American Dreamboat's Darth Vader Connection

Jamie Elman is a professional actor. He's been in show business for years. He's even got a regular gig playing nerdy dreamboat Luke on American Dreams. We make special mention of these facts because, after reading the following confession, you might be tempted to think otherwise. Ready? Okay.

On the set of the feature Shattered Glass (opening Oct. 17), about the New Republic reporter whose fabricated articles predated the Jayson Blair scandal, the Star Wars fanatic had to use the Force to keep from going all ComiCon on co-star Hayden Christensen. "I wanted to tell him, 'Hey, it's another movie about Darth Vader and Luke,'" he admits to TV Guide Online. "Get it? Darth Vader [his big-screen counterpart] and Luke [my TV character]." Long pause. Dead silence. "Eh, I don't think even he would get that joke."

Elman also refrained from challenging the erstwhile Anakin Skywalker to a light-saber duel. "No, I did not do that," the Canuck insists, deliberately wheezing as if through the villain's mask. "I didn't even bring up Star Wars at all until way, way into [production], when they were good and pregnant with me. They couldn't have gotten me out of there at that point [, because it would have required too many costly reshoots]."

Now that the movie is in the can — and it's really too late to can Elman — he feels prepared to press the flesh with the boss: executive producer Tom Cruise. "I'm hoping that if there is an L.A. premiere, I can finagle a couple of tickets and get to meet him," he says. "I worship that guy. I wasn't even going to [audition for the film], then my agent called and said, 'What's your problem? It's being produced by Tom Cruise!'

"At that point," he concludes with a laugh, "I didn't even have to read the script anymore. I wanted in. Tom Cruise is a man among men. He's a god!"