newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Perhaps the most popular commercial of this year's Super Bowl wasn't six-year old Max Page's first TV appearance. The boy who played Darth Vader Jr. has been performing since he could walk and had a recurring role on "The Young and the Restless."

This past Monday, Max unmasked himself on the "Today" show.

Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira were impressed, and even got Page to use his powers to lower part of the "Today" set. According to the Huffington Post, Page's mother said that he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect when he was just a few months old, and now uses a pacemaker. Page also said that he's never even seen any "Star Wars" movies.

But he does look a lot like Mark Hamill.

Max starred in one of the Super Bowl commercials everyone talked about most: the Volkswagen ad where a pint-sized Darth Vader attempts to use the Force — and only finds success with a new VW car.

But Max has had to fight for his stardom as he was diagnosed when he was an infant with a heart defect.

"He had his first surgery when he was 3 months old at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles," Max's mom Jennifer Page said, according to OK magazine. "They saved his life and gave him back to us about a week after his first surgery. He had to have a pacemaker put in, so he has maintenance on that."

According to the Chatanooga Times Free Press, Page said the family came to New York from California, thinking they would appear on just the "Today" show. By Wednesday morning, though, they had done more than two dozen interviews for shows such as "Entertainment Tonight," "Inside Hollywood" and "Morning Joe."

In VW's ad, a young boy is marching around his house in a Darth Vader costume. He tries to use The Force to get his dog to rise, open the dryer, move a sandwich across the counter, all to no avail. Finally, dad comes home in the Passat. Junior Darth starts with the Jedi gestures to get the car to do something. Dad uses remote start from inside the house to fire up the ignition. His son is shocked. He got the force to work. He thinks he started the car with Jedi mind tricks.

David Welch of Business Week says the ad is a lot of fun and shows once again that VW doesn't take itself too seriously. VW's marketing efforts have usually cast a fun image.

Also, USA Today reports the ad took the Number 3 spot in their 23rd annual exclusive Ad Meter. The commercial tied for the highest finish ever by a car ad in the Super Bowl, tying a Nissan ad in 1997.

Max got the part in the commercial through an open casting call. Because of his age, he was allowed to be on the set for 81/2 hours each day, and was paid scale wages for those two days, his mother said.

While he was in New York, Max met James Earl Jones — the real voice of the Sith lord — when he visited the stage of the Broadway production of "Driving Miss Daisy," in which Jones stars.

Jones gave Max an autographed Vader helmet and posed for pictures.

When asked by Access Hollywood what role he would like to play next, Max said,

"My mom said if I get on Oprah, she's gonna open my bank account! It's probably what I'm trying to get."