BBC Interviews Hayden Christensen
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Interviewed by James Mottram
BBC: Were you daunted by the prospect of taking on this already mythical figure?
HC: Yeah, when I first got the part, it was very daunting. I tried not to project my thoughts there, because it wasn't conducive to doing my best work. Really, it was a great exploration for me to play a character who goes through such an amazing transformation.
BBC: George Lucas said that when he cast you, he could see an inner darkness within you. How did that make you feel?
HD: I was aware of the dynamic of the character, and what was necessary for the part to be played properly. Playing a character that has those darker elements, you do learn more about yourself and your own qualities when you're figuring out a way to motivate yourself for those scenes. Playing Anakin was an amazing self-discovery process and getting in touch with the darker side of myself that I didn't necessarily know existed.
BBC: You work a lot with Natalie Portman in "Attack of the Clones". How was that?
HC: She's a very capable actress and it made my work a lot easier having someone who has a presence. She's a fine girl, I consider her sort of a friend. We were portraying a love story, so obviously I have to look at her with adoring eyes. She's a very beautiful girl, so that made it easy. Outside of that, she does her job very capably.
BBC: How long did it take to get used to fighting with a lightsabre?
HC: I went to Australia about a month before we started filming and worked with the fight coordinator every day for about five hours, and it worked. It was fun to fight with the lightsabre.
BBC: What colour lightsaber do you have - green or red?
HC: I don't know. I think it's green. Green is a good colour. I'm still a good guy, on the right side. Maybe it'll change to red in the next episode.
BBC: Did you do a lot of your own stunts?
HC: I did all my own stunts except one, that's not me but a digital version of me. I felt for my stunt double because he showed up every day with nothing to do. He was frustrated. He wanted to be a part of it too. But I wanted to make as big a contribution as I possibly could and I was physically capable of doing my own stunts. I didn't see any reason to have someone else do them.
BBC: Do you see "Star Wars" as a fairytale or as sci-fi?
HC: It's a sci-fi movie in a very fantastical world. It's a fantasy. It involves all of your ideal myths and a sense of ideology with the characters. Every character in the story pretty much is the archetypal figure of something from another myth. That's George Lucas' writing.