Hayden Christensen Would Love To Play Darth Vader Again
Much like Anakin Skywalker himself, Hayden Christensen’s portrayal of the character has been redeemed in recent years.
As a generation of Star Wars fans who grew up with the prequel trilogy reach adulthood, the films have reached a level of reverence and popularity that eluded them during their initial release.
Photo: Lucasfilms
A Long Journey
Likewise, Christensen has become a beloved actor within the Star Wars community. It has been a long road to the top, but the actor has finally arrived.
In a recent interview with Esquire magazine, Christensen discussed his long Star Wars journey. An adventure that as it turned out, began long before he ever dreamed of portraying Anakin Skywalker.
Photo: Lucasfilms
“I’ve been a fan since I was a kid. I have an older brother who was eight and a half years my elder, and he was the perfect age when the original trilogy came out. He was a die hard fan. As a kid, we had all of the action figures and toys all around the house. He had Star Wars bed sheets on his bed. And so I was surrounded by Star Wars even before I’d seen the film.”
Attack of the Clones
Christensen first portrayed Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. It was during this film, that the seeds of the Dark Side were planted in the young Jedi’s mind.
Photo: Also Lucasfilms
“When I was auditioning for Anakin, there never seemed a possibility I would get this role. It seemed too big. It’s all very secretive so I can’t tell you too much, but a million guys were reading for Anakin, and the brief was, how does a guy go from good to evil. As an actor, that was a compelling thing to try to portray, even outside of the Star Wars of it all. From a human aspect, how does someone go to the Dark Side? It was such an insane opportunity. The conversations with George Lucas about how to play this character always went back to the most human, basic level of what happens to someone when they’re misled and manipulated and, by no fault of their own, go down this dark path.”
Photo: Lucasfilms
Revenge Of The Sith
In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Anakin’s transformation to Darth Vader is complete.
While Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side was known before the prequel trilogy began, seeing the bright young Jedi fall was still hard for many fans to see.
“I don’t think we could get into the depths of what was going on in my head, but the character goes to a dark place, and I went there. I had to say I kind of enjoyed it, but it was a dark place to inhabit for a couple months.
In Episode III, there’s a lot going on, and Anakin is a very conflicted character. He starts to have visions of Padme passing away in childbirth, and he doesn’t know what to do with it. He goes to Yoda and confesses, says can you help me and Yoda basically says ‘suck it up kid, there’s nothing you can really do’. There’s a lot of things that Anakin is grappling with, and that was a fun dark place to inhabit.”
Photo: Also Lucasfilms
Portraying Vader
Almost twenty years after Revenge of the Sith, Christensen was able to don the Darth Vader suit for 2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. Being able to portray Darth Vader was meaningful for the actor.
Photo: Also Lucasfilms
“It was hard to put into words. It was a really special thing. When we did Episode III, I got to wear the suit, but it was such a simple thing, but it represented closure for me. That was a sign that my journey with the character was complete. Cut to almost 20 years later, and putting on the suit was an incredibly meaningful thing.”
Afterwards, the actor knew that they had created something special.
Photo: Lucasfilms
“It was a really emotional time for me. I knew we’d done something special, I thought and I just felt very grateful, you know? I messaged Ewan afterwards, and I thanked him, told him I thought the scene felt good, and he messaged that he was very happy with it. When we finally got to see that scene, we were so happy. The way we edited it, the way our voices fluctuated was really perfect, so hats off to Deborah.”
Would He Return?
While Christensen was quite about any potential future projects, he was open about the fact that we would love to continue to portray Anakin Skywalker in the future.
Photo: Lucasfilms
“I’d love to get the opportunity to! I love it, and I’d love to do more with it.”
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading.
