The world held its breath when Padme Amidala asked Anakin Skywalker whether he had killed younglings. Although Skywalker had indeed killed the children of the Jedi, the actor portraying the role, Hayden Christensen had other plans.
Since children needed a terrified expression on their faces, the cast and crew of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith had to get creative. And by creative we mean primal.
When Hayden Christensen Shouted At Kids!
From killing younglings to trying to wipe out the entire Jedi race from the universe, the character of Anakin Skywalker became more and more chaotic and discordant as the movie drew to a close.
However, the purge of the Jedi meant that not even the children should be spared. This was something highly different from what George Lucas would want to show in his movies but he wanted the people to truly hate Hayden Christensen’s character.
In one of the scenes, Anakin Skywalker goes to the Jedi Council chambers and sees little kids hiding. He draws his lightsaber and the scene cuts. Well, to get the child’s reaction on point, was a different task entirely (via Star Wars Explained).
[I] shouted, or growled at him, because we needed a genuine moment of him being startled. It got the response that we needed, and it makes that scene work really well.
Not only that, but the child actor, who comes forward and is supposed to be scared, revealed that it was a matter of focus. Ross Beadman, who portrayed the role of the child in Revenge of the Sith had a story to share from the set.
Appearing in an interview, Beadman shared that it took the cast and crew around four to five takes to wrap that scene. The actor also revealed Hayden Christensen’s terrifying expressions made him freak out a little!
Hayden Christensen Had Horrifying Expressions!
Ross Beadman, the kid who steps forward in the hopes that Anakin Skywalker has come to save them, was only 7 years old when the film was released. Not getting a hang of expressions, Christensen had to get creative.
In his interview with Star Wars Explained, Beadman talked about the shooting of that scene. Stating that it took them four to five takes to nail it down, Christensen shouted at Beadman so that he would be scared!
Yeah, it took a few takes. It was about four takes before we finally got it right. So in the first few takes I kept looking down at Anakin’s lightsaber when he went like that [mimes lightsaber unsheathing].
He further continued,
And they said ‘Don’t look at it, just look at Anakin, and we’ll restart.’ And we kept restarting. And yeah, on the last take I got it correct, and after he unsheathed it he shouted ‘BOO!’ and that falling back from me made it properly natural.
The resulting scene was the iconic shot used in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas was indeed right since Anakin Skywalker’s massacre of the Jedi was impacting enough for the world to start hating him.
After the film’s release, Revenge of the Sith received a rating of 7.6/10 on IMDB and a whopping 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. With Hayden Christensen in one of the lead roles, the film is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
