PT Hayden Christensen didn't leave the movie industry because of the prequels

I just went on his IMBD page and it says he still acts and even has a movie coming out this year.

 

Well, he's definitely fared better than Jake Lloyd.

 

It's truly unfortunate what he went through and had to deal with.

 

It is. I met him several years ago, he was actually really nice. We talked for about 20 minutes, he was a great guy.

 

I was glad to see him at Celebration this year. He seemed to be very humble.

Plus he said he was open for more SW if they ever offered it to him. He hasn't aged much since he did in 2000 when he shot AOTC. Must be using the same medicine that Ewan uses.

 

They both look good, but I would say, in fairness, Ewan has visibly aged a bit since the prequels (becoming more Obi-Wan-ish every passing day). However, they both have a warm, love-for-life energy about them, and that may well be helping.

And yes, while I didn't attend Celebration (never have), I think it was great to see Hayden there, along with Ian and George. I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I caught the end of the 40th Anniversary panel live.

I think Hayden is a well-adjusted guy. Fame hasn't really touched him, or tainted him, too much. He seems (unlike Anakin) to have a pretty strong, secure sense of self. And boy, I guess he's got a nice little life going back home; which, again, may be key. You could have had your baby(ies) back home on Naboo, Anakin!!! You had one job, Anakin, one job (don't go crazy), and you stuffed it up. Anyway...

This is one of the reasons I've always believed Star Wars to be cast well, especially the lead roles. Lucas seems to have had a knack for sniffing out, for the most part, pretty solid, interesting, and very grounded people. Even those who went a bit off the rails (Carrie, Jake) are neither run-of-the-mill nor cold, high-falutin' types. Everyone has always had a natural intelligence and a real, unvarnished, non-fake quality to them.

 

Let me be frank. (No jokes please). I was happiest to see more than anyone one at Celebrations (watched on youtube) Hayden coming over. With the exception of missing Carrie, Hayden's presence made me cry. I think of him more of Darth Vader than dare I say Dave Prowse. HC has that boyish charm about him, reminding me of my own son (who's only 22).

Seriously, now about the frank part. It took me some time to endear myself to HC unlike Jake Lloyd who I found the perfect child Anakin immediately grew fond of JL as the true Anakin. Yet, yet. Hayden now is to me the real deal.

Cheers guys!

MJ

 

I thought he did a great job as Anakin. I haven't seen him in anything else though.
Darth Vader was always my favourite character in the OT and I like him even more now due to the PT. I know a lot of people want Vader to just be this evil killing machine, but I like that he had a tragic past. Hayden captured all the conflicting emotions really well, in my opinion.

I was happy to see him at SW Celebration this year. He seems like a really nice guy and he hasn't aged a bit! Hope to see him in another SW film.

 

I think it's fair to say that the public reception to Hayden's performance in the prequels likely kept him from being cast in other films. Natalie Portman also spoke about how the public reaction to her performance in TPM cast her in a negative light until Mike Nichols brought her under his wing. Clearly, she and Ewan have enjoyed fruitful careers since the prequels, and I'm glad to see Hayden's reputation is getting revived.

 

But can I laugh?

Well, I assume you were referencing Palpatine (to Amidala) there; just prior to the "overthrow" of Valorum.

Wow! Okay! You have a 22-year-old son! That was the age I was when I joined TFN. Flippin' heck.

Looking back, it seems like a mystical number, from being Anakin's age (roughly) in ROTS, to it being the "age" of AOTC (minus the zeroes).

BTW, that also means I was the same age as Anakin when I first saw those films; so I guess that also explains something about the hold they have over me.

And yes, boyish charm is right! Hayden is an unlikely Vader, but a perfect Anakin. That's what he brings.

That's very cool. To be "frank" myself, the prequels have an esoteric assortment of components it can take time to endear oneself to. It's a dense, elliptical dance. No shame in taking time to make an adjustment in one's thought -- or feeling -- processes.

 

P.S. Happy 36th Birthday to Hayden!

 

Dave Prowse has shown himself to be a mean-spirited bully -- when he and Jake Lloyd appeared at some fan event on an "Anakin/Vader" panel, Prowse refused to let Jake get a word in edgewise and openly sneered at the prequels in general (something he's done on many other occasions -- the prequel-dislikers have treated him like one of their can-do-no-wrong heroes/messiahs and treated every prequel- or Lucas-bash he's uttered, no matter how disingenuous or flat-out false, as pure gold) and at Jake in particular. Someone in the audience, trying to get the panel back on track, asked Jake a question about working with Pernilla August, and he lit up and started to answer, but then Prowse butted in and shouted Jake down. I have no idea why the people running the event didn't intercede and tell Prowse to back off. And although Prowse is one of the many people who brought Anakin/Vader to life, he thinks his contribution is the only one that matters: "David Prowse IS Darth Vader."

It infuriates me that "Vanity Fair" recently put out an article about how SW fans "should now forgive Hayden Christensen." Forgive him for what? He has never been rude or unfriendly, even in the face of some of the most extreme verbal abuse imaginable from the "SW fans." He has more grace and class in one fingernail than any of those "SW fans" who supposedly "should forgive him" have in their entire hateful bodies.

 

As a teenager, I went through a phase of being a pretty hard-core PT basher, I was adolescent and had to be 'edgy' you understand. Finding out what became of poor Jake Lloyd really altered my perspective on fandom in general, and honestly I'm glad it did.

 

No, he did just fine afterwards, played in some movies and had offers for more. He decided that all of that didn't feel right. He quit for some time because he felt he got something he didn't deserve. In other words: it was his decision to quit Hollywood for the time being, doing other stuff and taking up roles in theater-plays if I'm not mistaken.

 

I look forward to the day Jake, Hayden and Matt Lanter do a panel together!

 

It will probably be quite a long time before you see Jake Lloyd come anywhere close to a Star Wars panel stage.

 

It's true, but hopefully his situation will improve in the near future.

 

I'm not sure what exactly qualifies as actual Hollywood that he ever did in the first place.

Star Wars was not Hollywood. Jumper was and that did well and by all rights it should have lead to at least another film or trilogy.

Jumper made 222M worldwide which is quite good compared to the first 3 F&F movies or the first Bourne movie (who also directed Jumper).

The pedigree of Jumper is also interesting because the writers were Kinberg (who is working on Star Wars and X-Men) and Goyer (Batman and Superman movies).

There actually is a TV sequel being made following the original character's daughter.

 

Perhaps I'm just making a point of comparison between Christensen's post-Star Wars career and those of both Portman and McGregor, which have proven to be more fruitful, similar to how Hamill and Fisher didn't have high profile post-OT careers like Harrison Ford.