TORONTO -- Toronto actor Hayden Christensen is not naive.

He knows there's little chance of anything in his immediate future that will eclipse his roles in the next two Star Wars films.

In Attack of the Clones, Christensen plays Anakin Skywalker who will eventually father Luke Skywalker and be seduced by the forces of evil to become Darth Vader.

Christensen, who still lives with his family just outside Toronto, is back in Canada helping to promote the small independent film Life As A House, in which he plays Kevin Kline's troubled teenage son.

Though Christensen has been forbidden to say anything specific about the plot or characters of Attack of the Clones, he does talk about how specific George Lucas can be.

Christensen wanted to meet Jake Lloyd who played Anakin in The Phantom Menace but "George didn't want anything to interfere with how I was playing Anakin at this stage of his life."

Though he reveals that "there are hints of the dark forces invading Anakin's life in Episode II, Anakin is still essentially good in this next movie."

Christensen gets to deal with much darker emotions in Life As A House because he plays a teenager who is so angry at the world he loses himself in drugs.

"Sam is the kind of person I avoided at my schools so I went back to my high school and talked with kids who are like Sam. It really opened my eyes."

Christensen admits it was a blast working with the light sabres and hanging out with Ewan McGregor on Attack of the Clones and is just as eager as other Star Wars fans to see what Lucas and his special effects wizards will do to make Episode II the wildest of all the Star Wars films to date.


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