When Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005, there was one moment that a lot of Star Wars fans were looking forward to: the epic fight between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi that would result in the former being horribly injured. The end result didn’t disappoint, as in addition to most of his libs being sliced off, Anakin was burned beyond recognition. Now a photo from Revenge of the Sith’s production has resurfaced providing a closer look at Hayden Christensen wearing this burn makeup. Check it out!
from r/StarWars
Say what you will about the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but on the makeup, art design and costumes front, those movies did a tremendous job. This makeup applied to Hayden Christensen (as posted on Reddit) in particular looks good, and serves as a reminder to those in the Star Wars universe why Mustafar is not a popular vacation spot. In all seriousness though, I can’t imagine it was fun to Christensen to sit for however long it took to make him look like a burn victim, but since Anakin only appears like this for at most a couple minutes in Revenge of the Sith, at least this wasn’t something he and the makeup team had to spend an exorbitant time on during principal photography.
In case it’s been a while since you last watched Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi locked lightsaber blades on Mustafar after nearly all the Jedi in the galaxy has been killed by Order 66 and Anakin slaughtered the Separatist leadership on the lava planet. After seeing Anakin start to kill Padme Amidala with a Force choke, Obi-Wan, having snuck aboard the Naboo senator’s ship, realized that his apprentice was too far gone, and one lightsaber duel later, Ob-Wan came out victorious by finding the high ground. He believed Anakin would die from his injuries and massive burning, but because Emperor Palpatine arrived in the nick of time, Anakin was brought back to Coruscant and turned into the cybernetic Darth Vader we love and fear… more the latter.
While Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was Hayden Christensen’s final appearance in the Star Wars franchise, within the Star Wars timeline, he’d appear once more. Starting with the 2004 DVD release of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi now features Christensen as Anakin Skywalker as a Force ghost alongside of the phantasmic Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda in place of the original actor, Sebastian Shaw. And just like with Shaw, Christensen’s Anakin was no longer scarred and burned, looking as he did in his prime. This is further proof that it pays to turn back to the light side of the Force at the last minute.
The Star Wars saga continues on December 20 with the release of Star Wars: Episode IX, the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. If you’re interested in learning what other Star Wars projects are in the works, look through our handy guide.
