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Hayden Christensen bulks up in Sydney to play a 'non-wimpy' intergalactic villain and misses Toronto

By GAYLE MacDONALD
Thursday, June 5, 2003

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It's not easy playing the most notorious intergalactic baddie.

For four months now, Hayden Christensen has been working out like a fiend and basically scarfing down everything he can lay his hands on in order to bulk up for his role in the next Star Wars where his Anakin Skywalker will finally evolve into the dreaded Darth Vader.

So far, the Canadian actor's packed about 20 pounds onto his rangy, six-foot-one-inch frame. But Christensen figures he's got at least another 10 to 15 to go before he'll have amassed the heft that the Dark-Side Darth demands.

"I'm working out every day for an hour or two," says the 22-year-old, who was born in Vancouver and grew up in the tidy Toronto suburb of Thornhill. "I'm eating anything I can get my hands on, and I'm taking lots of protein supplements. I'm probably in better shape than I've ever been before."

"Usually I have a very lean build, some might even say skinny," he goes on. "But my physique is completely changing right now. It has to. You can't have a wimpy Darth Vader."

As of last Friday, Christensen weighed in at 175. He's aiming for 190. And he wants to hit that benchmark in three weeks, when Queen Amidala (Christensen's one-time rumoured love interest, Natalie Portman), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and the rest of the Star Wars crew join him in Sydney, Australia, to start shooting the eagerly awaited prequel.

It's 11 a.m. on Friday morning, and Christensen's doing the interview by cellphone, just outside the stunt office on the Twentieth Century Fox lot in the Aussie city. He's excused himself to shut a door, a vain attempt to muffle the din of clashing light sabres and other frankly weird clanging noises.

"Sorry about that," he says politely, trying to catch his breath. "We're choreographing a light sabre battle." Just as in Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones, Christensen insists on doing his own crouching-tiger, high-wire acts. Why, one might ask, does he insist on getting battered and bruised when a double would gladly take the knocks for him?

"It's a unique film to be a part of, and I sort of want to do as much as I can," he explains. "I want to know -- at every point in the film when I see my characer -- it's actually me. Not some stunt person or a digitally rendered version of me. It's just important."

It's been raining in Sydney the past week. Today, the sun's finally broken, and Christensen, who considers everything he says very carefully, describes the day as "sunny and temperate. Like a cool summer day in Toronto." He misses home, particularly his parents, three siblings and Unionville High School pals. But like every role this young man's taken in the past four years, he's totally immersed in the upcoming Clone War, focused on figuring out how best to play Anakin, once a goody-two-shoes Jedi who's soon to switch teams.

Asked for a hint of what Star Wars fanatics might expect from Episode III, Christensen just breathes quietly into the phone, and chuckles. "It's tough to talk about this because there's so many confidentiality agreements that you sign. Let's just say 10 years has passed and he's sort of come into new responsibilities with his marriage. He just has different things on his plate right now. A few more layers."

Critics, by and large, have been kind to Christensen, who is often compared to James Dean because of his on-screen blend of charm that's boy-next-door but also brooding, potentially dangerous. In the film Life as a House -- where he played the pill-popping, prodigiously pierced son to Kevin Kline's dying dad -- he was commended for his ability to change his look from angelic to indecent with a flash of his eyes. Apparently, it was that knack that grabbed the attention of Star Wars: Episode II's casting director. And ultimately sold Lucas to choose Christensen, then a virtual unknown, over hundreds of Anakin hopefuls.

If someone does figure out he's that Star Wars guy, he says they usually just say hi and go on their merry way. "Canadians, as a whole, are pretty laid back about the whole celebrity thing. They don't put too much value on it."

Compared to the week-long horror of Eco Challenge, surely Star Wars: Episode III will be a piece of cake? "Not exactly", says Christensen, who adds Lucas's shooting schedule is intense. He expects to be in Australia at least until October, and he won't be visiting home. But he figures his family will make the trip. "I'll probably get the whole gang out here," he says.

And he's equally coy about whether Star Wars devotees will be seeing him in Vader's enormous helmet and flowing black robes. "Possibly," is all Christensen will say. Then he politely excuses himself. The Empire calls.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Ten years would make Luke and Leia only about 15 in ANH.

I'm thinking either he doesn't know and just took a guess, or that he made a mistake and gave the wrong length of time by accident.

Enforcer Talen wrote:so he is being paid to lift weights?

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Oh, let's PLEASE not bring that Fett killing Windu garbage again...

YT300000 wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Oh, let's PLEASE not bring that Fett killing Windu garbage again...

What do you have against it?

btw, nice avatar

Ender wrote:Perhaps episode 3 takes place over a number of years, and by the end 10 have passed since AOTC.

Or perhaps he thought that since 10 had passed between episodes 1 & 2, another 10 had passed between 2 & 3

Darth Yoshi wrote:Well, there's the fact that Mace would be getting killed off by a friggin' kid. Hardly the coolest way to die, especially for a Samuel L. Jackson character.

Durran Korr wrote:

Ender wrote:Perhaps episode 3 takes place over a number of years, and by the end 10 have passed since AOTC.

Or perhaps he thought that since 10 had passed between episodes 1 & 2, another 10 had passed between 2 & 3

Unlikely. That would make it the first SW film to not take place over the course of several days.

Ender wrote:

Durran Korr wrote:

Ender wrote:Perhaps episode 3 takes place over a number of years, and by the end 10 have passed since AOTC.

Or perhaps he thought that since 10 had passed between episodes 1 & 2, another 10 had passed between 2 & 3

Unlikely. That would make it the first SW film to not take place over the course of several days.

Empire strikes back lasts about two months.

Darth Yoshi wrote:No, I think that's how long it took them to reach Bespin from the asteroid belt. Although the Star Destroyers could have stayed in the asteroid belt that long.

Durran Korr wrote:

Ender wrote:

Durran Korr wrote: Unlikely. That would make it the first SW film to not take place over the course of several days.

Empire strikes back lasts about two months.

So, do Han, Leia, and Chewie just sit on that rock for days? Not trying to be vindictive, just asking. Is there a timeline or something?

neoolong wrote:Years would look rather awkward since you would have to see them age. And that would necessitate the use of many subtitles saying that years have passed.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:YT, you have NO idea how many times we've already discussed and debated that issue. The general consensus is that most of us do NOT want Windu to go down like a dog and get killed by a punk. The only people who do are so profusely masturbating by it that they become blind to its idiocy.

So don't try to debate it, it's been done already. To death.

Besides, it's only 3-5 years, as established by McCallum. We don't want Windu killed by a 13-15 year old PUNK, no matter how "bad ass" he is.

Ender wrote:My hope is still that Mace goes down in a reverse of the duel in TPM. I want to see Mace buying Obi wan, Yoda, and the twins time to escape the Jedi temple by facing down Anakin and Palpatine at the same time before getting killed.

Holding your own against 2 sith lords in an act of self sacrafice would definately not be "dieing like a punk"