Interview with Hayden Christensen (2001 - ETonline.com)

Today January 26th 2001, HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN sat down with us to talk about his experience making his current flick 'Life as a House' and the all-new 'Star Wars' pre-quel!

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: I've read that your own family is very close knit, were you able to bring some of that to your role in 'Life as a House'?

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN: Well, the character for me is, for the most part, a recreation. There are definitely a lot of feelings of abandonment with my character.

HAYDEN: KEVIN KLINE and I did a lot of rehearsing for this to really understand the dynamic of our relationship. It was fun, because it was something that I didn't get to do on 'Star Wars,' it was something completely different.

ET: Was 'Star Wars' much more defined?

HAYDEN: Yes, it was much more specific in every respect. 'Star Wars' is public domain. You have an audience that you have to appease, and your character traits have to be okay with all the people out there that know your character better than you even!

HAYDEN: The room in which I had to explore my character was much more defined by the previous movies, and what people know about my character (Anakin Skywalker). 'Life As A House' on the other hand gives me more room to create and experiment and take risks. I don't know if I'm falling on my face -- I may be! (Laughs)

ET: Tell us about the ability to go to the "dark side" with the flick of an eyebrow -- in a real subtle way.

HAYDEN: Well, Anakin is for the most part still a little kid right now. But you do catch glimpses of the dark side in him, and there are certain events that obviously trigger certain feelings inside of him.

HAYDEN: This starts to become apparent in this episode, and even more so in 'Episode III.'

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