Mark Interviews 2000+

From Jedi to Joker

Everything you know about Mark Hamill is wrong. Well, maybe not everything, but odds are a lot of it is. Consider the following evidence:

Exhibit A: The Wampa Attack
Most Insider readers know for a fact that George Lucas felt he had to write that scene into the opening of The Empire Strikes Back to cover for young Skywalker's change of face. Others assert that, obviously, the scene was written to cover for the horrible accident Mark Hamill had while driving a corvette. Whatever the case, it's common knowledge that the car wreck happened just before shooting was to begin on Empire, right?

Wrong, buster.

First, that corvette thing was just a movie, Corvette Summer, in which Hamill co-starred with Annie Potts.

Second, this scene was filmed two years after Hamill's accident and successful plastic surgery. In a 1999 interview, Hamill related, "I broke my nose, but it didn't affect the filming schedule. It happened in early '77, and we didn't start working on Empire until '79 or so.... I even asked George about it myself. He said 'No', that Luke was always captured by the Wampa."

It's worth noting that the crash did cost Hamill a TV role, however: the oldest Bradford son on Eight Is Enough - a show for which he'd already shot the pilot. He was replaced by Grant Goodeve.


Exhibit B: The Guyver


One of Mark Hamill's more notable post-STAR WARS roles was that of Sean, the teen who became the mysterious hero, the Guyver, in the B-movie version of the comic of the same name. And, hey, didn't Hamill write a few issues of that comic, too?

Not hardly, although you would have had to see the semi-obscure movie to know that for sure. Hamill is in the movie all right - in fact, he gets turned into a giant cockroach for reasons too lengthy to detail here - but he's playing a CIA agent, not the kid.

The comic Hamill wrote with his cousin, Eric Johnson, is an original story about a costumed hero in the real world called The Black Pearl.

Exhibit C: Princess Carrie

Mark Hamill, excitable kid that he was at the time, was so worked up shooting the jubilant scene where Luke greeted Leia after destroying the Death Star that he shouted,"Carrie!" instead of "Leia!". The goof remained in the film and is clearly audible.

Hamill said in a 1996 AOL chat, "The yelling 'Carrie' rumour is wrong, was always wrong despite the fact that it was printed in a book of film bloopers.... The actual phrase said 'There she...' as in 'There she is,' as I was looking for the Princess in the crowd, and that's what I dubbed. Because the rumour was printed, people believe it, but I don't want to deny it too much, because that makes people believe it more."

Exhibit D: The Joker and The Trickster

Arguably, Hamill's most noted role since STAR WARS is the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series and its progeny. The role came to Hamill because of his work as the Trickster, James Jesse, in the TV series The Flash.

The Trickster, while no doubt a Joker-esque character, had little if anything to do with Hamill's winning the choice part of the Clown Prince of Crime. According to an interview with Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi, Hamill had merely mentioned The Simpsons in an interview, and Simpson voice casting director Andrea Romano, who also cast Batman, decided to offer Hamill a crucial role in the Mr. Freeze origin episode Heart Of Ice. "They threw me that first episode, meaning I didn't audition," he told the Alibi. "I went in and played this sort of hypocritical business man (Ferris Boyle) who actually is the guy that's responsible for turning Mr. Freeze into Mr. Freeze."

Soon after, Romano asked whether he would like to read for a role in Batman as the Joker. Hamill told the Alibi that the inspiration of the Beatles and Mozart where what won him the part. "I looked at one little drawing of Joker and thought of the Blue Meanies from Yellow Submarine. I did have that laugh that I'd been doing for nearly a year as Mozart (Hamill starred in a touring production of Amadeus). It was sort of a high-pitched giggle, but it was meant to really grate on the nerves. I just put a more maniacal, sinister spin on that."

And you thought you knew Mark Hamill.

Still, dedicated STAR WARS fans know a lot more about Mark Hamill's career than most people, despite the near universal cultural appeal of the trilogy. Most casual STAR WARS viewers probably believe that a terrible fate "befell" Mark Hamill. While Harrison Ford went on to blockbuster superstardom and Carrie Fisher became a best-selling writer, the baby-faced farm boy from Tatooine could never escape the cloak of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Hamill took roles in computer games, cable movies, and cartoons to pay the bills. Some have even heard that he went back into (gasp!) musical theater. How could a young actor who showed so much promise NOT resent the success of the others?

Those who ask such questions are missing the point, although poking fun at such misconceptions led to Hamill's guest spot on The Simpsons. When Hamill finally did appear in Springfield, he did the show as himself in the episode Mayored To The Mob, a.k.a The Bodyguard episode.

Admittedly, some casting directors and more than a few producers might have dismissed Hamill as "that kid from STAR WARS", but Hamill has refused to compromise - much - in his choice of jobs since saving the galaxy from the Empire. He's proudly pointed out, for example, that he's refused to take "Luke-clone" parts in quick attempts to cash in on the STAR WARS phenomenon. Instead, Hamill has found that the financial security the role of Luke provided has allowed him to pursue work that he truly enjoys. Hamill, who wasn't allowed to read comics as a child, enjoys working in comic and comic-type features, even B-movies like The Guyver, John Carpenter's Body Bags, or Village of the Damned. The Black Pearl comic book began its existence as a screenplay, also showing Hamill's fascination with the medium.

As far as stage work is concerned (and despite The Simpsons, it bears mention that Hamill has not been doing dinner theater dressed as farm boy Luke), that classic episode of The Muppet Show was not too far off the mark: Hamill really is a talented song-and-dance man who loves the challenge and experience of live performance. He was the last actor to play the titular character in the award-winning first run of The Elephant Man on Broadway, toured in Amadeus, and won a drama desk award for his original role in Harrigan & Hart.

Whether it's a stage role of Mozart in Amadeus, a low-budget John Carpenter picture, a STAR WARS spoofing cameo in Kevin Smith's Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Mark Hamill's intent is to have fun doing what he loves.

From Tiger Beat to Tatooine

Mark Richard Hamill was born September 25, 1951, in Oakland, California. The son of a US Naval officer, Mark - the middle child out of seven kids - moved frequently. He would later attribute this rootless childhood and its deleterious effect on his psyche at the time with giving him the ability to be a stable presence for his family as an adult.

When the family moved to Japan, Hamill attended his last two years of high school there and was student body president. He loved the experience and told Seventeen magazine in 1981: "I had independence - taxis were cheap, you could take trains all over the country, it was real adventure."

After graduating from high school in Yokohama, Hamill's family moved back to California. He became more serious about acting while attending L.A. City College, and he made his first TV appearance on the old Bill Cosby Show back in 1970. From there, he took a string of supporting and guest-starring roles on cop shows like Bronk, The FBI, and The Streets Of San Francisco (co-starring in the latter with Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica). During this period, Hamill also took a 9-month stint on General Hospital (his character was sent to a military academy) and a voiceover job on an animated version of I Dream Of Jeannie. He also appeared on a pivotal episode of The Partridge Family, giving Laurie Partridge her first on-screen kiss and even joining the titular brood for a song.

Mark Hamill's first steady acting gig after General Hospital came in the form of a role in the short-lived comedy The Texas Wheelers. The future son of Anakin Skywalker portrayed the David Cassidy-esque teenage son of rascally patriarch Zack Wheeler, a character named "Doobie" (Doobie was lucky - he had siblings named Trucky, Boo and T.J.). In addition to providing early work for future Oscar nominee Gary Busey and bug-eyed character actor Jack Elam, the series was the first sitcom to play without a laugh track. Despite good reviews (and the attention lavished on teen dream Mark by certain sectors of the press), the show was soon cancelled.

The first role that won the young Hamill the credit he felt was his due was a potboiler called Sarah T.: Portrait Of A Teenage Alcoholic. He played Ken, the boyfriend of star Linda Blair, a demanding part for which he received good critical notices. Still, a major hit eluded him, and he bounced from show to show, playing Schneider's klepto nephew on One Day At A Time and a despondent, homicidal youth in the Don Johnson/Robert Forster TV movie The City.

After a brief voice-only part in Ralph Bakshi's cult hit Wizards (he's the Keebler-esque Sean, king of the fairies), Hamill attended a cattle call audition for the role of Luke Skywalker. After testing with Harrison Ford, he landed the part that would change his life forever. After a visit to the dentist, he met a woman who would do much the same.

Family Guy

Marilou York, a former Playboy model turned dental hygienist, met Mark while the future Jedi was in the dentist's chair. They dated for a year and a half, then wed in 1978. They spent much of their early marriage on the road. In fact, Hamill spent so much time traveling and promoting STAR WARS and The Empire Strikes Back that he feared the studio might be keeping him from trying out for other roles. "They didn't know what to do with me," he'd said in a 1981 interview. "I wasn't a man. I wasn't a boy, I wasn't a teenager. I couldn't get an audition."

Hamill did get two high-profile roles after STAR WARS, but both turned out to be major busts at the box office. Hamill's performance as a shell-shocked soldier opposite Lee Marvin in Sam Fuller's war epic The Big Red One received good reviews, but audiences stayed away. Likewise with Corvette Summer, your typical teen vehicle about a kid who restores a Corvette Stingray in high school shop, only to give chase when the car is stolen and taken to Las Vegas.

After Empire and the birth of the Hamills' son Nathan (who was born in England during shooting of Return of the Jedi), Mark did his best to step out from the glow of the lightsaber. He gained 25 pounds to play a cop in the Kristy McNichol picture The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.

Still, it seemed producers couldn't see past the familiar face of the farm boy from Tatooine. As the Hamill family grew - son Griffin arrived just before the release of Return of the Jedi, daughter Chelsea five years later, in 1988 - Mark stretched his acting muscles by turning to theater, computer games like Wing Commander, animation voiceovers, television guest spots, and diverse parts in unusual, if not too successful live-action films, usually with an emphasis on action.

Eventually, the natural mimic found himself gaining more and more voiceover work for cartoons and decided to focus on becoming a "utility player" - someone like the legendary Maurice LaMarche, Frank Welker, or Mel Blanc - who can portray a number of different voices on demand. Mark soon found success in shows like The Little Mermaid series, Swat Kats, and Bruno The Kid.

Thanks to his work as the Joker, Hamill became a popular choice for villains on a number of other animated shows. While Batman's most dangerous foe is certainly Hamill's best-known cartoon villain, he also portrayed the Hobgoblin on Spider-Man, Maximus on The Fantastic Four, Gargoyle on The Incredible Hulk, and Dr. Jak on Phantom 2040.

Clock-Knocker??

Today, Hamill has gone from being typecast for his success to simply being cast for his skills as a vocal performer. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker featured a tour de force performance from Hamill, who aged the Joker's voice to play the Bat's nemesis once again in a two-hour animated film that many have called the best Batman movie ever made - animated or not.

Hamill had long avoided spoofing the STAR WARS films or taking a role too similar to Luke Skywalker - the closest was probably the cadet version of Christopher Blair in the animated series based on the Wing Commander PC games, but Hamill portrayed that character as a battle-weary veteran. He has always said that he felt he owed it to the fans and George Lucas not to belittle STAR WARS in that way. As he told Entertainment Tonight last year, "here are so many…. ultra-passionate fan[s] that know… 10 times more about those movies than I do, and I want to be really respectful of that."


Still, Hamill has finally become more than comfortable poking a little fun at his most famous role around the release of the Special Edition, perhaps as a result of doing publicity for the films that could tie into publicity for his Black Pearl comic. His appearance on Rosie O'Donnell's show ended with his kissing Rosie's Darth Vader mask for charity. An appearance on Late Nite with Conan O'Brien featured a sketch depicting Hamill talking to guys at a peep show about STAR WARS for a dollar a pop. In a move reminiscent of Shatner's famous "Get a life" sketch on Saturday Night Life, Hamill appeared in an SNL sketch that asked the question - if the actual Luke Skywalker were for sale on a shopping network, how much would he cost? And of course, there was The Simpsons episode Mayored To The Mob.

The Simpsons episode - a broad parody of the movie The Bodyguard, featuring Homer carrying a lightsaber-wielding Hamill to safety from an ugly mob - also saw the now-prominent voice actor playing two other roles beside himself. Still it was the depiction of a "Springfield-verse" Mark Hamill doing a STAR WARS-inspired Guys & Dolls while dressed as Luke and swinging a working lightsaber that proved to be Hamill's biggest take-off on Skywalker yet.

Until he met Kevin Smith, that is. The fan-favorite auteur (and raving STAR WARS fan) cast Hamill and Carrie Fisher in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. Besides the obvious STAR WARS connection of the movie's title, the film is littered with STAR WARS references (along with healthy doses of Batman parody) and even features a climactic lightsaber duel between director Smith, playing Silent Bob, and Hamill, playing…. Well, it might be best to let Mark describe the part in his own words, culled carefully from the Entertainment Tonight interview to promote Jay & Silent Bob. "There must have been a typo. I thought I was playing Clock-Knocker," Hamill told the infotainment show, "Everyone tells me it's something different."

Out of respect for George Lucas, Hamill contacted the Jay & Silent Bob crew to make sure Lucas was all right with the spoof, especially considering Smith's talent for profanity in all its shapes and forms. Hamill told ET, "Smith's people said, 'Yes, as a matter of fact the only complaints George had' - and I went 'Uh-oh, here we go' - 'were to make sure that we made the blades of lightsabers not conflict with the colors that he would use in his movie."

Run, Luke, Run

With Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back behind him, Hamill is free to focus his efforts on continued voiceover work. The one-time Jedi continues to play the Joker on Cartoon Network's Justice League series, recently performed in the video games Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter and Soldier of Fortune II, did numerous voices in the animated dog movie Balto II, and played the title character's half-brother Judah in the video sequel to Prince of Egypt, entitled Joseph, King of Dreams.

To hear and see Hamill, check out one of the syndicated shows on which he's become a recurring player - the Pamela Anderson action comedy V.I.P. (Mark plays Pam's uncle Ned) or the tawdry Son Of The Beach, on which Hamill portrays "Divine Rod" Petrie.

With his writing partner Eric Johnson, Hamill also continues to press on with The Black Pearl and is currently working on turning the project into a video game. Ultimately, the man who was Luke Skywalker has one more role he wants to fulfil: director. Although his goal is to direct The Black Pearl movie when it gels, he's appropriately enough undergoing a training stage at late age. Hamill told ET, "I'm going to write and direct an episode of V.I.P. So I'm taking my little baby steps."

Of course, he's still keeping an eye on the new STAR WARS films. While he was promoting Jay & Silent Bob, reporters asked Hamill his opinion of The Phantom Menace. He critiqued what he considered a missing element. "There was no voice of scepticism in The Phantom Menace... Since everyone was so serious in our films, we had Han Solo who would say, 'Whatever. I'm in it for the money, pal.'"

Pointedly, he adds, "That's CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I just don't like these people who go off on Jar Jar… I get real defensive."

NOW you know something about Mark Hamill.

STAR WARS Insider, April 2, 2002