'Star Wars' Actor Hayden Christensen Recalls Being Cast In 'Attack Of The Clones'

Actor Hayden Christensen first appeared in a galaxy far, far away in the Star Wars movie “Attack of the Clones.”

The movie premiered in theaters on May 16, 2002, which made the movie officially 20 years old this week. Star Wars fans have been celebrating the anniversary with a movie marathon of a prequel trilogy to prepare for the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series, which debuts on Friday, May 27. The Disney+ live-action series features Christensen reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and costar Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the titular Obi-Wan Kenobi.

To celebrate the anniversary of the second movie in the prequel trilogy, Christensen sat down with the Star Wars website to recall what it was like being cast in the movie.

Christensen said that he can still “remember when I got the phone call saying that I got the part.”

“I was still in bed, actually, in my apartment in Vancouver at the time,” he recalled. “I recall walking out after I got off the phone, just sort of stunned and in disbelief by the news, walking into the living room where my roommate was.”

“He was aware that I was waiting for this call, and he saw my smile and immediately understood that there was good news. My response was, I lit up an imaginary lightsaber,” he shared. “He was a big Star Wars fan too, and he had the soundtrack to Episode I. He put the Star Wars soundtrack on, and we had this whole imaginary lightsaber duel around our apartment, jumping on all the furniture and just screaming like giddy little children.”

Christensen said that “there was a lot” that he could draw from when he was “trying to develop the character of Anakin,” noting that there was a lot of source material available to him.

“I was playing a part that was already played before me, as well as after me,” he explained. “This was a character that had a family, children that had grown up. You had all of these elements, and where he was in his life and what that life was, and how all that would have affected him. There were a lot of elements that needed to cohere.”

“And for me, one of the aspects of Star Wars that I found really compelling was the generational aspect of it. I really wanted that to feel authentic and have as much continuity as possible,” he continued. “I was very cognizant of the performance that Jake Lloyd gave [in Episode I], and wanting it to feel like it really was just an older version of that kid, to some of the nuances and mannerisms of Darth Vader, wanting that transition to have some context as well, and to his children, Luke and Leia, and for that lineage to feel convincing. So I had a lot that I was drawing from, and then of course, everything he’s going through in the story.”

In one poignant scene, Anakin receives foreboding premonitions about his mother, Shmi. He decides to travel back to Tatooine to find her. He finds out that she has been taken captive by a Tusken tribe, but when he arrives, Shmi dies in his arms. An enraged Anakin kills the entire Tusken camp… not only the men, but the women, and the children too.

When discussing the scene, Christensen said, “We all understood that it was an important scene for this character and for his arc. When we were rehearsing it, we tried it a few different ways.”

“I had conversations with George [Lucas] about the degree of his angst and emotional state, and trying to find it,” he continued. “We tried it one way, and I didn’t quite feel like I was connecting with it. George walked over to me and we had a really nice heart-to-heart conversation. I felt that scene was pivotal in my relationship with him as well, in terms of how we spoke about the work and the character. We really opened up our dialogue, which then continued into Episode III. But yeah, that scene was a big one.”

Fans are excited to see Christensen and McGregor reunite in “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” However, Christensen revealed that “We were very close and remain close” even though it’s been 17 years since the prequel trilogy ended with “Revenge of the Sith.”

Christensen described himself as “the new kid on the block” and said that McGregor went “out of his way to make me feel welcomed and comfortable.”

“I remember the first time we met, he gave me a big hug, and we kind of hit it off right from the get go,” he recalled. “I think our relationship, in a lot of ways, sort of mirrored our characters’ relationship at that point too.”

To prepare for his upcoming role, Christensen revealed that he binged all of the “Star Wars” movies over again, describing it as a “really remarkable” experience.

“Watching them again as a whole, I was really struck with the quality and depth of the storytelling and George’s vision for all of it. It’s so nuanced, complex, and layered,” he said. “It’s like those films had a gestation period, where they needed a little time to ferment in the public psyche. The reception that the films have now, it’s very heartwarming.”

Fans can watch Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor reprise their roles when “Obi-Wan Kenobi” hits Disney+ on Friday, May 27.