Mark Interviews 2000+
An Interview with Mark Hamill
Does anyone not know who Mark Hamill is? Anyone?
If you don't, crawl back under your rock – we'll see you again in 30 years.
Okay, now that the rock people are out of the way, back to business.
Mark has directed his own take on the
mockumentary form with Comic Book: The Movie – an improvised comedy about a comic fan
(Hamill) who tries to save his beloved childhood icon from the evil clutches of a Hollywood production company who
have licensed a heavily revamped version. The majority of the action takes place at the San Diego Comic-Con (where
the movie was filmed live), and it stars a bevy of voice actors who deserve a share of the spotlight – including Billy
West, Jess Harnell, and Jim Cummings. The film also contains cameos galore from such luminaries as Stan Lee, Hugh
Hefner, Sid Caesar, and Jonathan Winters. The movie is currently available on DVD via a deluxe 2-disc special
edition, and you can find out more at the official website. We had a chance to talk with Mark about
Comic Book, typecasting, and more…
You've had some recent problems with your voice… You're a voice actor, you've done a Broadway show – how do you keep up with the pace, physically?
Well, I don't – I'm under a doctor's care now. Launching a Broadway show is like no other endeavor. It's taxing because
you're present – it's not like cutting a movie and test focus-grouping it and filling out forms. In fact, it's as hard as a
musical, with the choreography, but it's also a smart, Neil Simon-funny comedy. It's exhilarating for a performer… It's
just me and one other person – and it happens to be the legend that is Polly Bergen. She is so wonderful in this play. If
nothing else, you should come see her. So that's a tremendous turn-on in and of itself, if you like playing live – which
I do. I missed it. I didn't realize it, because I wasn't intending to go back to live performing at this juncture – as Bush
Sr. liked to say. The show I was producing for AMC was a little bit more what I was
trying to do. I cocreated it, am an executive producer, and actually performed as one of the two co-hosts of this
Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood… you
know, "Hooray for Showbiz" type satire which I believe will be coming on in March of 2004.
What's the commitment on that?
Thirteen half-hours. It's funnier than hell. It's got writers that used to write for Beavis & Butthead
and Daria. It's very smart and funny, and I think it's funny without going over the line, to the point
where it could be a family comedy. I said, "Think Mad Magazine when you were 9
years old… Your perception of it." A lot of people, I think, skirt the line – they just take arbitrarily mean pot shots in the
guise of humor. If there's wit behind it, go after the celebrities that are doing commercials… It's a fine line. But I won't try
and compete with the harshest of those kind of new wave "You're fat, you're bald, your career was over 10 minutes
ago" kind of humor.
So more satiric in a highbrow sense…
Yeah, because there's a lot about show business you can laugh at – I do. Even in my own career, you have to laugh or
you just go nuts. So we try to bring that spirit. We're satirizing the form of entertainment programming as much as we
are the stars and the movies and the TV shows, I think. These characters that they've come up with – Jamison
Burkwright is my character, and I've got my cohost Debbie Sue. It's so much fun playing in cartoons, because you
have the anonymity to go into the sort of melodramatic behavior that you don't get to do all the time.
Over the years, did you feel that STAR WARS pigeonholed you to where being able to do voicework was like a release?
Pretty much all work is a form of release, and since I put that on the backburner I can't… It's having a good audience
eye, where I can step out and say, "I know I'm experiencing this but it's really not me – I see Mark Hamill as Luke in
STAR WARS." But that's sort of not my concern anymore. It's got a life of its own. Mazel
Tov, people… Live long and prosper and all that stuff, but so what? It doesn't have any relevance to me in terms of
what I want to do in my career, callous as that may sound – but truly, it's show and business… I did the show – now all
I'm dealing with is business. Everyone thinks that Lucasfilm is one big happy
family, but there's letters where I signed forms to release them from paying royalties on clips for a documentary, or for
a demonstration of the THX sound system.
Where do you think that misconception comes from?
Oh, I don't know. It probably happened with Disney, too, because of the characters
and the stories that they purvey… I used to think that Jerry Lewis must be a crack-up to have as a dad, stumblin' down
to breakfast, you know? It's just part of the fantasy aspect of it all. I mean, it was fun working for those guys, but I'm an
ex-employee with all the respect and consideration that implies. It's just show business, that's all. I don't take it
personal… You can't.
Was there a time when it was a hindrance?
Oh, I suppose if I went back and really thought about things… I always just tried to go for things that challenged me in
some way. Sometimes I faltered and did things just for the money, and it shows, but I'm in a really good place now. I
think Comic Book: The Movie is the apex of my career in terms of making a personal
statement that has significance to me and resonates with biographical detail about not only my career, but all the
people that I've worked with in my career. All of it's riddled, on– and off-camera, with people I've known and worked
with for decades.
It's interesting when one considers both Comic Book and the upcoming AMC series – you've
turned the lens on aspects of your life and career to satirize and focus on…
Absolutely! Absolutely… And I'll tell you the truth, Ken – I've been that way all the time. I mean, I laughed all through
STAR WARS – I thought they were comedies. It was absurd having a big giant dog flying your
spaceship and this kid from the farm is wacko for this princess he's never met, that he's seen in a hologram, the
robots are arguing over whose fault it is… You know, they hook up with a magic wizard and they borrow a ship from a
pirate… It was goofier than hell! I loved it! It just seemed so fresh, and like Wizard of Oz
meets technology, or whatever, and this and that all thrown together. To get to the point where I'm able to take a
small project like this and really helm it and add my own characters, like Commander Courage and Liberty Lad – which
I think have a life of their own… It was very kind of Creative Light and Miramax, the
way it was upfront that I wanted to retain the rights to those characters, because they really do have a backstory and
a supporting cast, and a life of their own beyond this in comic books, television, and movies, I think.
What was the genesis of Comic Book as a concept?
Well, we used the San Diego Comic-Con because it exists as something that really hasn't been on film, per se, and
again has a life of its own. I said at one point to a character, "Refer to the Con as Fellini's Satyricon, but in spandex."
That about sums it up.
It's kind of a crass comment coming from one of the more cynical characters in the piece. The truth of the matter is I
remember going to the very early cons – I think the first one I went to was at the Ambassador, and
it must have been around '71 or '72… Only because I saw in the college newspaper that they were showing some of the
silent films that I'd only read about since I was a kid in Castle of Frankenstein magazine and
Famous Monsters and all that, like Metropolis and
Things to Come and the silent Lost World. That's
when I saw this conglomeration of comic book dealers and vintage comic books and people who were science fiction
buffs… It was a whole new world.
But the attendance around that time was only a couple hundred people, right?
Yeah… and a bunch of dealers, and one room that had a projector, and a couple of panels – and that was it. I just dropped
in – I think we went two afternoons. We liked it so much we went the Sunday, right when it opened. I never encountered
Star Trek fans and, you know, it was amazing. We saw a barroom brawl that
ended in a Vulcan death grip instead of someone punching someone in the nose. That always stuck with me. Little did
I know that I had cult status in my future… but I can always step outside of it and enjoy it, laugh at it. And in
Comic Book: The Movie, people will see subtle allusions to everything from my
Drama Desk nominated part in Harrigan and Hart to Corvette
Summer. I throw everything in.
But yet there's no piano solo as Mozart…
That'll be the sequel! That's what's wonderful about the movie – it really is a road movie in the classic sense. It's got
adventure… It's about people who care about things. One of the wonderful experiences was to read the focus cards – we
did screen it and have people write comments, like "Circle your interest in comic books, from a high of 10 to a low of
zero." The people who circled zero were the ones who were a particular interest, and to read their assessment that to
watch a movie about anybody going on a trip – especially some eccentric people like this who all have their own
agendas and have their own passions, regardless of what their obsession is – it's interesting and fun to watch. They
could be World War II veterans all going to have a convention, or they could be Barbie aficionados, or James Bond
buffs, or whatever it is. If nothing else, it's a nice sort of scrapbook look at the San Diego comic book convention –
populated, of course, by these incredible voiceover people with incredible backgrounds in stand-up comedy and
Broadway and off-Broadway, and improv. I think a lot of these actors find their niche. It's like when you go to a
summer stock production, or something put on by a civic community house, and it just knocks your socks off. You go
thinking, "Ha ha… This will be kind of fun, in the wrong way." And then you go, "Oh my god, this was really great! The
guy who played so-and-so was unbelievable." "Oh yeah – he's a small claims court lawyer." Or whatever. A lot of
people have so much talent, that don't get this chance to show it.
It's a line that you've been able to straddle both sides of, but what was the impetus to cast people who are best
know as voice actors as the principals in the film?
Well, it always struck me that going to these voice sessions was… I'm a great audience, I love to laugh, I love stand-up
comedians, and I love Mad TV and sketch comedy, and all the stuff… and the
sessions themselves were just a sheer joy to go to because you have an assemblage of all these people that are
enormously entertainingly, effortlessly gifted, and you can be sitting with people that do 500 voices. And in my
mind, I would be casting The Black Pearl, and "If we go with this company, we're going to have
to lowball it, and it's a million dollars for the whole cast – and in this situation we get this star, and he costs a
million, and we're going to have to save elsewhere." I said, "I know some of the most gifted character actors in the
world, who people have never seen because they've found their niche and they don't do network TV or features." I
mean, there's 500 people that are more than qualified to say every single part you see – down to the guy who knocks
on the door in a paper towel commercial. So this was my opportunity to take advantage of all these people that I
liked so much – in particular Jess Harnell, Roger Rose, and Billy West… Who are my co-producers, and Roger, who
brought me to Creative Light in the first place. At first, trying to get
Black Pearl made as a movie, for the 1,000th time, and when that was a little out of their
reach, this evolved because I thought, "I'll still play to my core audience – which is an audience that do read comic
books and do like cartoons, that play video games." I mean, Wing Commander was
a lot bigger than people realize, but it really wasn't on the radar screens. But I should have movies that have that
kind of business.
Voice acting has always been the red-headed stepchild of the acting community…
Yeah! It's like, truly these people would have been doing radio, like, 50 years ago because they can create a visual
character with their voice alone. Mind you, not everyone is multifaceted… You have people that do one voice or two
voices, but they're so good. Lorenzo Music comes to mind, who was Garfield. He's not a good example because he
was also a writer – and a brilliant writer at that, with the Bob Newhart Show, and he was the voice of Carlton the
doorman. But these people are really, really gifted. I guess, in some quarters, you'd look at it and say, "How sad. This
guy used to be the star of Surf Side Six and now he's on
Josie and the Pussycats," but to me it's all about how you approach things. It's
like, when I do off-Broadway and there's only 200 people in the house, I'm not any less giving than I would be if I were
in something that would potentially be seen by millions of people.
It's nice that Comic Book at least shows people that, "Hey, these guys are actors."
Especially with the current trend in animation towards casting "star" names in projects, with outrageous paydays…
Oh, I know… That's always puzzled me. It's like when we did the sequel to Prince of Egypt, they
learned their lesson… I don't know what they did… but it was all the pros that you see in every one – Jim
Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Jeff Bennett, me. I don't know. The thinking in that case is that you see three names that
are big when it opens and you go, "Wow! Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer!" They get these
incredible salaries, so why wouldn't they want to do it? Oh my god! Eight million dollars to do a cartoon? You
bet! But it's their first crack at it. I'm glad I was able to try it out on the road and do 150 things before I got any kind
of prominent role, because I made some horrible mistakes. You have to learn, and it's terrible. There's no place to
learn to be bad.
And it's quite a learning curve in voice acting…
Oh, absolutely! Oh yeah! And besides laughing and being entertained, I'm watching these people and how they
mechanically do things, and how they finesse the microphone, and if they use the guard or they don't use the
guard, talking off camera – how to pitch your voice. I mean, I've learned. Now they can say, "Hey Mark – make him
about 50 pounds heavier, will ya?" And (going into a low rumble) somehow you just find a little girth in your voice, in
that area there, and how's that? "Yeah, okay, that's good!" But I approach it like it's 1941 and I'm doing radio. Even
when you're doing really little kid projects, it's like – yeah, it's dumb if you look at it from the standpoint of a
cynical middle-aged guy, but if you're six years old and the lights are out, it's like magic time. That's what it's all
about. It's all about magic time and making people forget about their troubles, and go away to some fantasy
world. Which is what the examination is in Comic Book: The Movie. Why would comic
books, that were meant to be a childhood diversion and to be long forgotten as you approach adolescence –
what kind of grip do they have on me and millions of others? It's not heavy-handed – we're just having a good
time, so there's lots of stuff that's really dumb in it, too. But what I love about it is that it has an energy that you
can tell it's not an assembly-line thing. You can tell that there's an edge. Even with reality TV being smeared all
over the place and people being much more savvy on camera, and less naturalistic, you can tell that it's
dangerously close to derailing at any minute… and I like that.
How difficult was the post-production process? Because, obviously, you had a ton of footage…
Oh, it was mind-boggling! I couldn't believe it! Let's see… We mailed two boxes – this is all VHS… I said, "Put it at the
6-hour speed. I can't take any more of the 2-hour speed." And they said, "Oh, the quality…" And I said, "I don't care. It's
just ridiculous." I was trying to learn a show – I did it with Rue McClanahan down in Coconut Grove, Florida. And I put
the whole thing away and out of my mind from the day after Valentine's Day to the day that we opened, which was
in the last week of March, and then we ran through the end of April. But when the show was frozen and all the
creative people left – the director, the author, the producers – and we just ran the show, then I'd go home, shower, have
something light to eat, and start watching this movie around midnight and watch it until around 4-5 in the morning. And
then sleep till two in the afternoon – unless it was matinee day, and I'd adjust for that. I'm telling you, there were
times that I thought, "Oh my god, this thing is just…" But I shouldn't go there! But this thing makes bad
Saturday Night Live look like high class farce.
What were the performances that surprised you?
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but Donna D'Errico is right at the top of the list, because she is one of the
people that I didn't ask to be in it. Most of these people, I went to them – I had no auditions. I just told them a little bit
about it and said, "Will you do it?" Donna had a deal with Creative Light, and I
said, "Well, fine." I'd seen her on a talk show or two, and I know what she did on Baywatch – even
though I don't know Baywatch all that well. But she surprised me, because she
was so comfortable with the duality of seeming one way and being something else – and I always loved that. I
mean, maybe that's why I like superheroes… He seems like a meek reporter, but he's really the strongest man in the
universe. Or he seems like a pampered playboy, and really he's Sherlock Holmes with an athletic body.
I thought Billy West was solid, as was Jim Cummings – especially in his degenerative drunk scenes…
You're absolutely right! Billy, I wanted to be an innocent in a corrupt world, because of Stimpy and Fry, on Ren & Stimpy and Futurama.
That kind of innocence. Candide, if you will. If you want to get high-falutin'. But you're absolutely right – his subtlety, from
going from a clueless hick to someone that is discussing destroying people, "This one had to go…" We discussed the
arc, but in terms of how he put it across, that was all his own words. That's why, eventually, we decided that I shouldn't
get a screenplay credit, because it was such a collaborative effort. He was wonderful. Roger Rose, too. There's a look
he gives when he's in the garage, where they're on the way to the awards ceremony and he realizes that I'm going to
review it on the Internet, or some such thing, and it's sort of the All the President's Men in
the garage scene. He's got a subtlety, too, that I really like. I love the melange. It's like this wonderful, delicious
salad, where if you don't like the nuts in it, you push those aside and you get to the hard-boiled egg, and if you don't
like that there's some olives over here – ooo, there's some cheese! You just keep slogging through this thing, and
there's a lot of things going on, on a lot of different levels, so it has rewatchability. And it was brilliant of them to put on
a second disc. I mean, that panel alone – somebody brilliantly thinks to ask, "I like voiceover and I've kinda considered
wanting to get into it. How do I get into it?" And one-by-one, the biggest names in the business tell you how they got their
start in the business. You mentioned Jim Cummings – he was working in a video store! He did everybody! "That's
the best Winnie the Pooh I've ever heard… Better than the movie." Well, yeah. You should see him… I had to cut that
[his scene in the film] down. There's always one guy at the party – I've always said this – where at about 1:45, everyone
looks around and says, "Who invited him?" Or her, or them." And it's one of those things where, he's just this
Louisiana boy who constantly amazes me with what he brings to the table. Not only is he a wonderful actor, but he
improvises. It crushed me when the Black Pearl video game was bought out by another
company and we couldn't bring it out, because he played a character… I've always said to my actors, "The lines I
wrote are a blueprint. You have to say this, this and this to get the story across, but feel free to put it in your own
words. If there's a contraction that you want to use, if you want to say 'thanks' instead of 'thank you,' I'm not gonna
mind. And if I do, I'll mention it. Don't go crazy – but I want you to know that if you come up with something that's
better, I'm more than willing to take credit for it." And Jim is probably like Babe Ruth – the guy that never fails to hit
it out of the ballpark completely.
So when are you going to release the CD single of his rap?
Oh! I mean, come on – my hat goes off to these people, because I was like the ringmaster. I'm there trying to manage
three or four film crews shooting in various places – there's stuff that I got back that I wasn't even there when they
shot it.
Now, was that actually Tom Kenny and Jill Talley's son?
Yes, it is. That's Matt Kenny. I think that's the sweetest thing in the movie, and the closest to my family – that's like me
and Marilou and Nathan about 15 years ago.
So Nathan wanted his toys mint-in-box as well?
Oh yeah… Well, he had it both ways. He was the kid that got all the stuff from Kenner, when
we were on their list. Now the only stuff they send us is the stuff that has my image on it – and even at that, it's
surprising how much product still comes out. Who knew, all these years later? The modern movies have their own
aisle, so I guess we're at the end of the aisle, where they sell "Classic Star Wars."
For a certain generation, you'll always be one character, but for a whole other generation, you're best known as a
completely different character – and that other iconic character would be the Joker… Which is purely a vocal
presentation…
Yeah… I love that, because it's the opposite end of the spectrum. Hopefully, I'd like to fill in all the dots in-between,
because even the character I'm playing in Six Dance Lessons is something that's
unexpected from me. I originally turned it down because of the scheduling thing, and the director was all, "Oh, it's
because you don't want to play a homosexual." And I said, "Oh, no… come on…"
You've played the Elephant Man…
I've played a serial killer, and there's no kind of – "Did you torture small animals as a child?" If you play a gay musical
comedy queen, they all want to know what happened to you in the Boy Scouts and were you ever an altar boy.
But it goes back to that idea of pigeonholing, because without even asking you, people make an assumption that you wouldn't want to play a certain role…
Yeah. Well, since I don't have any control of that, I can't really give it that much consideration. However, you see
parallels – like when I worked with Roddy McDowell and he talked to me about how Lassie became such a big part of
his career, even 30 years later. Or Mickey Rooney and Andy Hardy. How you deal with it is everything. For the most
part, it occupies such a warm place in people's hearts – for people who like it. I'm well aware there are people who
don't like it, number one, or think it's overrated, number two, or think it's cynical and commercialized – whatever it
is. But there is a whole generation, like you say, who really were touched by those films – in whatever way. Whether it
was spiritual, whether it inspired them to get into show business… and so many people did – special effects
people, costume people, hair and make-up, whatever. So it has that iconic status, like a Wizard of Oz or
something. And that's great. That really is wonderful. It was so much fun to be a part of it, but it's like, frozen in time
for me. It's not a current thing, and it's sometimes hard for me to relate to it because I kind of forget the prism through
which people view it. And then I go, "Oh, yeah, right… Of course." Because it's really so not a fabric of my current life
and, frankly, my future. Right now is a very creative pinnacle for me because I have three things in three different
mediums that I all love. Eight times a week at the Belasco in Six Dance Lessons with
Polly Bergen, and I'm having more fun than I've had, I think, ever on stage. I mean, I would say Harrigan and Hart or
Room Service – Room Service was just a
limited run at the Roundabout, and I couldn't transfer it to Broadway and everybody was mad at me, so it ended on a
sour note. And Harrigan and Hart eventually closed, and was not considered a
success on Broadway – which was really traumatic, to the point where I said, "Okay, I've had a bellyful of
Broadway." To come back in something this much fun and that the audience loves so much is a thrill. Then there's the
series I told you about, and then Comic Book: The Movie. There's not a more heartfelt,
personal statement – if I were a rock musician, this would be my Sgt. Pepper… No, I shouldn't say that… This would be
With Mark Hamill, because there's no budget and it's just heartfelt, with all these people that helped me out and
created so many wonderful moments, that I couldn't be happier. I really, really couldn't.
I had a question about the musical credits for Comic Book. In the main titles, music credit goes to Billy West, but score credit goes to someone else…
It should say "Music by Billy West, Orchestral Music by John McKinney," and if it didn't it's an oversight. Billy wrote
the electronic score that reflects the Hollywood modern incarnation of it – Codename: Courage and Liberty Lass. And
John McKinney, the orchestrator from Harrigan and Hart, wrote the orchestral
music for the golden age version. And then between them, I used various cues of both of theirs for the rest of the
movie. But any time it's electronic or synthesized, that's Billy's music, and the rest of it John's. Again, they both
surprised me. I didn't know that Billy was going to be doing the music. I, on my own, had always thought of John, and
it just shows you how serendipitous it was because people are going to say, "Oh my god, that was so smart of you to
use two different composers to reflect the two different sides of the character," but that was just serendipitous. When I
was in Florida, I came back from Florida and Billy had written 5 cuts. It was awkward, there's no question about it, but it
worked out in a way that was better than what would have happened if either of us had had our way on our own.
Do you have a follow-up project planned?
Listen, if you guys can help us make this a success, that answers your question right there. I'm ready to go. I want to
make something here in New York that's not a direct sequel to Comic Book: The Movie, but…
Hopefully you would use the same troupe of actors…
Well, what I would do is use the same techniques. I think I'd use the same troupe of actors if we went back and did –
you know, at the end of this movie, you want to know, "So what happens when they make the movie?" I'd love to. I
mean, if you make it a trilogy, you'd make the second act like The Player – where
you pitch it and you do all the pre-production and prep. And then the third installment would be my big budget
blow-out… That would be like the premiere, and I'd like to see large sections of the movie, and then the brief aftermath
of that. But that's just sort of wild speculation. Right now, go out and buy 5 copies of Comic
Book: The Movie so I can do this.