Hayden Christensen reveals what it was like to wear the Darth Vader costume

Hayden Christensen portrayed the iconic villain Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader as recently as Obi-Wan 2022 and before that in the films Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, but he has never actually talked about wearing the classic Darth Vader costume until now. Christensen, who made his debut in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, also reveals that at first he wasn't supposed to wear it at all, but he eventually managed to convince George Lucas to do so, who then also had a suit custom-made for him to fit a little better than the one worn by David Prowes.

Hayden Christensen (via GQ):

"I found out that they were not planning having me be in the Darth Vader suit, and I was a little bummed about that. So I spoke to George Lucas and I asked him, and he was kind enough to oblige. I think there's something nice about knowing that it's the actor in the costume as well, but it was really just for my benefit. It was a challenging suit to move around, and I told George, I was like, "Look, I don't know that I can move as well as I thought I'd be able to." And he was like, "It's okay, it's supposed to be your first time in the suit, so if it's a little rigid and awkward, he was like, that's a good thing, actually."

When the helmet goes on, and you're just totally enclosed in this costume, it was a remarkable experience, just because you could see people's reaction to seeing Vader for the first time. People who were usually very assertive became a little more timid, and they'd kind of like not wanna make eye contact with you. I had good fun with that."