After Hayden Panettiere died Aug. 16, director Griff Furst\u2014who worked with her on A Breed Apart\u2014recalled that the energy in her room on set was \u201cpretty dark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another of Hayden Panettiere\u2019s former coworkers is reflecting on her final projects.<\/p>\n
After the Heroes actress unexpectedly died Aug. 16 at the age of 36, her former director Griff Furst detailed how she seemed off while they worked on the 2025 movie A Breed Apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she signed on to do this picture that we were shooting, I was psyched,\u201d Furst said in an Aug. 17 Instagram video. \u201cI really wanted to work with her. So I\u2019m on set, and I get word from the movie\u2019s security team who picked her up from the airport that something was off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the director \u201cdidn\u2019t think much about it\u201d and went to say hello to Panettiere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walked over to greet her and her boyfriend Brian,\u201d he continued, seemingly referring to Brian Hickerson. \u201cHe opened the door. Hayden was incredibly sweet and gracious and excited to work, but she was not OK.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though he emphasized he was \u201cnot going to get into the details\u201d of why Panettiere seemed off, Furst\u2014who said he first met the Nashville star a decade ago\u2014added, \u201cHaving worked on over 100 movies and seen just about everything, it was pretty clear that she wasn\u2019t OK and the energy in her room was pretty dark.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, Furst emphasized that Panettiere\u2019s \u201clight\u201d still shone through on set, though it was noticeably dimmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe really was incredible,\u201d he concluded. \u201cShe was a force to be reckoned with, and when we did this movie, that was definitely still in there. But there was something else in there, too, that made it a lot harder to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to her death, Panettiere spoke candidly about her life\u2019s struggles, including her battle with addiction and post-partum depression. In fact, she released her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning earlier this year, in which she reflected on her early career and her relationship with her and ex-fianc\u00e9 Wladimir Klitschko\u2019s 11-year-old daughter Kaya.<\/p>\n
Since her death, another one of the Bring It On: All or Nothing actress\u2019 coworkers spoke about how she was \u201cstruggling\u201d while filming her final movie Sleepwalker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHayden seemed different when I met her this time than when I met her in the early years,\u201d Justin Chatwin told People in an Aug. 17 interview. \u201cI\u2019ve been sober for 15 years, so I know this world of addiction, and Hollywood\u2014it takes, and it takes from youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cI could tell she was struggling, and I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s this movie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When Panettiere\u2019s ex spoke out about her death, he also referenced the difficulties she faced throughout her life.<\/p>\n
"She built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry,\u201d Klitschko shared in an Aug. 18 statement on Instagram. \u201cNothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives."<\/p>\n