Will

spotlight I
SHAWN
ROBERTS
takes control
Shawn Roberts savoured his chance
to tear a strip off Darth Vader, a.k.a.
Hayden Christensen, in this month’s
sci-fi action pic Jumper.
“I’m in a bar, hitting on a girl when
Hayden Christensen comes in and we
have a little bit of a conflict, a vocal fight,
as it were,” says Roberts on the line from
his sister’s home in Hamilton, Ontario,
where the handsome 23-year-old actor is
crashing at the moment. “I’m all over the
place — L.A. Toronto, Vancouver — so
this is the easiest place for me to call
my home base,” he explains.
famous 14 | february 2008
Roberts, originally from Stratford,
Ontario, has been acting professionally
since he landed his first audition as a
12-year-old, playing Emily’s love interest
in the TV series Emily of New Moon.
His small-screen résumé includes
appearances on Degrassi: The Next
Generation and La Femme Nikita,
while his movie credits include roles in
X-Men, Skinwalkers and the horror pic
Diary of the Dead, which also opens,
albeit in limited release, this month.
Jumper, about a man (Christensen)
who discovers he can teleport, is helmed
by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity,
Mr. & Mrs. Smith), a filmmaker known for
his chaotic sets and demanding nature
(he likes to shoot and shoot and shoot,
which drives movie studios crazy). How
did Roberts find working with him?
“I can definitely see why some people
might say he’s ‘different,’ but he’s a
visionary genius is what he is. He’s
coming off of making Mr. & Mrs. Smith,
which I thought was awesome.... I mean,
he’s a very intense guy, but welcoming
and all that, so it was great.”
A big-budget action flick like Jumper
could jump-start Roberts’ career, but the
actor isn’t waiting around for his
cellphone to ring. Although he’s only 23,
Roberts has decided he needs to start
producing movies himself in order to
take control of his career.
“You can only go out for other people’s
projects for so long until you say, ‘You
know what, I really want to do something
that’s mine.’
“And this past year has been kinda
slow, and with the writers’ strike it’s
really made the industry a bit unsteady,
unstable. So whatya do when things are
unstable? You think, ‘Okay, what can I
do to better my situation?’ This is the
next logical step.”
With that in mind, Roberts is off to
this month’s Sundance Film Festival
to support Diary of the Dead, which
is screening at the fest, and to make
a few movie connections of his own.
“It’s time to shake hands and kiss
babies,” he says with a laugh.
—INGRID RANDOJA
PHOTO BY GIULIANO BEKOR/LIGHTBOX STUDIO
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