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FRIDAY UPDATE: I’ve just heard from Paradigm’s Jim Osbourne, who tells me Hayden Christensen moved to the agency’s David Guillod 5 months ago and offers this explanation about the actor: “He wouldn’t read for Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, he passed on Afterlife opposed Liam Neeson, he passed on Cheri opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. It’s so competitive for young actors right now that sitting on a farm in Toronto is not going to get him a job.”
THURSDAY: 
The 29-year-old actor had been at Paradigm, and before that at ICM, with Jim Osborne. He just co-starred in Sony’s Takers and will next appear in film Vanishing On 7th Street. But his career never took off — and it should have — after his turn as Anakin Skywalker in the second and third Star Wars prequels or his breakout role in the 2001 film Life As A House. Christensen and his brother Tove run the production company Forest Park Pictures, which has a 3-pic deal with Screen Gems. As for his acting, I don’t think Hollywood has really seen what he can do yet.
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did Osborne go to UTA???
maybe it didn’t take off because he can’t act?
Yes he can. you just don’t like his take on the characters he plays. Totally different things.
He had a minor hit with Jumper, but he couldn’t take advantage of that, either. He was excellent in Shattered Glass. I’d like to see him in more character driven films.
i think we seen enough of Hayden, time for him to work the Star Wars conventions, enough with these talentless actors like Hayden and Taylor Lautner
Slux, perfect name for a jerk. I’d like to see you try (and succeed as HAYDEN has) to accomplish all HAYDEN has. Better get used to it, HAYDEN will be around in films, acting for decades and you’ll still be leaving comments on websites showing your jealousy!
Underrated actor. Glad someone is going to dial it up a notch for him.
Jumper was a hit, wasn’t it? Just sayin’. And he was good in Shattered Glass, IMO.
HAYDEN WAS good in SHATTERED glass and he and Sarsguard got best actor awards for it. HAYDEN also was a Golden Globe nominiee and SAG nominee for LIFE AS A HOUSE. HAYDEN has shown he has the “chops” to do a good role with good directing. He has several up coming movies that might just do that (Shadow Chasers, Genesis Code, Beast of Bataan and Shanghai I love you).
I agree. He’s very underrated. But I must admit that he really needs some career advice. Let’s be honest, he can act for sure, he’s got the looks, but he is terrible at taking care of his career. I think he deserves to be A-List.
Um, yes, perhaps if he gets the role of a lifetime playing a board, or a plank, or perhaps a cigar store Indian, we may see what he can really do. Perhaps a coma victim.
Funny, but didn’t he already play a coma victim in some thriller with Lena Olin?
He kinda played a coma victim in AWAKE.
No, he played a coma victim in “Attack of the Clones.” Get your facts straight.
Get over it AXI, no one believes that anymore! Especially when they saw that the great Samuel L. Jackson was boring in those movies! HAYDEN did a fabulous job and for some reason you guys are jealous!
oh yeah, hayden was actually pretty good in awake–and was solid in jumper too. beyond shattered glass, he has HAD moments where he’s held his own. always think of him as wooden, but he deserves a bit more credit!
Jim Osbourne is a great agent and he will miss him
He’s great in SHATTERED GLASS. But yeah, no one saw it.
I don’t mean to be a contrarian, but I completely disagree. I thought “Shattered Glass” had a LOT to recommend it, particularly Hank Azaria’s performance, but also Peter Sarsgaard. For me, Christensen ruined what would’ve been an otherwise great movie that we’d all remember a lot better now. Maybe I should go back and watch it, but I thought he was completely stilted and one-dimensional and it made me think that, no, it wasn’t just George Lucas who couldn’t direct him. That said, I did like him quite a bit in “Life as a House.”
Yeah, it was only co-produced by Tom Cruz and made 38 million dollars…poor thing! It may not have been the in main stream with insane publicity but for that small a budget and movie it has done just fine!
How critical is it to a young actor do so much agency hopping?
we call them “rent-a-clients”
I always dug Hayden. I was angsty and teenaged when he was playing those angsty roles. Everyone says he can’t act but an even greater example of his chops is Shattered Glass. He should have gotten the Half Nelson props that Ryan Gosling has gotten off that. I also saw him in This Is Our Youth in London w Jake G and Anna Paquin. He was good in that too except for the overdone New York accent.
There’s still plenty of time for Hayden to get his groove back. Megan Silverman at WME seems to rep all the cool kids, she should get him.
Dana, I also saw him in “This is Our Youth” and he was wooden beyond belief (maybe he was just have having an off night). Anna Paquin was okay in it, but has matured as an actor since. Jake G, we thought, was electrifying, but seems to be offering diminishing returns with each new movie.
If you had your facts straight you would know that Megan Silverman WAS Hayden’s first Agent at Gersh. And for the record Ken Kaplan had absolutely nothing to do with him getting Star Wars, he barley knew Hayden was even on the Gersh roster before that. Star Wars was all Megan, looks like it did more for her career than his.
I knew Megan was at Gersh but didn’t know she repped him. My comment was only positive and complimentary towards her, wasn’t dogging her (especially because she’s attractive). When I said she reps all the “cool kids” I meant young actors that I like and I think are cool. I don’t trade in sarcasm currency like most of you.
I’m sorry I haven’t been in the business for twenty years like you have to be as “in the know” as you are. Now go have your nurse get you some jello.
Dana, HAYDEN will do just fine, he has some up-coming movies that should do quite well – 4 actually, they won’t be done until 2011, 2012 or 2014 so he’ll be older then and “wiser”. HAYDEN doesn’t have to “bring sexy back”, he IS sexy – naturally!
I knew Hayden back in high school arts program. Really nice guy with a great family, but he could never act back then and still can’t. He’s pretty, but that’s about it.
Let’s be honest, Star Wars is WHY his career didn’t take off.
Yep. Heck, we’re lucky Natalie Portman got out of Star Wars unscathed, because she was at least as bad as Hayden was in those movies.
Outside of George Lucas’s dialogue and direction, I think they can both be terrific. I’ll add to the chorus on here saying: if you don’t think Hayden Christensen can act, watch Shattered Glass. Heck of a movie and a heck of a performance.
As for his acting, I don’t think Hollywood has seen that he can’t. There’s a reason his career never took off, and that’s because he’s a terrible actor. He sucked in Jumper and was the worst part of the new Star Wars trilogy (which is saying something).
Shattered Glass and Life As A House disprove your theory. He’s very talented.
And he was far from the worst thing in the Star Wars prequels, which were George Lucas’ brain-damaged writing and directing. And Jar-Jar.
Most of the cast of the Prequels were actors who’ve proved themselves in other films; almost ALL of them came off pretty bad.Christensen’s misfortune is that he didn’t have a reputation BEFORE he appeared in them.
Again, there are other factors involved with regard to the actors performance, such as directing, better character choices, the character’s story arc changing while filming perhaps because someone wants to do rewrites on the spot…not exactly the best will come out on the film when doing that… the story and the character seems gargled… all the audience sees is the actor so they naturally blame him or her. I’m not saying that the circumstances have to be perfect every time for an actor to deliver, but I am saying that there is a learning curve on dealing with those situations. Granted, some get it faster than others. He’s young and maybe thrives in the more nurturing situations and is learning to deal with chaos ensuing while filming. It happens. But he is a good actor.
Wesley French is better looking.
Wesley French from what?
@ But his career never took off… – makes no wonder at all; coz he’s an awfully rotten actor.
“Shattered Glass,” bro. He acted his face off in that movie.
Enough with all the Shattered Glass references! He might have acted his face off, but all that acting was still God awefull! He has no acting Chops. The only reason he gets any kind of cudos from that movie is because he was acting himself.
Ten years ago three of the hottest young actors in the business were Hayden, Keri Russell and Topher Grace. All three were with the exceptional Ken Kaplan at Gersh, and all three left as soon as the “big boys” started blowing smoke in their direction. Now, one is trying to salvage a feature career five years too late, another is bombing in an ill-concieved (at best) return to TV, and the third is deceased(?) as far as the business is concerned.
This should stand as a warning to that (sort-of-pretty, kind-of-bland) chick from those god awful vampire movies. You have brilliant agent. The grass is not greener. Stay the course.
There are so many stories like that. You’d think actors would learn. The big agencies flatter actors by promising service and roles they’re never really going to get. Do you want to be the first if not only actor an agency pushes hard for casting in a big role or the 25th?
Nice press release. And how on earth do these bozos have a first look deal at Sony Screen Gems?They’ve, um, made no movies.
Yeesh. Hollywood.
Hayden was at CAA for some time after another agency (Gersh, I think?) put him in Star Wars, and left for ICM and Jim after the last film was released. Osborne going to Paradigm didn’t to Hayden any favors, and it’s a well-known secret that his brother impeded Hayden’s bankability by trying to schnorr in as a producer on as many projects as possible. Find the guys a series, maybe. He was quite good in Shattered Glass, but he’s no Ryan Gosling.
Gosling is a total deeb. Self-important hipster douche who writes about loving sweaters on his twitter.
Yes, especially because he’s an Oscar nominee. He was at least twice closer for another Oscar nom (2008 and 2011) and he’s receiving nothing but raves in one of the most prestigious film festivals known by fierce critics in a film with difficult theme. Yes, Hayden is better than Gosling (SARCASM)
He needs a James Dean project, perhaps a reimagined biopic or similar. Once he’s got that edgy/outsider niche pegged he’ll get a lot more work and they’ll be better films.
I think he’s just fine as an actor, and I liked him in “Jumper” for what it was worth, but to me there’s just nothing particularly compelling about him. He’s perfectly adequate, but there’s just nothing beyond that to make me think “Holy crap I can’t wait for that new Hayden Christiansen movie”.
He was great in SHATTERED GLASS and could have done much more with Anakin than he ultimately was able to. Hope he finds more great roles soon.
I think we have seen what he’s capable of when cast right: Shattered Glass. If people would just understand that they have a potentially great character actor on their hands a not a dull leading man, the yeah, he might have a worthwhile career.
Maybe Billy Ray should cast him as the insecure first suspect in The Secret in Their Eyes.
“As for his acting, I don’t think Hollywood has really seen what he can do yet.”
I completely agree. I want to see much more of him.
I thought Hayden was absolutely awful as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars films – stiff, wooden line readings, zero charisma or chemistry with Natalie Portman, but…he was amazing in his best role as a shady journalist in SHATTERED GLASS – of course, maybe the fact he was playing a self-absorbed, deluded asshole-cum-pathological liar has something to do with it?
*Everybody* save Ewan, was horrible in that second trio of films
Hate to tell you but ALL were not good due to Lucas’ directing. Look at the great Samuel L. Jackson…wooden, Ewan McGregor…childish, Natalie Portman…looked out of her element, I mena they just couldn’t believe what Lucas was asking of them!