The fan culture of Star Wars is still vast today. Every movie and series are hotly debated. It was the same back then, especially with the prequels. This was also difficult for Hayden Christensen, the actor of Anakin, who spoke about the challenging shoots.
Star Wars: Episode 2 was a special film. When the new trilogy started in 1999 with The Phantom Menace after 16 years, fans were of course excited for the sequel, which introduced Hayden Christensen as the new main character Anakin, who was previously only portrayed by a child actor.
The anticipation of many fans was something Hayden Christensen could not just observe from a distance. During certain shoots in Spain, many fans suddenly appeared and disrupted the set. The military even had to get involved.
Fans of the prequels could see beloved fan favorites again in the Obi-Wan series:
Many fans and Christensen’s overwhelm
What happened? Some scenes from Episode 2 were filmed in Spain. As Hayden Christensen revealed in an interview with The Guardian, an extreme situation occurred one day. A local newspaper, for unknown reasons, knew where the shoot was taking place in Spain and published it.
According to Christensen, when the team arrived on set, thousands of people were already present, wanting to get a glimpse of the set. This escalated to such an extent that the military had to intervene to keep the fans back.
For Christensen, the sudden rise in his fame was not as easy as it was for Natalie Portman or Ewan McGregor. They had been in the film business longer. The role of Anakin, which other actors also sought, led to a quick rise to megastar status for Christensen. His face was everywhere. On candies, drinks, and toys.
For a while, I avoided going to the supermarket because it was just a bit overwhelming. But the action figures, that was cool, I enjoyed that.
Despite the tough years and after the end of the prequel trilogy, Christensen today has a good relationship with the franchise and fans of the series. He is grateful that he was able to meet all the colleagues and work on such a great series. He has a high status among fans nowadays as well. In a Star Wars series, he even got to wield a lightsaber again: With a ‘Star Wars’ series, a nerdy wish of Hayden Christensen came true
