He commands a bigger paycheque, he is Anakin Skywalker, and still Hayden Christensen took a firm backseat to Rachel Bilson last night. Of course it was a fashion event and she is the fashion girl. But up and down the press line, they were screaming for HER. They were not screaming for HIM. Half the outlets, in fact, couldn’t care less.

We’re on a Canadian show so we definitely cared. And he came by and talked to us and he was as uncomfortable as he usually is with media but polite and perked up considerably when I asked him about superhero powers and teleporting and he said he was pretty excited about the success of Jumper and smiled broadly when we talked about the possibility of a sequel and then he drifted off to wait.

We thought he headed inside. Rachel meanwhile was working the media. It took her forever to get up the stairs. Then all of a sudden, Hayden reappeared. He kind of confusingly wandered back over to our side of the carpet and a few reporters next to me were like – is he drunk? He seems drunk.

I don’t think he was drunk. But he was lost. He was looking for her. And she was still a ways off from wrapping up. So then he meandered up to the landing by the main doors and stood there awkwardly, not like a movie star but like a civilian, dawdling, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, unsure of what to do and not really having anyone to talk to.

I felt like I was watching a kid in school on his first day. Broke my heart. Wanted to offer him a seat next to me on the bus.

Finally Eva Mendes walked by him and gave him a hug. And then, after what must have seemed to him like an eternity, Rachel joined him again and they made their way into the gala.

Conclusions or assumptions?

Clearly he was out of his element. But he was there to be with her. He must be really into her, non? In that sense, it’s actually really cute.

And in real life, they are actually really cute together.

As for what they were wearing – Hayden is beautiful but he was underdressed. And Rachel is beautiful too but the bangs with the no neck turtleneck had the effect of one long dark gloomy sheet. It was definitely superheroine-ish but also definitely not her brightest or her best.

Photos from Splashnewsonline.com