Hayden Christensen pays nostalgic tribute to Ewan McGregor on Hollywood Walk of Fame
By Anwesha Nag
Ewan McGregor got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, and who better to honor his accomplishements than his Star Wars co-star and the other half of their iconic bromance, Hayden Christensen?
Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequels opposite McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, paid heartwarming tribute to his former co-star and longtime friend at the ceremony. The two met for the first time on the set of 2002's Attack of the Clones. Christensen revisited the memory fondly during the induction speech.
"I often think about the first time that I met you," Christensen said. "We were both in Australia, many moons ago, getting ready to do Star Wars: Episode II. I walk into this room where I'm told Ewan is going to be, and before I can even put eyes on him, I hear his voice. And he exclaims my name with more enthusiasm than I think I'd ever heard it spoken with before. I turn and I see him, and then he's coming at me, and he just gives me the biggest hug. Like, just the most disarmingly warm embrace."
In that one brief encounter, Christensen knew he was not only meeting "someone truly special" but a friend. "A friend who would later go on to chop off both my legs and leave me for dead on the side of a volcano, but I guess I kind of had that coming," Christensen joked. That's a reference to his character's heartbreaking fate at the hands of Kenobi in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith after what is inarguably the best lightsaber battle to date.
Christensen complimented the the magic McGregor brought to the character of Obi-Wan, honoring the work of Alec Guinness while "imbuing the role with his own depth and emotion." Christensen hopes to see more of McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Because this man is just Star Wars gold." Christensen concluded by thanking McGregor for "being the best Jedi Master that anyone could have ever hoped for."
"You always had my back and I thank you for that. I'm just so happy to get to be here with you right now. It's been an honor and a thrill to get to work with you, swing a lightsaber with you, and more than all of it, call you my friend. I love you, brother."
McGregor returned all the love and praise in his own acceptance speech. He also said he was moved that his Walk of Fame star sat very close to the star of the late Carrie Fisher's, who immortalized the Star Wars character Princess Leia Organa.
McGregor also told Variety that even after 25 years, he has not grown tired of the character and would love to tell more stories, ideally set between where the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series ended and the original trilogy begins.
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