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CNN Live Today
Interview With Hayden Christensen
Aired October 27, 2003 - 11:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're my editor, you're supposed to support me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When this blows there isn't going to be a magazine anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't go anything wrong. You saw my notes. Everything was in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to have all this too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't do anything wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish you'd stop saying that!
ANNOUNCER: Shattered glass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was a little peek at "Shattered glass," a new film due out Friday. It pieces together the broken words and broken promises of former "New Republic" writer Stephen Glass. In 1998, you might remember, the media revealed Glass fabricated several articles for "The New Republic" and other magazines.
Hayden Christensen who plays Glass joins us to tell us more about the story. Hayden, good morning.
HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN, ACTOR: Good morning. How are you?
KAGAN: I'm doing good. True story here that you're portraying.
CHRISTENSEN: Yes. The telling of the unraveling of Stephen Glass' lies while at his time at "The New Republic."
KAGAN: Now a lot of people, a lot of your fans out there know you from your work in "Star Wars." This is quite a stretch from that.
CHRISTENSEN: Yes, a refreshing one. It was nice to get back to something that was a little more intimate and obviously being based on a real story. Sort of the weight and severity of the actions that are encompassed in our film really hold true when you're trying to bring them to life. KAGAN: What about portraying a real person, though?
CHRISTENSEN: I mean, I never got to meet Stephen. He wasn't really making himself available for our film.
KAGAN: Shockingly.
CHRISTENSEN: Understandably so, yes. But it was fun. He's not really a well-known public figure so I didn't feel like I had to get all of the mannerisms and sort of exactly who he was at that time in his life right.
That said, all of the events in our film are accurate. And for good reason when you're making a film about ethics and journalism.
KAGAN: I would imagine just the way Hollywood works and how long it takes to get a project off the ground, this was already well under way when "The New York Times" scandal with Jayson Blair broke.
CHRISTENSEN: We'd already had a cut of the film finished and in the can by the time the Jayson Blair thing came to light. I was in Sydney, Australia at the time filming the last "Star Wars." And heard about it sort of through the grapevine. And obviously sort of cements everything we're saying in our film and makes it that much more timely. Which is great for us and not so great for the field of journalism.
KAGAN: Absolutely. We'd love to talk more about that and your impressions of this field I work in. We have a lot of breaking news today. So I'm going to have to let you go but wish you well with the film. We appreciate you stopping by. Hayden Christensen, "Shattered Glass," and the other "Star Wars" coming out in a year and a half.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 27, 2003 - 11:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're my editor, you're supposed to support me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When this blows there isn't going to be a magazine anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't go anything wrong. You saw my notes. Everything was in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to have all this too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't do anything wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish you'd stop saying that!
ANNOUNCER: Shattered glass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was a little peek at "Shattered glass," a new film due out Friday. It pieces together the broken words and broken promises of former "New Republic" writer Stephen Glass. In 1998, you might remember, the media revealed Glass fabricated several articles for "The New Republic" and other magazines.
Hayden Christensen who plays Glass joins us to tell us more about the story. Hayden, good morning.
HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN, ACTOR: Good morning. How are you?
KAGAN: I'm doing good. True story here that you're portraying.
CHRISTENSEN: Yes. The telling of the unraveling of Stephen Glass' lies while at his time at "The New Republic."
KAGAN: Now a lot of people, a lot of your fans out there know you from your work in "Star Wars." This is quite a stretch from that.
CHRISTENSEN: Yes, a refreshing one. It was nice to get back to something that was a little more intimate and obviously being based on a real story. Sort of the weight and severity of the actions that are encompassed in our film really hold true when you're trying to bring them to life. KAGAN: What about portraying a real person, though?
CHRISTENSEN: I mean, I never got to meet Stephen. He wasn't really making himself available for our film.
KAGAN: Shockingly.
CHRISTENSEN: Understandably so, yes. But it was fun. He's not really a well-known public figure so I didn't feel like I had to get all of the mannerisms and sort of exactly who he was at that time in his life right.
That said, all of the events in our film are accurate. And for good reason when you're making a film about ethics and journalism.
KAGAN: I would imagine just the way Hollywood works and how long it takes to get a project off the ground, this was already well under way when "The New York Times" scandal with Jayson Blair broke.
CHRISTENSEN: We'd already had a cut of the film finished and in the can by the time the Jayson Blair thing came to light. I was in Sydney, Australia at the time filming the last "Star Wars." And heard about it sort of through the grapevine. And obviously sort of cements everything we're saying in our film and makes it that much more timely. Which is great for us and not so great for the field of journalism.
KAGAN: Absolutely. We'd love to talk more about that and your impressions of this field I work in. We have a lot of breaking news today. So I'm going to have to let you go but wish you well with the film. We appreciate you stopping by. Hayden Christensen, "Shattered Glass," and the other "Star Wars" coming out in a year and a half.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
