Hayden Christensen
He was afraid of Leonardo DiCaprio
“Star Wars” made Hayden Christensen famous.
© carrie-nelson/ImageCollect
Hayden Christensen didn’t have high hopes for his Star Wars role. After all, Leonardo DiCaprio was also in the running.
When Hayden Christensen, 42, auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker in the “Star Wars” prequels, he apparently had a lot of self-doubt. In an interview with “Empire” magazine The actor said he thought he had no chance of playing the role of the future Darth Vader. The reason: He had learned that he would be competing against Leonardo DiCaprio, 49, “and a bunch of other actors.”
“That confirmed my assumption that the role would go to another actor,” recalls Christensen. “Throughout the entire audition process, I had told myself from day one that I wouldn’t get the part. It just wasn’t possible.” That probably worked to his advantage in the end. “I think that probably helped me a lot because it liberated me in a lot of ways,” he told Empire. “And so it was really a surprise for me when I got the role.”
“Of course it was a little scary too”
“The enormity of it all” was exciting for him at the time. “It was a little scary, of course, but there’s a saying: ‘Pressure is a privilege,'” he continued. He “just felt really lucky” to get the role. He was happy that he was able to express “Star Wars” creator George Lucas’s, 79, idea of how someone goes from good to bad.
Leonardo DiCaprio actually met with George Lucas about the role. But as the actor said in a 2015 interview, at the time he “just didn’t feel ready to take that leap. At that point in time.” In addition to Christensen and DiCaprio, there were several hundred actors who applied for the role of Anakin Skywalker, reportedly including “Dawson’s Creek” stars James Van Der Beek, 46, and Joshua Jackson, 45, and Ryan Phillippe, 49.
Hayden Christensen became an international star because of the role, he played Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” (2002) and “Revenge of the Sith” (2005). He became Anakin again for the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka.