He is best known as the actor who starred as Anakin Skywalker in two of George Lucas’s ill-fated Star Wars prequels, and whose career appeared to sink without a trace in the wake of 2005 final instalment Revenge of the Sith. But Canadian star Hayden Christensen looks set to make an unlikely comeback after signing on to play the 13th-century explorer Marco Polo in a major new Hollywood film.
Christensen, now 33, picked up two Golden Raspberry awards for worst supporting actor following his work in Star Wars. He has appeared largely in independently financed movies over the past five years, and has not had a big box office hit since 2008’s poorly received Jumper.
However, the actor remains a draw in territories such as China and Russia, and may have benefited from a resurgence of interest in all things Star Wars, thanks to the imminent debut of JJ Abrams’s The Force Awakens. Marco Polo, as his new film is titled, is being put together at Paramount with the backing of Chinese investors. State monopoly China Film Group will be a major studio partner on the project.
Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer and trader who spent 24 years in China and documented his experiences with the culture in his Book of the Marvels of the World, is a popular figure in the world’s most populous nation. Rob Cohen, best known for The Fast and the Furious and xXx, will take charge of the cameras for the film.
Marco Polo is also the title of a Netflix series about the famous merchant that was recently picked up for a second season despite largely negative reviews. The TV show follows Polo’s early years in the court of Kublai Khan, the Khagan of the Mongolian empire, who would go on to found China’s Yuan dynasty.
