Here’s the real reason why Star Wars‘ Hayden Christensen quit acting after starring in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Hayden Christensen was only 19 years old when he became world famous after being cast to play Anakin Skywalker in the 5th installment of the sci-fi film series. After being on top of the world, Christensen immediately quit acting. So why would Hollywood’s biggest A-lister at the time quit all of a sudden?
The acting star admitted he felt like a “fraud” whose success and fame was “a little too handed”.
I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave.”
In a candid interview with the Los Angeles Times, Hayden said: “I guess I felt like I had this great thing in Star Wars that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me. I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave.”
After playing Anakin Skywalker, Christensen would quit acting and become a part-time farmer in Ontario, Canada. He would spend his time learning how to raise livestock, growing crops, and using agricultural machinery. Explaining why he did he said, “There was something in the back of my head that was like, ‘if this time away is gonna be damaging to my career, then so be it. If I can come back afterwards and claw my way back in then maybe I’ll feel like I earned it’.”
“There was something in the back of my head that was like, ‘if this time away is gonna be damaging to my career, then so be it. If I can come back afterwards and claw my way back in then maybe I’ll feel like I earned it’.”
Hayden would quit acting after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in 2005, choosing instead to star in smaller roles. His most recent movie was the Christian drama 90 Minutes in Heaven, which filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. 90 Minutes in Heaven is an adaptation of the bestselling book about a Baptist pastor who was pronounced dead after a devastating car accident — only to come out of it an hour and a half later fully recalling a vision of heaven — the film has been scripted and will be directed by Michael Polish.
Unfortunately for Christensen, 90 Minutes in Heaven premiered to disastrous results and flopped in the box office. In fact, one reviewer called the movie “So deeply terrible that it will make you question the existence of God. The dialogue is the least natural I’ve ever seen in a film not made by Ed Wood.”
