I don’t know. I’ve had a lot of defining roles. Well, you know, it’s the one that most people are going to see. You can put it that way. I’ve played a lot of interesting and demanding parts, and I hope I’ll go on doing that.

You’ve played any number of Shakespearean roles—and in fact just concluded a run as Lear. Do you see parallels between Palpatine/Sidious and any other Shakespearean characters?

McDiarmid: No, not really. The Lear I played recently was not Shakespeare, but by a living English playwright called Edward Bond, and he was a tyrant who couldn’t see the woods for the trees. He kept promoting peace while actually propagating war. There’s a lot of that going on, but in the end he learns that his position is untenable and contradictory, and as a result of that tries to undo some of the things that he did. Before he dies, he becomes a slightly better person. That’s not the case with [Palpatine/Sidious]. He’s totally irredeemable, completely black, and has no other motivation than the accumulation and exercise of power, and he doesn’t care how many people die in the process. In fact, human life is a series of machines to him. And when Anakin turns into a machine, that’s even better than the pliable, strong young man that he’s already corrupted, because machines are even more powerful than the people who use them, and to actually get a weapon that is also semi-human is the most powerful weapon you can have. So I’m sort of describing a bit about Palpatine’s non-motivation, and I think where he’s different is when you play these great parts of Shakespeare there’s lots of psychological complications that you can find in them, but it was very important not to find any psychological complications in this man, because he doesn’t have it. The person who has it, now you know, is Anakin, and he’s had it all along. And so Mr. Evil isn’t really Darth Vader, although what I make him become symbolizes that. Mr. Evil is me. I’m blacker than him. My character is the blackest of the black.

I suppose I could put it even simpler. It’s not that people like that don’t exist—there are lots of examples, [such as] Slobodan Milosevic. Now, of course he’s a human being, but the whole progress of the situation in the former Yugoslavia was about one man’s determination to obtain as much power as possible. He wanted to get all those countries together and run them, and he didn’t care how he did it. He did it by various sophisticated, underhand ways, and by having a lot of people killed, and though I’ve never met him, it seems to me that that is another case of somebody who not only has no moral center but no moral compass. Human life doesn’t matter. Everything is expendable on the road to power. Fortunately, we know that it’s not sustainable, and he’s in prison and currently on trial.

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You kick a lot of Jedi butt in Episode III. Can you take us through the process of training and blue screens and all of that?

McDiarmid: I was surprised how much butt, in fact, I do kick in this movie. I thought all the power was in the head and in the hands, so when I got, not so much the script, but the schedule, which said “fight training” on a huge number of days, I thought “that will be falls,” because I’d read the script. But then it became clear to me that I had my own saber, and Sam [Jackson, who plays Mace Windu] and I were going to lock—and not intellectually—and that Yoda [voice of Frank Oz] was going to get a tough time, and that I was going to have to learn how to use this thing. And I did in a limited way. I have to say, completely frankly, unlike Ewan [McGregor] and Hayden and indeed Sam, I’m not an expert swordsman, nor did I become one as a result of learning stuff for Revenge of the Sith, but I did do all the sequences, and that’s what George likes, because he needs the energy, he needs the eyes, he needs the intention, and I didn’t do it at the speed of light. But my stunt double almost did. His name is Michael Byrne, and he should get a large share of the credit for that. I learned a new skill, and I hope I can do it and it will be convincing choreographically, if not in terms of speed and actual dynamic energy.

Hayden Christensen, everyone is saying this is the film the fans have been waiting for. Is it the film you’ve been waiting for?

Christensen: Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s the story that I was waiting for, and it was the time in Anakin’s life that I was waiting for. This is him at his most transitionary phase. It’s him becoming dark.

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What did you learn from George Lucas on the two films you’ve done with him?

Christensen: Where to begin? I mean, so much. I think that probably what has been most impactful is seeing how much George has accomplished and how he’s sort of remained a very kind and decent person. You always learn something as an actor from each film that you do, and you’re always better on the next because of it. But what I really took away was ultimately about being a good person. You can create these amazing empires and films that will be around forever and ever and ever, and he still doesn’t let it go to his head. So that’s inspiring.

What was it like the day you stepped onto the set in your Darth Vader costume?

Christensen: Everyone came out to bear witness. It was an event. It was an event for myself, for everyone working on the film, to finally see Darth. I went to set first, and they had a changing room on set, and I went in and it was a good 15 minutes to put on the whole costume, layer by layer, and having everything fit in. But then walking out on the set and having a huge crowd of people there, and getting to watch their faces as they took in Darth Vader was very cool. It was really neat, because these are people you know and are friends with. Even with the awe and excitement, it was coupled with a certain glimmer of fear and a respect that needed to be paid; lower the head.

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Any secret wish for more, so you could spend more time as Darth Vader?

Christensen: A III 1/2 so, that I could wear the outfit all the time? Not really. It was actually very awkward to be in it. Aside from it being an emotionally amazing experience, the logistics of having to walk in it were very awkward. There were big lifts in the shoes.

So, is that you we hear speaking as Vader?

Christensen: I don’t know. I was giving the lines in the mask.

We’re pretty positive it’s James Earl Jones doing the voice.

Christensen: It was? He was credited for it? The things that they can do on the computer, I’m sure that they could make mine sound an awful lot like his. So I wouldn’t be surprised. But no, it did sound like his [voice].

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How has being a part of Star Wars changed your life?

Christensen: It changed a lot of things. I would get recognized, which was a new thing for me. Someone asking for your autograph is really bizarre when you don’t really understand what you’ve done other than win a part in a film. But it changed a lot of things in life and made me have a real appreciation for the sort of normalities and the simple things, and just going home to be with your family and the sort of consistent things in life that can’t change. It made everything much different.

Well, we knew it was coming. Anakin Skywalker was going to turn into Darth Vader whether we liked it or not. With the final “Star Wars” episode (Stars Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) hitting theaters on the 19th, the unfortunate transformation is complete. Young actor Hayden Christensen, who first started his journey to the dark side in “Attack of the Clones”, couldn’t wait to don the frightening black helmet but, in between the “Star Wars” productions, the actor impressed us as a fallen journalist who made up all his supposedly true articles in the drama Shattered Glass.

This last episode of the “Star Wars” saga is filled with angst, sorrow, great action, amazing special effects and one heck of a physical and emotional challenge for Hayden whose own journey has been full of surprises, thrills and, now that he’ll never swing a light saber again, a little bit of sorrow. Check out what this Jedi Knight turned Sith Lord has to say about stepping into an evil icon’s boots and where he goes from here.
TeenHollywood: I see your face everywhere. Is that just surreal for you? To be an action figure etc.?
Hayden: Yeah. The action figure is actually sort of cool. It’s weird to have your face on a bag of potato chips or on a cereal or a packet of M&Ms or something like that, but the action figures and the video games I get a kick out of.

TeenHollywood: What was it like to finally put on the Darth Vader suit?
Hayden: It was so cool. It was hard to describe. I mean every emotion you can imagine. It was just overwhelming, thrilling, empowering, [and] saddening.

TeenHollywood: Why saddening?
Hayden: Because it meant real closure for me. I was given the task of being the connective tissue into Darth Vader and to get to don the dark helmet and put on the whole get up, it meant my task was complete. So it was a day I’ll never forget. It’s not often you get to get inside of Darth Vader. As an actor it’s always very freeing to get to act behind a mask but to have that mask be the face of Darth Vader is like no other experience. It was very cool.

TeenHollywood: Did you study any of Vader’s movements or little habits from the original trilogy?
Hayden: Yeah. It’s all pretty simple stuff, the folding of the arms and that sort of thing. [In this film] there was also a freshness and sort of almost an awkwardness to his movements. He’s not very well-oriented in the costume yet or in the mechanical suit. So it’s not like he’s striding as he did in episode 4, 5, and 6, which I though was kind of neat. I told George [Lucas] that the costume doesn’t move quite right and it’s a little rigid and it was difficult as well because I had big lifts in the heels to compensate for the height difference. I said, ‘How is that going to look?’ and he said, ‘It will look like you’ve never worn it before and that’s what I want.’ So it made sense.

TeenHollywood: You do a lot more physical action in this film. Did you have to work out more?
Hayden: Absolutely. This film is driven by one action sequence after another and so there was lots of running around and all fun stuff but very physically demanding. But everything I was very well prepared for. I went out to Sydney three months before we started filming and was working out with the trainer, sometimes twice a day and training with Nick Gillard and Ewan [McGregor] for the light saber fights which was just so much fun but yeah, it was definitely a more physically challenging film.
TeenHollywood: How does it feel being a part of a film legend, a whole sub-culture?

Hayden: I was over at George’s house for dinner and his daughter Katie Lucas drove me back and she was talking about going to school at USC for a year and how bizarre of an experience that is for her to go onto campus and to make her applications and to walk by the George Lucas building and to read in her pamphlet that they offer a history of the George Lucas films and a retrospective on his work. This man has made such an impact on the medium of film, it’s incredible. He’s a visionary. So I think inevitably he’ll be around for as long as film is around, or the projection process. I don’t know if you can call it film now, but whatever.
TeenHollywood: But, how does it effect you personally?
Hayden: I try to not give it too much thought because it’s hard to get your head around, but it’s been really cool. Cool’s not the right word. It’s been a privilege to get to be a part of George Lucas’ world, and the sort of niche that he’s afforded me in his films and the role that he gave me was more than I could ever dream of so it’s been pretty neat.
TeenHollywood: You’ve talked about the cool stuff. What was the most difficult or negative thing about working on these films?
Hayden: I guess trying to work in front of a blue screen and all the sort of necessities that aren’t that conducive to doing your best work [as an actor]. But [these things] have to be there for the way these films are put together. It was difficult to get my head around that and to feel comfortable. Their ability to adjust a performance is a little discerning at times. I remember being rushed to the set and I hadn’t had my wig on yet. I wore a wig in the film. I was like, ‘I don’t have my wig on, I can’t be in the scene yet, George’ and they said ‘don’t worry about it. We’ll just put it in on post’. Or like adjusting a line. After we shot one scene he was like, ‘Oh I think I’d would have rather had you say this’ and I was like, ‘Alright let’s go and reshoot it’. And he was like, ‘Oh no. We’ll just do it in post. We’ll just move your lips a little bit and then you can just dub it. You can do it in ADR’. Okay, but the sentiment wasn’t the same. That’s always a little weird but so be it. That’s what I signed up for.
TeenHollywood: What was it like for you watching this film for the first time?
Hayden: It’s a completely original experience which makes it a lot of fun to go and see for the first time because I think that they’ve taken the technology to new level on this last one. It is absolutely seamless, in my opinion. In the last two they had created these incredible landscapes and really neat characters on the computer but there were always times when you got a sense that it was coming from the computer and I felt like in this last one, never at any point in the film [did] I have to remove myself from being invested in the film to sort of witness the technology. I thought it was really well done. It’s a lot of fun to watch. The light sabers are lit up [in the film] and I’m actually talking to characters that weren’t there before [while shooting] and that process of acting to a little “x” on a wall can sometimes be frustrating. To see it come to life in a way that’s appeasing is always a relief.

TeenHollywood: Were you looking forward to Anakin turning to the dark side?
Hayden: Absolutely. From the moment I got the part. That’s what I’ve been waiting to do. It was great fun making this last film because I sort of had free reign as far as how dark I wanted to go. That was the joy. I’ve always thought it was more fun to play the baddies and this time I actually got to play a proper baddie.
TeenHollywood: So you were saving all this emotion up for this last film?

Hayden: Before, I was definitely asked to sort of refrain from [going dark] and in a lot of ways, take it in an opposite direction which, having seen this last film I think makes perfect sense now. He was a petulant teenager in the last one, because his frustrations manifested themselves in sort of a whiny manner and that really makes him a much more pathetic character. At the end of this film you feel sorry for him. It humanizes him. It’s, I think, very clever.
TeenHollywood: We hear you kept your light saber. Where is it?
Hayden: It sits in my closet. I don’t do much of anything with it. Occasionally every now and then I’ll take it out and give it a twirl but other than that it’s just there. I know it’s there.

TeenHollywood: What in the world do you do after playing Darth Vader?

Hayden: The Decameron. With Mischa Barton and Tim Roth. It’s set in the 1400’s. A bunch of youths trying to escape the black plague have a sort of adventure, mischief and what not. It’s a fun film. It’s a comedy. It’s a different vein for me. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.
TeenHollywood: The black plague is funny?
Hayden: Well, it’s not actually about the black plague. It’s about the happenings of them escaping the black plague, which is a lot of fun actually.

TeenHollywood: Lucas has said that there will be no more Star Wars films. Is that okay with you?
Hayden: This has always been the story that he’s wanted to tell from the very get go this is how he envisioned telling it – sequels and prequels - and that’s the story. It’s a generational story of Anakin and his son and unless they want to go and have Luke go knock up some girl and tell that story, there’s not much else to do.
TeenHollywood: Which was your favorite battle scene in the film?
Hayden: Obi Wan and Anakin, obviously, just ‘cause that’s the fight. It was just a lot of fun to do because I get along well with Ewan. In episode 2 we’d go off and sort of twirl our light sabers together but we never actually got to fight each other. On this one we went out and trained together and it was a lot of fun. I think, just as an audience member, that has to be probably the most impactful fight as you’re sort of emotionally invested in it also. But, the Yoda fight as well I think is pretty cool.

TeenHollywood: Are you still sad now that you’ve made this final Star Wars journey?
Hayden: it’s been such a huge part of the past five years of my life that to have it have some finality, which I’m starting to feel, is bittersweet. I’ve developed such a fondness for the people involved in these films and an appreciation for my role in the films that it’s hard to say your goodbyes. But, at the same time, I’m very keen and excited to go and work on other things and play other roles so I look forward to the future.

Having wowed the Leicester Square crowds at last night’s ‘Revenge of the Sith’ premiere, Hayden Christensen (Anakin), Ian McDiarmid (Chancellor Palpatine) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) sat down with assorted hacks this morning to discuss the new film. This is what they had to say, although beware, there are spoilers ahead.

Anthony, congratulations, you have made movie history – the only actor to have a speaking role in all six of the ‘Star Wars’ films. When did you first realise how big a deal it was becoming?

Anthony Daniels: It was actually Newsweek magazine that just blasted the whole thing – saying this is going to be the best thing ever. Because ‘Star Wars’ opened with no publicity – it was just audiences going in and coming out screaming and taking their friends and so it built. Originally ‘Star Wars’ for me was a 12-week gig, and that was it. You know it was 30 years ago that I met George Lucas in an office down the road from here, and I didn’t want to meet him; I didn’t want to play a robot in a low-budget sci-fi movie. Can you imagine how I would have felt today, as a shelf stacker in a supermarket going: ‘Aaah, I could have been in that movie!’ So I guess the force was with me.

Ian, your character becomes almost satanic in this movie – how did you turn him into this hideously evil monster?

Ian McDiarmid: Well, it’s interesting – especially in the sequels and for those of you that didn’t see ‘Return of the Jedi’ – because I just play a straightforward politician. Now there is a contradiction in terms. Charming, smiling – out for the good of the world, the universe and the community. And underneath there lies a monster. So it was very easy to build the character – I just looked in the newspapers.

Did the make-up help?

Ian McDiarmid: Yes, it certainly helps to be a monster in monstrous make-up. But George is very interesting; when we started ‘The Phantom Menace’ he said: ‘You should think of your eyes as his contact lenses,’ which is a great thing to say to an actor. So my face was actually his mask. And then when I put on the actual mask, I’d become him. So that kind of schizophrenia was always fun to play, and in this film it’s great – he is who he is. Worse than the devil I think, really, and certainly worse than Darth Vader, who in this movie comes across more sympathetic than people might imagine.

Hayden, the iconic scene for you is when we see the rotted, melted face of Anakin, before Darth’s mask is attached. Was it worth all the pain and suffering in make-up for that moment?

Hayden Christensen: Absolutely. The pain and suffering actually came when you took the prosthetic off – they made a full body prosthetic that they would glue to every inch of your face – putting it on was fine, taking it off was a different story. But with the full make-up on, you’re unrecognisable, which helps in making that transformation. But it was a thrilling moment, lying there on the operating table as that mask came down.

How did people react to you when you were in the full Darth Vader regalia?

Hayden Christensen: Watching everyone take him in for the first time was what was really cool. People that I had befriended and spent a lot of time with, who knew I was in the costume, would see him and though there was an excitement and a certain awe, there was also a fear and respect. As I walked by their eyes would light up and they would sort of lower their heads a bit and take a couple of steps back and let me pass. A very empowering feeling.

So was the day you first put on the suit a real event?

Hayden Christensen: It was a glorious day. It was the last day of filming as well and everyone from the production office and everyone working on the film came out to witness it. It was an exciting day.

Were you always pleasantly surprised by Natalie Portman’s hairstyles?

Hayden Christensen: There was a new hairstyle every day, more elaborate than the last, but she can pull them all off, which is pretty impressive.

What was the best thing about turning bad?

Hayden Christensen: Obviously, in this film, getting to become Darth Vader and putting on the costume, and having that in my back pocket now. The Darth Vader card.

How about you, Ian, did you enjoy playing the baddest of the bad?

Ian McDiarmid: Yes, he is the darkest of the dark, the blackest of the black, even worse than Satan. And it’s fun - you don’t get a part like that every day. I like the fact that he doesn’t really have any psychological workings. He was spawned in hell – Sith’s are, apparently. They can’t get better. Except you’ve seen the movie – he goes to the opera – so his one redeemable feature is he’s a patron of the arts.

Anthony, what was good about being in a tin can for weeks on end?

Anthony Daniels: Not a lot, frankly. The costume was made to a mould of my body, but in the manufacturing it all shrank and on the first day it took two hours, with six props guys, to squeeze and push and screw me in there. My moment of joy came when I finally stepped out of my tent – there was no Hollywood glamour, just a tent in the desert – and saw all the crew. The Americans were going ‘Gosh, that’s incredible’, and the English were going ‘Quite interesting, isn’t it’, and the Tunisians were going ‘Wow’ because they really thought I was the second coming. That was my moment of joy. The next moment the assistant director said, ‘Can you come over to the set?’ And I took one step in the costume and it nearly broke and cut my foot off. I knew I was in deep doo-doo from then on.

I would imagine that you couldn’t afford to put on even a few ounces of weight?

Anthony Daniels: If you’ve met Rick McCallum you know they’re not going to make a new costume every time we do these films, so I’m actually wearing the same costume and it’s beginning to smell a bit now. Like Hayden I work out a bit to try and stay strong and healthy, although I think I blew the diet last night [at the premiere] as champagne is very fattening, I understand. But the biggest shock for me was talking to myself through most of these movies because R2-D2 is adorable but doesn’t speak and it’s kind of hard to do a performance with actors who don’t respond.

Hayden, did you think Anakin’s slaying of the children in the film was a step too far?

Hayden Christensen: Well it took me by surprise when I read it for the first time. But it’s a necessary evil – all the Jedi have to go, even the children. It’s a dark film and Anakin does some pretty dark things on that downward spiral.

Early on in the film you get to terrorise Christopher Lee like he has terrorised so many film fans over the years. Did you get any tips from him?

Hayden Christensen: He’s full of tips and stories – what a man – he’s just a well of knowledge and experience, and he’s happy to share it all. I always tried to sit down to get a story or two out of him if I could.

Given that the story arc is all about Anakin’s transformation, was there ever a moment when you were worried about what you had to deliver, and did that challenge make you nervous?

Hayden Christensen: Of course – it’s a daunting task taking on a role that has such a tension, and as much as possible you try to disregard all of it, but there were a few very pivotal scenes that were a challenge. Obviously the one with myself, Ian [McDiarmid] and Sam Jackson is a big one, and you go to work on those days thinking: ‘I’ve got to deliver.’ Thankfully George had conceived such a well-arced character that I really just had to follow the script and follow his lead.

Anthony, you get to say the last words in the last film and the first words in the first one – how does that feel?

Anthony Daniels: I didn’t realise that I had the last line in this movie because sometimes the scripts change. I had the first line in the first movie, which was [doing C-3PO's rather camp voice]: ‘Did you hear that? They’ve shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure. There’ll be no escape for the princess this time!’ And I didn’t really know what I was talking about, frankly. I’d never been in a film before and I thought: ‘This is weird!’

Anthony then goes on to talk of the last line in ‘Revenge of the Sith’, but for fear of spoiling the surprise, we’re leaving the final part of his final answer on the cutting-room floor.

However, to find out what poetic gem ends the film, ‘Revenge of the Sith’ hits cinema screens everywhere on Thursday (May 19). And to read Time Out’s Q&A with George Lucas himself, make sure you return to the site tomorrow.

It’s a moment many “Star Wars” fans have waited 22 years to see.
Ever since the helmet of Darth Vader was removed in the closing minutes of 1983’s “Return of the Jedi,” revealing a deformed, scarred man who went from powerful, noble Jedi to evil, power-hungry Lord of the Sith, devotees of the original “Star Wars” trilogy wondered how it was Anakin Skywalker stumbled onto the path to the Dark Side.

Now in 2005, as George Lucas prepares to close his not-as-well-received prequel trilogy, he’s ready to show his hand. Fans are about to learn just what led Anakin down the path to evil and his role as Vader.

At the heart of the new trilogy is Hayden Christensen, who took on the role of the older Anakin in “Attack of the Clones” - young Jake Lloyd assumed the childhood role in “The Phantom Menace” - so for him, like fans of the space opera, the story has come full circle.
During the two-hour, 26-minute final “Star Wars” film “Revenge of the Sith,” Christensen gets to put on the black armor, ominous helmet and breathing machine and become one of the most infamous villains in movie history.

That’s a change from the original trilogy when David Prowse wore the armor but got zero face time since Sebastian Shaw is shown as Vader once he has his helmet removed. In “Sith,” just like Episodes IV through VI, James Earl Jones provides the voice of the dark overlord.

But to let Christensen play Vader in “Sith” Lucas demanded his young star beef up to look as menacing as possible. The 24-year-old Canadian had to add 25 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-1 frame to take on the physical role, which wasn’t easy.

“I had to eat six meals a day,” he said during a call from Italy, where he’s filming “The Decameron,” a period piece that deals with the black plague epidemic. “I was on every protein supplement. It was not fun. Not something I want to repeat. Ever.”

Christensen’s added bulk is obvious during a nightmarish bedroom scene where he appears shirtless. But while he looks a lot tougher, he couldn’t grow taller. While’s he’s not exactly short, he was dwarfed by the 7-foot Vader costume.

In fact, Jay Laga’aia, who plays Captain Typho, laughed and said on the way to shoot scenes, Christensen’s head barely poked out of the top of the Vader costume, causing cast members to laugh and point good-natured jokes his way.

But once he got onto the set, that all changed. Christensen said people looked at him differently once he was inside the Vader costume.

“People took a few steps back,” Christensen recalled. “I mean, they know it’s just me, but (the costume) means something.”

Not only did Lucas, producer Rick McCallum and the rest of the crew have the task of portraying the origin of Vader, they had to convey the character came from good, honorable roots and fell into the Dark Side, albeit willingly.

Part of the storytelling has led to Lucas catching flak - some of it justified, some not - for how he has allowed Anakin to be shown in Episodes I and II. Because he began with Vader’s childhood, Lloyd took on the role and was thoroughly ripped for his performance.

Many fans wanted Anakin to start chopping people down with his lightsaber from the word go when “Menace” began. Instead, they got an overzealous boy who loved pod racing, his mother and the idea of being a Jedi knight.

In “Clones,” Christensen and Natalie Portman, who plays Anakin’s wife Padme Amidala, were called “wooden” and their dialogue was mocked. The on-screen couple shared several uncomfortable, awkward scenes that had them trading mushy sweet talk, all designed to build the emotional bond between the two characters.

While the first two movies certainly had their flaws, what Lucas managed to do was show Anakin essentially has a good heart. And once audiences see “Sith,” they’ll likely understand that what seemed annoying at the time - especially the syrupy love between Anakin and Padme - laid the foundation for the dramatic, dark and violent events that gave way to Vader.

“What’s sort of nice about this is you get this villain at the center of the original trilogy, and you get to humanize him,” Christensen said. “He knows right from wrong, and it sort of changes the way you think about him.”

It actually does. Once the story is told and the final moments of “Sith” fade out, it’s hard not to feel a little bit sad for how Anakin’s life fell apart and how he seemed to have no emotional control over his choices.

Christensen said another aspect of being Anakin in “Sith” is he got to play the character the way he wanted to in “Clones.” While he had to pull back some last time and let the romantic side of Anakin come forth, he was allowed to be pure evil this time around.

“I went to my dark place,” Christensen said. “This is the film I’ve been waiting for. I had to pull back the darkness I wanted to give the character (in “Clones”). But on this one they gave me full rein.”

Included in that was training along with co-star Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Nick Gillard (stunt coordinator/swordmaster) who prepared the two for their death duel on volcanic planet Mustafar. Not only did the two have to have an exciting lightsaber duel, one fans waited 28 years to see since Vader struck down Obi-Wan in “A New Hope,” but they also had to take into account daring moves that would take place over a raging, spitting lake of lava.

Therefore, making sure the sword play was exciting was only half the battle, and constructing sequences where falling into a volcanic bath was entirely possible added a new layer of drama to the duo’s severed relationship.

While Christensen said he got to add a little bit of input to the battle, he stepped back and let Gillard plan the sequences.

“I got to throw in a couple of my moves,” Christensen said.

There also was the scene when Christensen finally got to pull on the black armor and truly accept the role of Vader as fans knew him in “A New Hope” “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”

It’s a moment that pulls the two trilogies together. It’s one that feels totally surreal. It’s one that offers supreme satisfaction to all of those who have waited most of their life to see what Christensen got to embody.

And to Christensen - he spent his childhood chasing his little sister around, terrifying her with his Darth Vader voice - it was worth the criticism, grueling training and weight program.

“It was more or less an indescribable feeling,” he said. “Getting to put on the Darth Vader suit was every feeling you can imagine.”

But he also can understand those “Star Wars” fans who may feel a little misty eyed not only because of how Anakin falls but that their beloved story has come to an end.

“There’s sadness because it closes, it completes the connection,” Christensen said. “It meant my “Star Wars” link has come to an end. But it was amazing getting to be the biggest, bad-ass villain of all time.”

Taking a break from the set of his latest film The Decameron for De Laurentiis Productions, actor Hayden Christensen chatted live on a phone from Italy with host Jay Laga’aia in the Sagamore Ballroom about his experiences playing the biggest baddie in cinema — Darth Vader — in Revenge of the Sith.
Christensen, who became an international star when filmmaker George Lucas cast him as Anakin Skywalker for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, discussed his thoughts on preparing for the notorious role and his training with master choreographer Nick Gillard for the most-anticipated lightsaber battle ever.

For three months Christensen worked with a trainer twice a day, practiced complicated lightsaber moves with Gillard, and ate six meals a day to bulk up for the role.

“It was grueling preparation,” Christensen recalled. “It was not a lot of fun and not something I plan to repeat.”

Physically preparing for the role wasn’t Christensen’s only challenge. He also wanted to show his character changing from a rebellious teen into a much more troubled young man.

“George asked me to hold back in Episode II, but in Episode III I had free reign to be darker. This is what I’ve been waiting for since the beginning. I let my ambitions get the best of me and I suffered from delusions of grandeur for a bit, but it was worth it,” Christensen laughed.

Fans may already know that wearing Vader’s suit was more than thrilling for Christensen, but he also candidly revealed that the experience was bittersweet.

“When I put on the suit I went through every emotion you can imagine — and it’s sad in a way because it meant real closure for me in that my time in Star Wars was going to end,” Christensen explains to the audience. “Yet it’s very empowering to play the most badass villain of all time!”

Not only did the suit have an obvious impact on the actor, but also on the cast and crew working with him on the Revenge of Sith set in Sydney, Australia.

“When I walked past in full costume, the crew’s eyes would light up, but a few of them had a glimmer of fear in their eyes as well,” Christensen chuckles. They would take two steps back and lower their heads a bit.”

However while wearing the intimidating outfit, Christensen told the Celebration III audience that seeing through the eyes of a fallen hero wasn’t easy, in fact he had trouble seeing much at all.

“I had limited vision through the mask,” Christensen admits. “I sat higher up in the costume due to the shoe lifts, so I had to look through the mouthpiece instead of the eyes. I didn’t see much as Vader.”

But Christensen had no complaints. As a fan of the original trilogy as well, Christensen told the crowd that he thought once fans understood the human tragedy of Anakin’s path to the dark side it would forever will alter their perceptions of what made Darth Vader so frightening.

“The meanest villain in the original trilogy is now all of a sudden relatable and humanized,” Christensen says. “He becomes a much more pathetic person in a way and it changes the whole dynamic about how we see Darth Vader.”

Taking questions from the audience, Hayden spoke fondly about his experiences working with Gillard on the intricate lightsaber movements he memorized and mastered for the intense fight scenes that saturate Revenge of the Sith.

“Nick defined the lightsaber style we use in the films, but he’s very open to suggestions,” Christensen says. “He choreographed every finite detail, but the lightsaber reversal thing I like to take credit for.”

“No one knows lightsaber style like Nick,” Christensen adds.

When asked if given the choice, which character other than Anakin would Christensen like to have portrayed on the big screen, and he promptly replaced to host Jay Laga’aia’s surprise — Captain Typho, with Boba Fett coming in second.

Another young fan asked Christensen who was more fun to play — a Jedi or a Sith.

“Being a Jedi is much more fun,” Christensen confessed. “I like the color of the lightsaber a little better.”

Laga’aia made a point to relay a special message from Episode III Producer Rick McCallum inviting him to New York in a couple of weeks to sit down for a screening of the film to which Christensen excitedly replayed, “Yes! I’ve been waiting for him to ask! I’m as anxious as the rest of you to see it!”

“It has all become very personal for me to be a part of George’s world,” Christensen adds. “When I was 13, I was given the George Lucas: The Creative Impulse book and was in awe about this creative haven George created away from the Hollywood system. And now my life has come full circle to be a part of it as well.”

Here’s a report from Darth glitch & Master Hownick Mornea, who have just returned from the Hoyts Episode 3 Event at Fox Studios in Australia, which was attended by Hayden Christensen:
Just got back form from the “First Look Event” at Fox Studios Australia. It was MAAAAAAAAD!!!! We got last minute passes (from those that didn’t show), and we shook HAYDEN’S HAND!!!
First off, the 20th century fox rep introduced it all, explained what would happen, and then they showed two of the web docs. “Two Worlds, One Movie” and “Becoming Obi-Wan Kenobi”. Then Hayden introduced the trailer (first time seen in Oz on the big screen). Then after it was finished the first time, he said “That was cool! I don’t know about you guys, but I wanna see it again.”
Then they showed a quick reel on Hayden - mostly green screen footage of stuff you saw in the trailer.
They then had a Q&A, transcribed as best as we can remember (weesa mondo hyper)
In no particular order:

Q: How are you? *ALOT*
A: Always ,I’m good.

Q: What was it like in the (Vader) suit?
A: “You can’t see much, it’s really hot, it’s empowering and it weighs about 40lbs.

Q: Are you single?
A: Yes I am.

Q: How much time did you spend in the (Vader) suit?
A: *Hesitates* No comment, not long enough (after prompting from the crowd).

Q: How good a kisser is Natalie and can you sign my lightsaber? (ref to parksaber.com)
A: UMMMMMMMMMMMMM! *Looks hesitant* I’ll sign it if I don’t have to answer.

Q: What martial arts did you learn for the fighting?
A: It was all choreographed. It was more like a dance than a martial arts.

20th cent fox guy interrupts: I was fortunate enough to see some of the filming of the fight and it was very serial.

Hayden: All of the fighting was done in front of blue screen so we didn’t have much to work with. The fights all look so fast you think they are sped up, but they aren’t. We’re are seriously going that fast and that hard.

Q: what was it like working with Ian McDiarmid?
A: It was awe inspiring. He had such a presence it lifted the set. (Possible paraphrasing, as we’re pretty tired)

Q: What was it like shooting in front of a blue/green screen?
A: A little odd. (UBER paraphrase…) Shooting in front of a blue screen for all/most of the movie. Interacting with people and things that are not there makes it hard to work. “We’re like a live action part of a digital film” I haven’t even seen the finished product yet. *Points at screen with Episode 3 poster projected on it.

Q: Who’s your favourite character?
A: Mine would have to be Boba Fett, yeah the bounty hunter. Which one’s yours? *prompting after a pause* beginning with D.

Little kid: *thinks…gets prompted…disregards the prompting* Yoda

Hayden: looking abit upset (probably cause his mind trick/prompting didn’t work), yeah Yoda’s pretty cool.

After Q&A, they showed a reel of footage of all six movies (nothing new, but really cool anyway). While Hayden was being ushered out by his minders.

P.S. We got told off by Hayden’s minders for asking him to sign our script. He was going to, but got stopped! Plus there were show bags with M&M crispies and Hasbro lightsabers (not the noise and light ones), and some Lipton ice tea. No blue milk however.

Heaps of fun cant wait to see the movie.

When Fox’s “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” hits theaters in May, Hayden Christensen will have made the biggest hero-to-villain transformation in modern American cinema: Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. It is a performance Christensen says he has been dying to unleash. “This was the Anakin that I was so eager to play in (2002’s ‘Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones’),” he says. The thing is, during the making of “Clones,” director George Lucas admonished the British Columbia-born actor not to tap into the dark side too soon. “George was always like, ‘No, you’ve gotta hold off a little bit for that Anakin.” So, perhaps sensing a star-making turn on the (dark) horizon, ShoWest has named Christensen 2005’s Male Star of Tomorrow. As he prepares to start shooting in Italy for Dino De Laurentiis Prods.’ 2006 release “The Decameron,” Christensen spoke recently with Dylan Callaghan for The Hollywood Reporter about being mentored by Lucas and just being a nice guy.
The Hollywood Reporter: Is it at all daunting to receive an award from ShoWest that has so much expectation attached to it?

Hayden Christensen: I seem to have gotten a few of these, the “One to Watch” or the “Star of Tomorrow,” awards. It’s always a
little daunting but flattering nonetheless. It’s an honor.

THR: How much has the “Star Wars” experience taught you about the craft of acting?

Christensen: You’d be surprised, but you learn an awful lot from those films. The environment in which they are made really
requires an overactive imagination. In a lot of ways, you can liken it to being on the stage, when you don’t have all the stimulus
you get when you’re on location shooting a film. It really demands that you commit yourself to this supposed world that will later
be imposed on the blue screens. You’re acting to characters that aren’t always there, and oftentimes, you’re getting your dialogue
delivered from an (assistant director) you know, reading the Yoda lines.

THR: What have you learned from George Lucas about the business of moviemaking?

Christensen: So much. He has really been a bit of a mentor for me. He has such a healthy and educated perspective — to sit
down with him, listen to him and share his experiences is a real gift.

THR: How much has Anakin changed in “Sith”?

Christensen: It’s a much different Anakin this time around. He’s in the midst of the Clone Wars. All the stresses and anxieties in
his life have furthered and are really coming to fruition for him in this film. It’s about how he handles the tangible anxieties that
push him, (and) Anakin doesn’t cope too well.

THR: “Decameron” is diametrically different than “Sith.” Was your selection of that project an attempt to avoid “Star Wars”
pigeonholing?

Christensen: I just want to do work that I find fulfilling and challenging and that’s going to make me grow as an actor; I’m really in
it for myself and the fulfillment I get out of the work. Doing things that are challenging and different from what I’ve done in the
past (is) what’s going to keep me happy and keep me on edge.

THR: Decades from now, when you’re looking back on your career, how would you like to be perceived by the industry and the
public?

Christensen: To be honest, I really don’t give too much thought to how the industry or the public perceives my career.
At the end of the day, I’d like to be remembered as a nice guy; that’s what’s most important to me. I find the work fulfilling.
But as far as what people think of me, I think kindness is the only thing that really matters and the only thing that has any real
staying power. Celebrity can be like vapor — it dissipates very quickly. Who you are is what has staying power.

As the missing link between the cute kid in Attack of the Clones and one of the most iconic baddies in cinema history, Hayden Christensen has his work cut out. He tells The Eye’s Ed Potton how he stilt-walked Anakin Skywalker over to the Dark Side.For more behind-the-scenes coverage of Star Wars Episode III,
read The Eye, in The Times on Saturday January 29,
What are your personal memories of the original Star Wars trilogy?

At 23, I’m a little young to remember when the first trilogy came out, but my older brother is 31 so he was the perfect age. He was fanatical about the films and had every action figure and item of memorabilia imaginable. I have very early memories of my brother pushing me away from his Millennium Falcon to ensure that I didn’t break it.

How did it feel to be cast as the man who becomes Darth Vader?

It was really hard to grasp the concept of playing such an iconic role. I was over the moon about being offered the part, didn’t hesitate for a second, and from there it was just a matter of how I was going to figure out doing it.
Why do you think Vader has become such an iconic character?

Because there was such a mystique there: the greatest fear is the fear of the unknown. Nobody knew about the beginning of who this guy was, which is what makes this next film so exciting. It depicts the events that lead to Anakin Skywalker becoming the man we know him from the original trilogy.

What was it like donning the famous mask and suit for the first time?

The feeling is really hard to articulate. There was such a surreal, glossy quality to the two days when I got to wear the mask and the whole Darth Vader suit. It really capped what has been a very prominent part of my life.

The job I was given was to be the connective tissue between Jake Lloyd (young Anakin) and Darth Vader. Getting to put on the mask and everything, it was like, wow! The job is done.

You’re four inches shorter than David Prowse, who played Vader in the original films. Is it true that George Lucas was originally planning to use another actor in the suit?

Yes, but I begged and pleaded and they were kind enough to build a suit that fitted me, and then they built on what was necessary to make my physicality the same as the original Darth Vader’s. They had me in stilts under my heels to give me an extra four inches.

Are there any differences between your Vader and Prowse’s?

Physically, because it’s a brand new Vader suit, I think it’s a little more symmetrical. My Vader is also a little more rigid - obviously he’s brand new to the suit, so he’s still getting acclimatised. There’s a sense that he’s finding his new skin, and not quite as comfortable with walking. Which was very important for me because - on stilts and with a twenty pound costume - I wasn’t very graceful.

What’s it like to be the fifth person to have played Anakin Skywalker, following Prowse, Jones, Sebastian Shaw and Jake Lloyd?
When I was given the role it was specified that I was to be playing Anakin at a very specific point in his life. This is not the Jake Lloyd role and this is not the monotonal Darth Vader that we know from the original trilogy. I had a very contained concept of what I was doing. There is some disconnection between the Vaders, because they’re all played by different people.

But you’ve since been inserted, in place of Shaw, at the end of the Return of the Jedi DVD.
I got a real kick out of that. They told me, “By the way, you’re in Return of the Jedi and sent me a copy and there I was! It was neat - there I am next to Alec Guinness and Yoda.

Some critics saw your performance in Episode II: Attack of the Clones as whiny and annoying. How did you handle that?

It’s what you subject yourself to when you sign up for the profession. You take the good with the bad and all of it with a pinch of salt.

Did you agree with some of the criticisms?

Sure. It’s not something I like to talk about too much, but I agreed with some of it and disagreed with some of it, and had a laugh at the expense of almost everything else. Ultimately, you’re reading someone’s opinion, which is valid, but you’re making movies - you’re there to have fun.

If anything, I think this film will put a lot of those criticisms to rest. They’ll almost seem like necessities. Some of the criticisms, as far as my portrayal of Anakin goes, are of qualities that are essential to his downfall. The ambition, the sense that there’s an injustice to life, wanting to right those wrongs, wanting to have that sort of control. That frustration lends itself to a whiny quality: why can’t I get my way? Why aren’t things the way I’d like them to be? That evolves, and matures a little bit in this film, but it’s still very much present.

So what can we expect from Episode III?

It’s a much darker film. I think it really gets back to a lot of the roots of what made the films so successful and so popular. It’s all built upon very basic, mythological concepts. The inner battle of good versus evil is very prominent.

After this one, the movies really become a generational story about wanting to right the wrongs of your predecessors. In this film you see all the decisions that Anakin makes and how similar his choices are to the choices that were presented to Luke, and how Anakin makes different choices, which lead him down another path.

What is it that moves Anakin to the dark side?
I don’t know if I can say that! It will be revealed in the movie. There are a few contributing factors. It all stems from an unhealthy lust for power which develops into delusions of grandeur. A desire to attain powers that will allow him to seek certain loves of his life. He’s presented with an obstacle and, in trying to figure out how to overcome it, is seduced to the dark side.

A key figure in his fall is Palpatine, played by Ian McDiarmid.
He’s the puppetmaster, if you will. He’s pulling at all of the right strings behind the scenes, with such charming yet evil precision, that it really plays to the core of what Anakin is struggling with. That’s when the seduction begins. Anakin, ultimately, is making a pact with the devil: I’ll sell my soul if you give me what I’m asking for. There’s a touch of the Dr Faustus about him.

The set piece the fans are most looking forward to is Anakin’s long-awaited light sabre duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor).

There was an immense pressure to meet certain expectations, because there was such importance placed on that fight. It’s an intricately choreographed fight that surpasses the longest duration of any other fight committed to film, in time and geography.

How much preparation did you do?

It was such an involved fight sequence that I was out in Australia for three months prior, trying to learn it. You want to get to a point where it becomes like muscle memory. It’s so quick when you’re doing it - adrenalin’s rushing through your veins - that there isn’t a cognitive sense of what you’re doing.

After three months of repetition, you go on set, they call action, you do the fight sequence and your light sabre is swirling all around you. You’re not really sure what the next move is, but somehow you seem to find it.

Did you and Ewan get competitive?

Oh yeah. But it was a shared competitiveness - we were each trying to get one up on the other, seeing how fast we could go. It was just so much fun. We had a real laugh with it.

How will it differ from previous light sabre battles?

We’re taking it to another level in so many ways. It’s longer for a start, the geography that we cover is so diverse: we’re fighting in different environments that affect the way we fight. The fighting styles evolve throughout the fight, depending on where we are. It’s also a bit of a throwback to the original trilogy, with some of the more epée-influenced fighting styles from the original Obi-Wan/Darth Vader fight in Star Wars.

There’s a lot of one handed light sabre fighting. It’s just a more fierce, emotional fight. I don’t think, in any Star Wars film, you’ve seen two comrades having a fight to the death. It’s all fuelled by really raw emotion, which makes everything that much more exciting. It was really thrilling for me, one of the more exciting aspects of getting to do the film.
This is your second film with George Lucas, following Attack of the Clones. What’s he like to work with?

There’s a bit of a misconception that George just hangs back behind the monitors, but he very much likes to be a part of things. He likes to get in there, especially because on this one as he was really excited by the story he was going to get to tell. You could see him being extremely passionate about certain choices we were making.
What was the most useful piece of advice he gave you?

That the function of my role is to make the entire saga work in a linear fashion, so that the people who see the film 20 years from now will believe that Jake Lloyd as a young boy grows up to be the Anakin that I played in the last film, who then is believable in this next film, then suffers the kind of downfalls that we know Darth Vader is consumed by.

We hear that you and Lucas had some animated discussions about the way Anakin would look.

There were a few different incarnations of Anakin’s physicality, but ultimately it all lands on George. Every decision regarding every aspect of the film comes down to him. At the same time, he is aware of and appreciates that it’s a collaborative process and he likes to hear other people’s opinions and take thing on. But at the end of the day, it’s his film and his story. We’re there to help him realise that. That’s all I can hope to do: show up and do my job and hope I keep them happy.

What was the biggest challenge that you faced?

The most difficult part was having to say my goodbyes; putting the boots and wearing the coat and being part of an environment that is so positive and pleasant, for the last time. It’s such a massive production, a very complex organism at work, with everyone milling about and so much happening. But at the same time there’s this common thread of contentedness. Everyone’s genuinely excited by what they’re creating - you go to the different departments and they all have something to show you.

Millions of people are hoping this film will be worth the wait.

I’m there hoping with them! I have faith, having been part of the re-shoot process and getting to see different parts of the film put together. I was over the moon. Aside from the fact that they’ve brought the technology to an even higher level, the story’s there. The fundamentals of good storytelling are so prominent in every aspect of this movie. It’s just a fun, thrilling ride. I really am confident in this one. I think it’ll turn out in a way that we’ll all be happy with.

Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, will be released in May.

IGN DVD talks to the once and future Darth Vader on the eve of the release of Episode III.
November 1, 2021 - In many ways, the phrase ‘overnight sensation’ may have been expressly created for Hayden Christiansen. The young actor, perhaps best known as one of the co-conspirators who plotted to sweep the Lisbon girls off their feet in Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, became an international celebrity almost immediately when George Lucas announced that he would play the adolescent and young adult version of Anakin Skywalker, a/k/a Darth Vader, in the last two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Since then, he has gone on to star in such critically-hailed dramas as Shattered Glass, in which he plays a journalist who fabricated his biggest stories; but after appearing in Episodes II and III, Christiansen’s own biggest story may already be told, and his legacy as an actor permanently assured.

During the recent press day for the DVD release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Christiansen sat down with a roomful of journalists - none of whom, it must be noted, ever make up their stories - to discuss his participation in the most successful films series in the history of Hollywood. Perhaps still a bit ill at ease with his recently-acquired fame, Christiansen answered questions with gracious but wary enthusiasm, and offered further insight into the psychology of the once and future Darth Vader.

——————————————————————————-

IGN DVD: When you have kids and it’s time to show them Star Wars, where will you start them - Episode 1 or 4?

Hayden Christiansen: At Episode I as the storyteller has intended it. But yeah, that will be the day. I’ll have to preface it with the fact that it’s just a movie and wait to see their reaction. I don’t know. I’m looking forward to it.

IGN: You seem to really dig deep in Episode III with your character. Personally, where did that come from?

Christiansen:Um, well as an actor I usually try to keep my motivation in the context of what my character is going through. So I don’t think of my dog that died when I was eight years old and how that made me feel. I try to stay within the psychology of Anakin. It was really just letting his frustration seep in and how that would affect me.

IGN: How difficult was it to hold back everything you knew was going to happen in Episode III while you were filming Episode II?

Christiansen: It was challenging - honestly it was - because you are cast as this character that is the connective tissue to someone who represents all that is evil, and so your natural instinct is to try to take him there. And George was constantly asking me to pull back from that and to make him someone who is struggling and someone who allows his frustrations to present themselves in ways that aren’t necessarily perceived as evil but may be in other ways. And to keep it at that and to not really show any sort of a character arc in Episode II because it was more about who he was at that time in his life. Episode III was about changing him and making him evolve to Darth, which was why I was very excited to get to Episode III to finally get to do that. That was something that I sort of built up in my head for so long.

IGN: Having built that up, how did it feel when you got to those last scenes? How was it to get to that point and how did you approach it?

Christiansen: With great joy and glee. It came very easily because I just thought about it so much already. It was just an eventuality for me, you know? It was orgasmic (laughs). I don’t know. It was amazing. I was waiting and waiting and waiting and finally I got to take him to the dark side.

IGN: How did you convince George to let you wear the Darth Vader costume, instead of another actor as originally planned?

Christiansen: I just very politely asked if it was possible, and George and Rick and the kind of people that they are allowed me that privilege. I just said, “Listen, I’ve read the script. Now I know he’s going to make an appearance at the end.” And I think they were already in the process of meeting with basketball players and really tall people to do that job. I just said, “I don’t know if you guys can even make this happen but it would be really great for me if I could actually put the suit on.”

IGN: How did it feel?

Christiansen: It was indescribable, you know? It was one completion of a job. And then in my sort of five year journey was over, coupled with the fact that it was just this incredibly powerful feeling - this beastly feeling - that wells up inside of you when you’re playing a character that is Darth. You walk by and people see Darth and you know you watch the reactions on their faces. The days that Darth came out were quite the event on set. Everyone wanted to see what was going on. It was a one of a kind experience.

IGN: Was it heavy?

Christiansen: Very heavy. I mean the logistics of actually being in the costume weren’t that great. It was very hot. They tried to make some air conditioning apparatus that didn’t work. It was just very claustrophobic and your vision is very limited. And as well they had to compensate for the height difference so they put these big lifts in the shoes so it was like walking around with, you know, 20 pound weights on your shoulders in high heeled shoes - not that I practiced that way (laughs). But it was something like that.
IGN: You share the screen with so many accomplished actors - Christopher Lee, IanMcDiarmid. What did you learn from them?

Christiansen: I think learned the most from all the actors I’ve worked with from Ian, not because he’s here, but because it was just an eye-opening experience getting to sit in that opera scene with him and listen to him tell that story and what the subtly and still everything that he’s able to convey within that. I’d just sit there and shake my head and be like, ‘Ohhh, I’m not supposed to be shaking my head. Whoops.’ And he’s such a kind man and is willing to share his wisdom and help you when you ask for it. So, you know, I learned an awful lot.

IGN: Are there scenes you’re excited to see on the DVD? Did you keep any props from the film? If so, where?

Christiansen: I keep them in my closet just because it would be a little weird if they were out on display, like on a mantel or something. I don’t know. I mean there are lots of scenes that are cut. George films a lot and then through post-production, pares them down, truncates the story and gives it more focus. But I think for me we spent a couple of days in a big vat of water. They made this big water tank for this sort of water sequence, or sequence in which we were supposed to be in fuel, and that on the page and as we were doing it seemed like it was really cool so that’s something I’m looking forward to seeing first because it’s not in the movie.

IGN: How do you feel about the fact you now not only have an action figure, but can play yourself in a video game?

Christiansen: [I was excited about] the fact that I was going to have my own action figure. I was going to get to play myself in a video game - how cool was that? I mean, I personally have an older brother who was a fanatic and had all the action figures and memorabilia and so I was very aware of the merchandising aspect of being involved in these films and at the time was very excited about it. Now you know you can walk into a convenience store and see your face everywhere when the film is out - it’s a different story.

IGN: How doe the choreography you did for the game compare to what you undertook for the film?

Christiansen: It was just sort of good fun. They invited me up for a couple of days to help sort of shape the character in the video game. It was a fun group of guys all very excited that they make video games. And Nick Gillard, the fellow who choreographs the fights, came out as well. We just, you know, fought with light sabers for a couple of days and it was fun.

IGN: How do kids react when they meet you? Any plans to dress up as Vader from now on at Halloween?

Christiansen: Now I’ve got two characters that people can dress up as (laughs). I don’t know. I was expecting a different reaction, to be honest. Kids still are enamored with this hero and I would have thought it would have changed how they saw Anakin and maybe they would have been a little shy at first, but it really hasn’t changed anything. If anything they’re just more drawn to him. I still get little kids coming up to me wanting light saber training and I play along with it. I love it. But at Halloween, I sit home at Halloween now. I don’t go out. But when my mom calls me that there’s someone dressed up as Anakin, I’ll go to the door and give them their candy, which is fun.

IGN: Talk a little bit about preparing mentally versus physically for this role.

Christiansen: It was the physical preparation which was probably the most challenging. George asked me beforehand to put on some size - which I’ve since lost - but he wanted me to bulk up and to physically show the maturity that had taken place between the two films. And I did that over about a 3 month period before we started filming. That was just a very grueling schedule. Actually getting to execute it on set was just good fun. And working with Ian wasn’t really so much challenging as it was rewarding and easy, because it’s very easy when you’re acting with actors who give a lot and are as good as he is.

IGN: What kind of roles are you looking for now?

Christiansen: Ones that I haven’t done before. Ones that are going to challenge me and hopefully make me grow more as an actor and all that good stuff. I don’t know. I just finished a film called The Decameron which was very much a departure from what I’ve done in the past. It was more like a comedic thing. I’m about to start work on a film which is a psychological drama/thriller and it will be challenging as well. Honestly, it’s less about the character and more about the story. If I’m drawn to the story then I’ll find a way to play the character.

IGN: Actors have different reactions to how they carry Star Wars in their careers - some distance it, and some embrace it. Where do you think as the years go by Star Wars is going to fit in your heart?

Christiansen: It will always be very dear to my heart, without question. This has been like a wild ride for the past five years and, you know, has just dramatically impacted my life, 90% for the better. I don’t know. I cherish that and feel forever indebted to George for giving me the opportunity.

Is Star Wars a burden?
Not at all. Anakin will remain an experience of the past and at the same time an opportunity for the future.

Born in Vancouver, with five upcoming films, among which there are “The Decameron” and “Factory Girl”, Christensen is really the man of the moment. Last year he played Lorenzo, a stray, wandering man with no purposes, in the De Laurentiis production of “The Decameron”.
“Lorenzo is always running away. He doesn’t come to terms with himself and the world surrounding him because he thinks running away is the best option”.

What was playing alongside Elisabetta Canalis like?
She’s nice and I had fun working with her.

About the costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli:
“They’re lovely and full of color, as opposed to the ones people actually wore at the time”.

He has already been to Capri twice. His Neapolitan grandma has always spoken about this island as an amazing place So, as soon as he got the chance, he visited it and fell in love with it.

In his next movie the actor will play Bob Dylan (???).
“I’m not afraid to embark on such a role, it’s very exciting, a huge mountain to climb. I think I have what it takes to play this role. I’ll watch useful material, don’t worry, I’m doing my homework. However, it’ll be my take on the character as well”.

What’s it like to be 24 and so famous?
“It has been a rush that started 5 years ago when I was chosen for “Star Wars”. I’m very excited and I feel lucky to have got as far as this, I never would have imagined it a few years ago”.

He has a lot of memories of Italy’s landscapes:
“I have a “patchwork”: Rome with the Parliament Square, Siena. I have a lot of images of Italy in my mind. I’ll come back anytime I can or anytime I’m invited.