Mark Interviews 2000+
Luke Skywalker... er, Mark Hamill, is doing just fine
Everyone knows Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, the young Jedi Knight of the original STAR WARS trilogy.
While the actor enthusiastically talks about that epic role, he also eagerly points out that he has kept busy with
other projects in the more than 20 years since the last of those films.
"It had a beginning, a middle and an end, and that was fine with me," he
said about being a part of the STAR WARS trilogy.
"Even the fact that it's had this incredible sort of after-life and this cult status, there's
nothing wrong with that.
It's fun in many, many ways. But it is frustrating because I'm no longer engaged creatively. In my mind, I've moved
on."
Hamill's most exciting new venture is a puppet-powered children's show that he created
called Fort Franny. He has secured private funding for a pilot episode
that he plans to shop around once complete.
"It's the story of an apartment building in a city, all from the eyes of the animals - what
they do when we're asleep, when the kids go to school, that kind of thing," he said.
Hamill, who turns 53 this week, also has made quite a name for himself in the past 12 years doing voiceovers for
animated TV shows.
His most notable role was his long-running portrayal of the Joker on the animated Batman series and its spinoff film
Mask of the Phantasm, arguably the best movie made about the Caped Crusader,
animated or live-action.
His newest voiceover part is on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! - an
anime-style show that debuted over the weekend on Toon Disney and the Family Channel.
"I play Skeleton King, who's sort of the Darth Vader of this universe," he said.
"As much as I am a big fan and booster of acting in cartoons, you can get typecast. After
Joker, I'd say 70 percent of my stuff is villains."
Hamill said he also is working on a film adaptation of The Black Pearl, the acclaimed
Dark Horse comic book he co-wrote with his cousin, Eric Johnson. But, he says, he has been resisting offers to
make the film outside the United States.
"I would love to bring runaway production back here," he said.
"Why should we go to Canada?"