'Life as a House' Gets Oscar Buzz

Dec. 4 -- Kevin Kline's quest for another Oscar may go right through his living room.

Life as a House, the story of a dying man who wants to build his dream house, has won critics praise. In the film, Kline's character, an architect named, tries to bridge the generation gap that exists between him and his son, played by Hayden Christensen.

"The lessons one learns from a story like this are the kind of lessons that are more reminders of things that you knew all along but it's always good to be reminded of," Kline says.

While Life as a House is a tearjerker, George laughs in the face of death. "He sort of leapt off the pages at me," Kline says. "I loved his sense of humor, his rather mordant sense of humor, perhaps, and his ill-timed sense of humor."

Even if Oscar passes by Kline for this one, he'll still be able to go home and celebrate with the Best Supporting Actor Oscar he won in 1989 for playing Otto, the Nietzche-quoting would-be hitman in A Fish Called Wanda.

Christensen might still be a relative unknown, but not for long. He'll next be seen as the young Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.

And the young actor is quite aware that his days of anonymity are numbered.

"I relish in the fact that I can take the subway and be left in peace, but I think those days are limited," he says. "I mean, Star Wars has such a cultural following. It's everywhere."

ABCNEWS Radio contributed to this report.