Mark Interviews 2000+

Hanging with Cummings, Kenny and Hamill

CB: TM Party at Playboy Mansion
Talking to Mark Hamill

Ah-ha – now you're on the other side of the microphone...

[laughs] The best thing about this movie was getting to interview other people. After years of being on the other side, I loved it. I have the tendency to go wholeheartedly towards whatever I'm playing, so I started wanting to be a journalist in this. Every celebrity should be forced to interview someone else to understand what it is you guys do. It's not easy.

Who did the art? Was it more than one person?

It was more than one person. The main person was Mark Teague. I'd written a Simpsons comic book story and I'd gotten along great with all those people. The story came out really well, it was really funny and I asked the Bongo Comics people, "Could I get two covers made?" So, they made a Golden Age cover and a modern cover, so those were the first two pieces of art. I did some of the art. Basically, I drew everything, but then turned it over to pros to make it professional – I'm not that good! But, I had a good idea of what I wanted. We didn't have enough money to get everything done, but it works because they look like preliminary sketches. One of the artists is Bill Morrison and the other artist is Nathan Kane and then I did a series called Time Squad over at Cartoon Network where I play a robot and the artist there was Dave Wasson and he did two pieces of art for me. A lot of this was where I didn't just hire a costume person. I went to a costume person I'd worked with. Instead of hiring a hair person, I went to a hair person I'd worked with. I went to artists that I'd worked with and basically said, you've got to help me out, I can't give you much money, but I can give you a lot of gratitude, a lot of credit and hopefully it'll be a good movie. So, they really cut their prices for me. It really means something to me.

I think I first associated you and a love for comic books with that episode of Amazing Stories where you were a comic book collector – did you get cast because of being a comic fan?

That was a coincidence, really. They offered me Amazing Stories only after Timothy Hutton turned it down. But it was Amazing Stories! It was Steven Spielberg and I said, "I'd love to – can I see a script?" And they said, "No! It's all locked down." It's the only thing where I just said, "I'll do it" without even knowing what it was. When I read it, I tell you, I was like, "What an amazing coincidence!" This was a love letter to pack rats and fans who save everything and it's telling them that it's all right to do that. That was a complete coincidence. A lot of people say, "You must've been influential in the storyline." Like I said, I just couldn't believe it.

IGN Film Force, January 29, 2004