Hayden Panettiere director: 'Dark energy' when Brian Hickerson was with her

The director of one of Hayden Panettiere's final movies said there was a "dark energy" in her room when she brought Brian Hickerson to set.

The Heroes actress passed away on Sunday (16.08.26) at the age of 36 and it has emerged her on/off boyfriend - who was previously jailed for domestic violence incidents involving the late star - and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were with her when she passed away at a South Carolina apartment building, with dispatch audio that has been made public referring to an "overdose" and "cardiac arrest".

And now Griff Furst, who directed Hayden - who had a history of substance abuse and alcoholism - in 2025's direct-to-video action-horror film A Breed Apart recalled how excited he was to work with the Nashville star after meeting a decade ago, only to feel the actress was "not okay" when she first arrived to start work accompanied by Brian.

In an Instagram video, he said: “I knew that she was insanely talented, so when she signed on to do this picture we were shooting, I was psyched. I really wanted to work with her...

“I get word from the movie’s security team who picked her up from the airport that something was off.

“And I didn’t think much about it, and so I left set and I walked over to greet her and her boyfriend Brian. He opened the door, and Hayden was incredibly sweet and gracious and excited to work, but she was not okay.”

While the director didn't explain what was "off" and "not okay" with the Scream 4 star, he insisted it as "pretty clear" that all was not well.

He added: “I’m not gonna get into the details of why that was, but having worked on over 100 movies and seeing just about everything, it was pretty clear that she wasn’t okay/ And the energy in her room was pretty dark.”

A Breed Apart was the second to last film Hayden worked on before her death, but Griff revealed he was hoping to work with the actress again, having hoped she had been "getting better" in the wake of the release of her autobiography, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

He said: “Recently, with her new book and the press she’s been doing, I believed she was getting better.

“And we’d even talked about doing another picture together recently, which is what makes this s***** news hit even harder.”

The director hailed the troubled star - who had 11-year-old daughter Kaya with former partner Wladimir Klitschko - as "incredible" and "a force to be reckoned with".

He added: “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.