Hayden Christensen
Jun Sato/WireImage
Hayden Christensen knew he was capturing for the celebrities (in additional methods than one) throughout his auditions for Star Wars. The actor revealed this week he practically misplaced hope for the undertaking when he heard his title in rivalry with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Christensen performed Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Assault of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith (2005).
“It simply appeared too huge,” Christensen recalled of the prospect to audition for the function in a current interview with Empire journal. He was 18 on the time, and requested his agent: “Is there possibly one other function that they’re additionally casting proper now you can put me up for? As a result of Anakin type of appears unattainable.”
The imposter syndrome continued, Christensen mentioned, when he discovered that Leonardo DiCaprio was additionally in talks for the function. “That simply confirmed my thought that the function would go to a different actor,” he mentioned. “By the complete auditioning course of I had informed myself, from day one, that I wasn’t going to get the half. It simply wasn’t a risk. And I believe that most likely helped me quite a bit, as a result of it simply freed me up in plenty of methods. And so it actually got here as a shock to me once I acquired the half.”
DiCaprio informed ShortList in 2015 that George Lucas provided him the function of Anakin, however he turned it down, saying he “simply didn’t really feel able to take that dive.”
Christensen understands DiCaprio’s perspective, telling Empire “the scope of the chance” was thrilling, but in addition daunting. “There a saying,” he mentioned: “Strain is privilege.”
“I simply felt very fortunate to have it,” the actor continued. “I used to be actually thrilled that I used to be gonna get to precise George’s mapping out of how somebody goes from good to unhealthy.”
