Interview by: Alysa Salzberg
Hayden Christensen is best known for playing the role of Anakin Skywalker (the future Lord Darth Vader) in the recent Star Wars trilogy. However, there is much more to this actor then just being the leading male role in several of the big budget blockbuster films we all flock to the movies to see. Perhaps what is so admirable about Christensen is his thoughtful intelligence, interest in the quality of a story, and the importance he places on the artistic expression of acting. Christensen doesn't seem to recognize the appeal of being an actor as having extensive amounts of fame or money. He's more interested in making films that mean something. In other words, his interests lie within films that have relevance and strike him on a personal level. We spoke with the ever so charming Hayden about his most recent film, Shattered Glass . What makes this film even more personal to Hayden is that he co-produced it with his brother, Tove. Shattered Glass is based on a true story about Stephen Glass, a former reporter for the New Republic Magazine. Glass embellished or fabricated almost all his stories. This film is the story of the rise and downfall of Glass.
After playing such the career changing role of Anakin Skywalker, many would wonder why Christensen would choose to do a much smaller movie with an appeal to only certain audiences. Hayden saw it no other way: 'There was no reasoning in wanting to do it, it was the only movie we could make and the story we wanted to tell.'
There was an obvious pull for Hayden to really want to do this story and co-produce it with his brother. When asked of his specific interest and draw to the character of Stephen Glass, Christensen had several answers for us: 'I guess I just have an intrinsic interest in what y'all do (journalism)'.there are obvious similarities between acting and your line of work'and the Vanity Fair article really got me. This whole domino effect of lie telling and being found out and the audacity of it all. I thought I could have a lot of fun with the character.'
Stephen Glass is a complex character psychologically. While watching the film you become fascinated with him'is he an insecure boy who desperately wants to fit in and be liked' Or is Glass just a conniving manipulator' As Christensen says, 'There has to be something sort of pathological about it in order to tell as many lies as he did, to the extent that he did and as colorful as they were. I never made him out to be a malicious person who was out to get people. He was, for me, someone who was so enamored with the spotlight and wanting a level of success that he maybe didn't deserve, and having some sort of lack of journalistic integrity that prevented him from telling those lies.'
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of playing a character that really exists is emulating them. Sometimes actors get to meet the person they are playing and sometimes not. In this case, Christensen didn't have much to base his character on besides a few photos and the articles that Glass wrote. Did Christensen struggle with playing someone he couldn't really interact with' 'At first, I really wanted to (meet him) and I was kind of nervous playing him without getting to talk to him, but after a certain point I accepted it as a creative liberty and kind of freeing. I was playing someone who was real but wasn't a public figure. I felt I could take some chances that otherwise weren't really permissible.'
There is an obvious difficulty in tackling a role as complex as Stephen Glass, especially if you've never met him. Did Christensen feel sympathy towards Glass and did he want his audience to feel that on a certain level' 'You know I was conscious of that in my portrayal in trying not to villianize him that much because what he did was very wrong, and in order to get away with it people had to want him to do well and my hope was the first act or two of the film has the audience with the same intrinsic attraction to Steve. He is lacking all the traits that you would expect someone in his line of work to have and you really want him to write a story as colorful as he presents it. As it starts to unravel there's more room to travel. It takes a lot to break him down.'
The studying that Christensen did required a lot of reading and separating fact from fiction is Glass' stories in order to feel the extent and the extremities of Glass' lies: 'I read all of his articles and Billy (the director, Billy Ray) had gone through in detail about what was fact and what was fiction. I had all of his articles and a couple of photographs which I felt were pretty telling'I kind of took his physical appearance and took his blue shirt and tie and khakis in both the pictures as an extension of his neuroses. It became sort of like a uniform. There was room to play which was nice.'
As far as emulating Glass's self conscious demeanor in terms of his speech, Christensen didn't have much to go on: 'Apparently the voice was sort of similar'I didn't have a tape of it. It sort of evolved, it's fun to play with the pitch and what not and sort of flare his lack of confidence with his speech patterns.'
Ironically, around the same time as the release of Shattered Glass, a scandal erupted in the New York Times. Jason Blair, the former editor of the Times was accused of fabrication and was ultimately fired. This was brought up to Christensen: 'I was away in Australia so I was a little removed when the whole thing happened, but, ya know, it makes our story that much timelier. We were never really making a point trying to say, watch out this is a trend right now, but I guess this makes it that much more pertinent.'
With the approaching third installment of the Star Wars trilogy, curiosity amongst fans has many people talking. We asked Christensen to give us a little insight on what to expect from the film and if he could clarify the rumor that his film might be darker than the previous two: 'This takes place after the massive clone wars has happened and everyone's a little battle-worn, and my character especially is a little more grown and his ambitions are starting to get the better of him. It's a darker film but it still has to appeal to the same audience.'
Now that Christensen has seemed to take the route of doing personally interesting project, would he take on another huge blockbuster film, or enjoy his status as an actor that has more artistic freedom to pick projects' 'I definitely look at things or look at different projects as far as the strength of the story and if I have the interest and the ability to play the character. I definitely would do another film of a larger scale and budget.' Because of the high profile role of Anakin Skywalker, Christensen was all of the sudden an overnight celebrity. He deals with the pressures of fame with an admirable and appreciative outlook to the situation: 'All films have their ups and downs. Star Wars is a film that is very high on peoples awareness of films that are being made'personally it has allowed me to do films like Shattered Glass. It has afforded me a nice car. Why harp on the downsides' There are a lot of positives and you try to appreciate that and focus on those.'
When an actor takes on a role that is reliant strictly as being a character sketch, the actor must almost become the role they are playing. Naturally, Christensen would want to know what really made Glass tick. We asked Christensen if he thought someone as imaginative and deceitful as Glass had a personal life: 'In my interpretation, because I never really spoke to him, he was really lacking one. He was studying in law school while the film takes place and for him to tell lies as colorful as they were takes a bit of time at the computer.'
What would Christensen say to Glass if he were to meet him face to face' 'I would like to hear what he thought of the film and was he okay with my interpretation' So I'd be interested to hear what he says but the first thing that would come out of my mouth would be, why' That's the question that I asked myself everyday. Why did he lie to the extent that he did''
The film itself had time constraints. They shot Shattered Glass for about a month and a half, but that only increased the closeness of the cast, says Christensen, 'We had great people involved, everyone in the cast and production ....b>Peter (Saarsgard) and Chloe (Sevigny) and Hank Azaria and Steve Zahn, cant get enough of that guy. We shot for a month and a half. It was really, really quick. It was really nice to know that we were under a deadline pressure and everyone was working really hard and all for the right reasons and had a nice kind of intimate family feel.'
So what are Christensen's future plans' He's actually been lying kind of low. He participated in an adventure race called The Eco Challenge. He did it with his brother and sister and had a hired navigator. It was out in Fiji and according to Christensen, 'quite the endurance test.' He doesn't seem pressured at all to shoot another film. In fact, he'd like to take his time with carefully choosing a project that's just right for him. Unlike many actors who are desperate to keep their faces in the spotlight, Christensen is secure enough with himself to go with the flow and make smart choices that are important to him. It's incredibly refreshing to see someone so young and talented so focused on the quality of his work. He's much more than your average teen heartthrob actor and that's what sets him apart from his peers. Look out for him in a potential romantic comedy type movie next year and of course, Star Wars 3 . In the meantime, watching the haunting, yet fascinating Shattered Glass on DVD will have to do for now.
