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| Guess Who Knew His Secret (Toronto Sun) For 10 days, actress A.J. Cook had the answer to Hollywood's hottest question. "It's been hard. I've wanted to scream it from the rooftops because I'm so proud of him," Cook said yesterday of being in the sworn-to-secrecy circle of friends and family whom actor Hayden Christensen entrusted with word of his massive career break - that he'll play Anakin Skywalker in the next two Star Wars movies. It would be hard to sit on such big news in any circumstances, but harder still since Cook was busy playing meet-the-press for her own project. In The Virgin Suicides, the new Sofia Coppola feature film, the stunning Uma Thurman look-alike co-stars as Mary Lisbon, one of five doomed siblings in 1970's suburbia. "I've been having to do a lot of publicity for that, and people had been hearing about Hayden and wanting to ask me about it, and I was like 'I can't talk about it, I'm sorry, I don't know anything'" Cook said yesterday while visiting her family in Whitby. Christensen, who hails from Thornhill and was finally announced as Anakin on Friday, has a smaller role in Virgin Suicides as one of the neighbourhood boys who idolize-from-afar the Lisbon sisters. Cook, 21 and Christensen, 19 got closer co-starring as boyfriend and girlfriend on the Vancouver made TV series Higher Ground. "Hayden is very talented. He just has this ability. I watch the show sometimes and I'm just kind of in awe with what he does," she said "What comes across on screen is so beautiful and so true. It's incredible." The 22-episode drama about a mountain high school for troubled teens is now airing only in the U.S. on the Fox Family Channel. It will debut here this fall on ONtv. When Christensen sealed the Star Wars deal, he flew to Vancouver to be with Cook, actress Meghan Ory and others from the tight-knit Higher Ground cast. To celebrate, they went to a Virgin Suicides preview screening, where their keep-a-secret mission took a surreal, hiding-in-plain sight tone. "When we all saw him walking down the street, we all started singing the Star Wars theme" she recalled laughing "And he had on his Episode I hat. I was like, 'Oh yeah, we're going to keep this on the down-low'." Cook is a longtime Star Wars fan who admits she tried out that Princess Leia two-cruller hairstyle when she was younger. The 'A' in her name stands for 'Andrea'. The 'J' is a secret, although "I think Hayden knows" she said. Her acting credits include feature film Teen Sorcery, TV movies Elvis Meets Nixon and In His Father's Shoes, and a guest role on Goosebumps. Tomorrow, back in Vancouver, she'll guest star on sci-fi series First Wave as a possessed cheerleader. But she's okay with being known by some as the actress who kissed the Anakin actor. "I wouldn't be surprised. Just knowing how teenage girls are" she said "I wouldn't doubt it if people e-mail me a lot 'Wow what's Anakin Skywalker like?'" The bulk of fan mail to Higher Ground tended to either be to, or about, Christensen. "The fan mail that we get on the show for Hayden is like insane. All the girls are just so-o-o in love with Hayden. I get e-mails too, saying 'What's it like working with Hayden?' It's just so cute. It's so funny." "When all that stuff started coming in, he was just totally taking it with a grain of salt. He was like 'Whatever'. He doesn't get excited about that kind of thing. He's more the type of guy that wants to work on a good project with good people. He's very business-minded, and all that other stuff is just, you know, extra stuff that is around him but doesn't affect him." |
| Anakin Kicks Butt (Ottawa Sun) ...With a little help from Ottawa martial arts pro Sayed Najem Star Wars hero Anakin Skywalker has found a new force to guide him in his quest against evil. It's Alta Vista resident, former Canadian Olympian and Tae Kwon Do Master Sayed Najem. Toronto actor and next-big-thing Hayden Christensen, who's pegged to play Skywalker in George Lucas' next Star Wars film, has been training with one-man army Najem in an intensive one-week session that finished last weekend. Najem has signed a contract to continue training Christensen throughout the shoot. "I taught him all the basic moves of martial arts, the blocks, the punches, the kicks, the mental attitude to become an actor, to become a real martial artist," he says. "But the most important was the staff training for the light sabre." The art of wielding that famous weapon found in all the Star Wars films, is virtually the same as that found in the Tae staff. Najem has a black belt in staff and is a Tae Kwon Do Master -- fifth degree black belt with 20 years of training. Najem first crossed paths with Christensen this year while training Hayden's sister Hejsa in Toronto. She asked if he could "do her a small favour" and train her brother. He agreed reluctantly. "I don't work for free," he reasons. While Christensen had been cast in a role that would ensure his celebrity, that was still embargoed information. He didn't even have enough money to buy Najem's plane ticket to Toronto. A goldmine But enough hints were dropped for Najem to realize that he was sitting on a goldmine that might open some doors for his own career in the dream machine. He would not say no to a career in movies and television. So, he paid his own way and gave Christensen the mechanics to become a convincing swordsman and pugilist. "This kid is going to be the biggest celebrity in the world,"says Najem enthusiastically. "He picked up the martial arts big time after only one week. He's so focused, he learns fast and yet he's so humble and quiet, I love it." Najem says and does everything enthusiastically. Full of energy and hope, he had a surprising effect on Christensen. "During our training, we created a bond with each other," he says. "When you begin training, it's 80% physical and 20% mental. But in a competition at this level, it's 20% physical and 80% mental." Najem and Hayden discovered quickly they were both tuned into the same focused ambitions and using their energy creatively. "I was walking home with him when I asked him if I could have an autographed picture and he said, 'Can you do the same for me?' " He continues to train 6-8 hours a day and does private training with some of Ottawa's leading CEOs while studying at Learnet College. Najem immigrated to Ottawa with his family from Chipten, Lebanon, in the early 1980s and studied Tae Kwon Do with Master Min in Edmonton. He competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics for Canada, won the gold at the 1990 Pan-Am Games and won the silver at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. [page 2] [page 3] |