To be honest, I really don't give too much thought to how the industry or the public perceives my career. At the end of the day, I'd like to be remembered as a nice guy; that's what's most important to me. I find the work fulfilling. But as far as what people think of me, I think kindness is the only thing that really matters and the only thing that has any real staying power. Celebrity can be like vapor -- it dissipates very quickly. Who you are is what has staying power."-Decades from now, when you're looking back on your career, how would you like to be perceived by the industry and the public?
You'd be surprised, but you learn an awful lot from those films. The environment in which they are made really requires an overactive imagination. In a lot of ways, you can liken it to being on the stage, when you don't have all the stimulus you get when you're on location shooting a film. It really demands that you commit yourself to this supposed world that will later be imposed on the blue screens. You're acting to characters that aren't always there, and oftentimes, you're getting your dialogue delivered from an (assistant director) you know, reading the Yoda lines."-How much has the "Star Wars" experience taught you about the craft of acting?
I seem to have gotten a few of these, the "One to Watch" or the "Star of Tomorrow," awards. It's always a little daunting but flattering nonetheless. It's an honor."-Is it at all daunting to receive an award from ShoWest that has so much expectation attached to it?
Being nominated is pretty cool, and these are good [awards], because the people vote for it."-Winning at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards..
This doesn’t suck,This is very cool.-When asked what he thought about winning at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards.
No.(smiles) I wish.-When asked if he has seen te script for episode 3.
Have they really? I'm computer illiterate, so I wouldn't know.-When asked if he knew fan sites already reviewed his performance in the AOTC trailers.
I picked up the lightsaber and started making the same sounds I made when I was a kid with a stick.George Lucas looked
at me and said,'Hayden,believe me,we have enough money to use slightly better sound effects for this part of the movie."
It's just the most fun I've ever had in my life,and to be honest,it was heavier than I expected."
When you put the belt on,there's a little place where your lightsaber clicks in.It's just like,Holy shit!!"-Referring to the Anakin Skywalker costume from Episode II.
Just when you'd think you were finished, a group of children would come up to you,hold you hand, and show you the way.
It would put a smile on [my] face and keep [me] going.-2003
I thought it would be a great way for everyone to see Anakin Skywalker for the first time falling over his closet,masterbating."-Rolling Stone 2000
I stay out of trouble & try to be a good son.I love my mother so much-I'm really a mama's boy!-2002
I've been in since I was five, and I have a toy frog collection.-2002
My mom cooks breakfast for me and folds my laundry, but my folks make me take out the garbage.I'm in the same bedroom
You know what? I've never been grounded! My parents had me doing so many different activities when I was younger that I didn't have time to do stupid stuff."
The fights are very elaborate.It all stems from learning where to put your feet or swing your lightsaber,and you learn it like
a choreographed dance,step by step.-On his Sith Battles.
One drawing point for me when I read the script was my character is introduced in the film through a failed
attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation.
I got to meet George Lucas,hang out at Skywalker Ranch, and I got a couple of new hats.
One was given to me when I was 12.My sister thought it would be nice for another to keep it company.Everyone
started giving me frogs,some made of wood,of nuts from Amazon forest and some beanbag frogs."
My pants in Star Wars were constantly splitting right up the crotch.[I had to] jump around and do all sorts of things,
and the material tore very easily.If I bent my knees too far.I could hear the rip.That was always embarrassing."
When I got the part of [Star Wars Wars`] Anakin Skywalker,that was a huge affirmation."
I was working out with a trainer twice a day,eating six meals a day & on every protein supplement you could imagine.
My stomach hated it,but I was in the best shape of my life, I've lost it all now. I'm just not willing to go to the gym twice a day.-On gaining 25lbs of muscle for Episode III.
It's in a closet back home.It would be a little weird if I had that above my fireplace.
It's bizarre [when] someone asks for your qutograph,he has said of fame."You'd don't understand what you've done
other than win a part in a film.
I'm a little reclusive, I've always been like that, so I guess maybe my job suits me.
I'd like to meet a girl with a good head on her shoulders
My friends are like you lucky bastard.-On getting to lock lips with Natalie Portman.
I'm kind of a workaholic.
It's been very surreal. It's the hardest thing, because I love to share.-On having to keep the secret of being cast as Anakin.
Yes, I was doing a television show called Higher Ground. We shot there for eight months.We did 20 episodes.I was actually
born in Vancouver, and that was my first time back there.So it felt like home,I love it there.I keep my apartment there,but my
family lives in Toronto. I love Toronto, too-very low key and friendly vibe.
Definitely. But I wanted to go to university and have that experience.-On whether he considers himself more of an actor than an athlete.
They're all very happy for me. I think that I've surrounded myself with very good people, so nothing's really changed for me,it's pretty much the same. But this is just going to be so cool, seeing myself wielding lightsabers and using the Force.Who gets to do that?"
I got into the business when I was about seven. My older sister was Junior World Champion on the trampoline, and
they wanted her to do a Pringles potato chips commercial. She did it, and then afterward they suggested she get an agent.
When she went to go meet with one of these agencies, there was no one home to baby-sit me. I was just along for the ride,
and they asked me if I wanted to do a few commercials. I said sure. And that's how I originally got into it.
But I didn't get the acting bug until I was in high school.
Jazz, Blues-I can't read a note of it, but I've been playing since I was about seven.-On the type of piano he plays.
I'd say so. But acting definitely brings it out of me.-On whether he considers himself shy.
It was great. It was a scene that's not going to be used in the actual film, but it was still in context to Star Wars."-On what he read during the screen test.
Yeah, I've been out in Los Angeles for about a month now, and I thought I would enjoy it more than I am. Los Angeles, or
Hollywood, just seems so full of ambition-overcrowded with ambition. It's overwhelming. I always thought it would be this
place where artists could come for a place to create, which it's not really. It's much more commerce here than it is art, which
took me by surprise.-On Los Angeles.
I don't know-but I know it would be pretty cool though! It was funny, because the costume designer, Trisha Biggar,
called me up yesterday. She described to me what I was going to be wearing. She said, 'You're going to be in your basic
Jedi outfit, with your belt to hold your lightsaber.' It just sounds weird to hear that-your lightsaber. It's the coolest thing.
No, it was actually a performing arts program within a mainstream high school. So to go to the high school, I had to audition
and be accepted, but I only took one performing arts course, drama. The rest of my courses were with a mainstream high
school, math and everything else. But that's what gave me the acting bug. My teachers there were so inspirational in guiding me
through this process. I owe a lot to them.-On his High School.
I think the struggles are the same, for the most part, which is to do things that are productive instead of self destuctive.
Yes. I come from an athletic family. My father went to university on a football scholarship, and my brother was a runner.
He went to the University of Pennsylvania on a running scholarship.
By doing Higher Ground. But I've been acting since I was seven.-On how he got sidetracked from going to university on a tennis scholarship.
My older brother was a fan, and I think he probably waited until I was seven or eight to show it to me,so I was old enough to understand what was going on."
That's hilarious.It just goes right over my head,I'm not.It's amazing how much people will speculate if they haven't
actual information to draw from,they just make up whatever they feel is appropriate or what they want to be appropriate.That's
cool.As long as the people I know & care about know the truth then everyone else's opinion doesn't really matter.-The gay rumors.
I guess it's good being computer illiterate now,but I don't know what to make of it,it's not how I want perceive
myself & it's not how I hope people will perceive me.It is very odd as it's the opposite of how I always saw myself growing up.
I was never the real popular one in school.I never even had a serious girlfriend in school,I was never a good catch.-From Arena 2002.
I'm not one of those people who rolls out of bed & has a cigarette straightaway,I can't stand the taste of nicotine and morning breath."
His thing was that whenever someone touched him he had an orgasm,and so it was just this guy that was constantly walking
around having an orgasms.Not that I have an infatuation with sex or anything like that.
I'd have to say the first one, because it was so ahead of its time.It was so revolutionary in terms of filmmaking-all of his films are,
but I'd say the first one was my favorite.-His favorite Star Wars film.
Yes. I've put my academics on hold for right now. I don't know what I'm going to do after we finish filming the next
Star Wars-go back to school, make another film, both-or go travel. I'm not sure. But this is what I've always wanted to do.
This has always been my dream.
It was tough. I didn't even tell most of my friends. Just my best friend and some of my family members knew.
I wasn't allowed to tell anybody. I was half-convinced that it was this big scheme that they were running, because there was
all this anticipation over who was going to get the role. I figured I was sort of like their decoy, that they were going to say that
I had it, just to throw everybody off, and I didn't really have it, and later they were going to announce someone else.
That would have been so cruel. I was so relieved when I signed the contract.
Yes! It's chaos already. We went to Mr. Chow's for dinner with my agent, and I guess someone tipped them off that we were
there. There was a swarm of people when we came out. I'd never really experienced that before-you just get inundated with
so many questions. I've never been through that before, so it was weird.-On getting recognized.
I don't have any cows to milk yet. Eventually. But I do a lot of the work myself.
But I got myself a tractor now, so next year I'll be all over it.
You've got no "Star Wars" questions? Amazing! You're a rarity, my friend.
I have a light saber from "Episode III." I asked for one. It's nice because before the farm, I didn't really have a place where I could keep my stuff. I moved out of my parents' house when I was 18, and started working right away and never settled down.
I'm unemployed right now. But I'm happy to take a little bit of time to go back to the farm and check up on things. I've got a couple pigs up there
I named them Buddy and Petunia. I'm not going to eat them! Definitely not. They're miniature puplike pigs that run around the house. They're house pets. I used to love pork, and I can't eat it anymore.It's killing me. I especially love prosciutto.
I don't sleep with my pigs. But we hang out on the couch together and watch "Iron Chef." They're not really interested in watching TV with me. But they're present.
There is an underlying theme. I like characters that have an interesting growth, when there's change, and they're affected by the elements of the story. I've always believed that conflict is the essence of drama.
When it happened, for a while I wouldn't leave the house. I mean, since my face was in every convenience store, that meant everyone would recognize me and that's really odd. So I just sort of hermitized for a little while.
Well, I'm not talking like I locked myself in a room and wouldn't speak to anyone, but I laid low in Toronto.
I think I do an okay job of proving my theory. Sure, fame has its affectation, but you can still lead the life you want to lead. I've never had that fame motivation. The less people know about me, the better my work will be, because the more they know about me, then I'm less believable as a character.
You know about that one? Damn. I'm not sure what they're calling it now and it's hard to speak to, because I haven't seen the film in its current state and I haven't heard boo from the people who made it. That stuff always shocks me. How people can be so flippant with money. And that for me was a real departure. It's a comedy, you know, which I've never done. On asked about "Virgin Territory
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM, "It was a saying among soldiers in World War II. It means 'Don't let the bastards get you down! -On his personal motto.
I think that people's exposure is in your realm of control. It's largely just a function of your choices, and if you don't want to be seen, they don't see you.
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