Usually, attendees from the previous panel can stay in their seats for the next one, but in this case, the folks who showed up for the "Lord of the Rings" movie hobbits had to clear the room, which sent a flood of people into the chaos of an already-packed hallway.
The line of attendees wound through the switchbacks of stanchions, down the sky bridge and into the other building of the Phoenix Convention Center. Staff in the hall shouted conflicting directions at exiting attendees, not always politely, and journalists, usually welcome in the VIP line and seated in the reserved section, were not even let in. (We used a Jedi mind trick and got through to the overflow room)
Though the panel was scheduled to begin at 6:30, attendees weren't even let into the ballroom and the overflow room outfitted with projection screens until after that time.
But around 7:15, the event began and an enthusiastic crowd came face to face with Anakin Skywalker. Here are some notable moments from the panel.
A standing ovation
The cheering drowned out the walk-on music when the interviewer called Christensen to the stage.How the trampoline helped him break into the business
“Nobody in my family had any aspirations of acting,” Christensen said. “We were all really into sports.” But his sister, a trampoline champion, was cast in a Pringles commercial. “And so she went to meet this agent at this agency, and I went along for the ride and kind of fell into acting that way doing some commercials.”He later trained in acting in classes and workshops, but he described the early years of commercials as more like a hobby: “It was the peripheral things I really enjoyed, like skipping school and the craft service table with all the great food.”
Rice Krispies helped Christensen’s ‘Star Wars’ work
One of Christensen’s early roles was in a commercial for Rice Krispies cereal. “It was somewhat fortuitous I was having to act with Snap, Crackle and Pop, and they obviously weren’t there,” Christensen said. “That was my first experience with acting to make-believe characters, which I did quite a lot of in 'Star Wars' things.”If he hadn’t become an actor...
When asked what he would have done had he not gone into acting, Christensen said he would have liked to have been the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. “It probably still is my dream job,” Christensen said. “I played a lot of hockey. I’m Canadian, and we all play hockey there.”
Anakin the ball boy
“I was a ball boy at the Canadian Open when I was maybe 9, 10 years old,” Christensen said. He recalled fetching balls during one of John McEnroe’s matches, and the tennis player, known for his outbursts, almost hit Christensen with his racket when the boy ran on the court to retrieve the ball. “And that was my first time on the evening news,” Christensen said: “Ball boy almost dies.”On ‘Life as a House’
At 19, Christensen was in "Life as a House," playing the son of Kevin Kline’s character. “That was a formative film, getting to work with Kevin Kline,” Christensen said. “He’s an actor I’ve always really loved. 'A Fish Called Wanda' was one of my favorite films as a kid.”The two spent a lot of time together at the house the characters build in the movie. “We would hang out and rehearse or improvise scenes that didn’t actually exist. And that made a big impression on me, all the work that goes into making something feel real.”
The Gyllenhaal connection
In 2002, Christensen and Jake Gyllenhaal were members of the opening cast in the West End production of "This Is Our Youth." When asked if he would ever return to stage acting, Christensen expressed interest. “I love working in the theater. I went to a performing arts high school, and that’s where I developed my love of acting.”Christensen first thought he would become an actor on the stage rather than in film, and hopes to do theater again when he's able. “I have a young daughter right now, so I don’t know that I can really justify going out every night and being on stage.”
On ‘Shattered Glass’
Between "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," Christensen played disgraced journalist Stephen Glass in "Shattered Glass." Christensen and his brother, Tove, had recently started a film production company, and they found an article about Stephen Glass, a former journalist at The New Republic who had been fired and embroiled in complicated legal disputes after it was discovered he had partly or entirely fabricated most of his articles.The Christensen brothers worked with Tom Cruise’s production company to make "Shattered Glass." In the panel, Christensen spoke of the importance of reliable journalism. “It’s important that we be able to trust our main institutions for society to work," he said.
A correction from the audience
During a discussion of the many "Star Wars" projects of which Christensen has been a part, he and the interviewer described a particular scene as occurring in "The Book of Boba Fett." The crowd murmured, and one man shouted, “'The Mandalorian!'” The interviewer remarked wryly, “You can count on them for that.”Whose line is it anyway?
The interviewer and Christensen played a game in which the actor received a quote on a card and had to say who said it and in what "Star Wars" movie.One quote was “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” Many audience members said, and not very quietly, “Yoda,” which Christensen then repeated. “Yeah, this is Episode III," he said. "Anakin’s asking for help, trying to figure out what to do because he’s afraid of losing Padmé. And we wonder why he went to the dark side.”
