Mark Interviews 1990+

Whatever happened to Mark Hamill?

Hollywood is notorious for its short memory and all too brief attention span. No one is more aware of this than Mark Hamill. In the late seventies and early eighties, the young actor became a household name as the hero of George Lucas' blockbuster STAR WARS trilogy. Then, as Hollywood would tell it, he disappeared. For years after the release of Return of the Jedi, most of us heard nothing of him. What has he been doing during all this time? The answer is: a little bit of everything.

Feeling that he needed to break away from Hollywood, Hamill first set his sights eastward, heading for New York and the stages of Broadway. "Going to New York and doing Broadway and Off-Broady was a long held dream of mine," Mark says, "yet in this town, anyway, I might as well have gone to the Bermuda Triangle for seven years!" He kept himself busy during his self imposed exile appearing in such shows as The Elephant Man (in which he starred), Amadeus (working with Sir Peter Hall) and The Nerd. He notes being nominated for a Drama Desk Award for outstanding actor in a musical for his performance in Harrigan n' Heart as being one of his proudest moments. "Harrigan n' Heart didn't last on Broadway, but just to go down in some kind of record book as having been there was an accomplishment on its own."

Hamill spent his time on the stage working at developing his craft, pushing his limits as an actor and seeking out roles that cast him against type. "Alan Arkin directed a revival we did of Room Service. I think the critics were doubly surprised that I wasn't playing the naive, midwestern playwright, but rather the sleazy Jewish producer. Those are the little things that make you say, 'Oh yes, it is still fun to act.'"

Fun though it may be, seven years on the New York theatre scene is a feat of endurance for any actor. Years of working both on and off Broadway, along with travelling with touring companies, began to take its toll. As Hamill himself puts it, "When I left New York my momentum was really in the theatre. The problem was it was getting harder to maintain the family. It's much more hands on in New York in terms of how your kids get to and from different places." Furthermore, he was looking for new challenges as an artist. "Part of the fun of a career is to do things that really challenge every aspect of what you do, and do things you are not known for. I wanted to get more into writing and expand a bit in terms of the process. It gets frustrating after 20 years in the business to be just an actor." With this in mind, he set his sights back on Hollywood and the silver screen.

The transition was not an easy one. Hollywood is not noted for welcoming her wayward sons with open arms. Gone was the notoriety of his earlier career. Mark Hamill was no longer the household name that he had been. He found work consistently but mostly in smaller budget films, projects such as the UK produced Slipstream, The Guyver and Body Bags. He continued to fight typecasting, appearing in dramas such as Silk Degrees and Black Magic Woman, and in the 1994 comedy The Raffle.

Then, opportunity presented itself in a new form: voiceovers. Hamill had some experience with voiceover work, dating back to 1977 and the animated feature Wizards, but had never actively pursued this avenue. Never one to turn away a new challenge, Hamill dived right in and was soon offered the role of the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series, and later in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. "I realise now what a coveted role that was," he says. "At the time I didn't. I also didn't realise the kind of competition and the level of excellence among these voice performers. It's truly awesome."

It was through his voiceover work that Hamill was led to break to the budding new field of interactive CD-ROMs, making his debut with Gabriel Knight, which also featured Tim Curry. "Because we were cut together like partners, people would ask me what it was like to work with Tim. I did the job in two four-hour sessions, all by myself, and never worked directly with Tim." He does note, however, that the two worked together since.

The success of Gabriel Knight led to a meeting with Chris Roberts, creator of the Wing Commander dynasty of computer games, asking him to star as Colonel Christopher Blair in the third instalment of the series. "I don't think I really realised until after the meeting that they were talking about doing it on camera, that it would be done like a film," Hamill recalls. Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger was to be one the most ambitious CD-ROM projects to date, and in the end it was the clarity of Roberts' vision that led Hamill to take the job. "I was really taken with Chris Roberts. I think this guy is so talented. He reminded me of George Lucas, in the sense that this was his world. his universe. He created the whole thing. If anybody was going to be able to hold my hand and get me through this thing, it would be the one who created it."

Working on the game was certainly no walk in the park. Rather than follow the traditional format of actors voicing animated characters, Wing Commander III filmed live actors in front of green screens that were later composited with computer generated backgrounds. This presented a brand new set of challenges for Hamill and all the other actors involved. "You do it just like you would do a film. The trouble is, once you get a scene done, then you have to do the variations of that same scene. It's one thing to be able to read all these variations off a script. It's another to be able to memorise three or four variations on every scene that you're doing. It's also tough on the actors because in the conventional way you arc your character to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, whereas here, there are so many variations that you can't ever control the storyline in your own mind."

In the end taking the role paid off for Hamill, thrusting him into a new realm of notoriety. The game sold over half a million units in the US alone, and set a new standard for gaming production values. It also made Hamill into a CD-ROM star. "The feedback on your work that you get from the public is sort of a barometer of its impact. With interactive CD-ROMs, I had sort of relegated it in my mind to what it was like when I did a Broadway play, where only a very small portion of the public knows that you're appearing on stage. Now, if I go to an airport, let's say, gamers come up to me and want to talk about my work."

Hamill was soon asked to reprise his role as Col. Blair for Robters' magnum opus, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. This time, the budget was much larger, with the scenes shot on 35mm film in front of real sets, making for a more comfortable acting environment. Even so, many of the newer actors turned to Hamill for advice. "A lot of the actors that were coming in and doing a few days or a few weeks work and had never done it before would come to me as if I were the old pro, having a whole four weeks of experience on them. It's fear of the unknown. I had it too." It turns out that the actors had nothing to fear, as Wing Commander IV was one of the hottest new releases of 1996, and shows signs of doing every bit as well as its predecessor.

Even as he was becoming an "old pro" of interactive CD-ROMs, Hamill was looking to continue to expand his realm of experience. His search led him to the world of comic books with The Black Pearl, a vie issue limited series due out this summer from US publisher Dark Horse Comics. Hamill describes it as a 'tabloid thriller'.

"It's about how a tabloid television show elevates a guy to celebrity status, and he takes it to heart, getting a little out of control. Basically, it's why there can't be a Batman in real life. What we tried to do was take a comic book sensibility and see how it would play out in real life."

The project, written with his partner Eric Johnson, was originally intended as a screenplay that Hamill would direct. However, as they shopped the script around, it caught they of Dark Horse Comics' Mike Richardson, who asked to meet with them. "I flew up with Eric to meet with Mike Richardson, David Scroggy, and some of the top guys at Dark Horse. Just sitting in the office and having them discuss it with us, we could tell they really got it."

The deal was made, and Hamill and his partner set to work adapting their screenplay to a graphic novel format. This proved to be much more difficult than onemight initially surmise. "It was a lot more work than I had anticipated. You think, 'Well, we're just storyboarding the movie.' It doesn't work that way. There are somany subtleties and back stories that would work in a movie, but just sort of lay there on a page." However, with the advice of industry professionals such as Peter David, they soon found a comfortable method of working. "We've found a way of working where we complement one another. I draw the configurations of each page, and Eric and I sit and write the dialogue. Then he usually goes away and writes the descriptions."

The project has also been made smoother through the steadfast support that Dark Horse has given them. According to Hamill, "They've been sort of guruing us through this, in the sense that we are complete neophytes when it comes to writing comic books. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe there's a freshness there that they've responded to." Moreover, Dark Horse has allowed the two of them a great deal of artistic freedom. "We're going to be able to control our vision,and they will support us. They will let us do what we want. I think anybody in our business of creating appreciates that. We're in really good hands."

Hamill does have one gripe with writing, though, and that is the deadlines. "They're horrible. As soon as one's over, a new one looms. It's like having a perpetual book report due. Truman Capote said, 'I don't like writing, I like having written.', and I can certainly understand what he means now."

Mark Hamill is a man of many talents, and no small amount of courage. He did something only the bravest of actors will do: He walked out on Hollywood to pursue a dream. He made his mark on Broadway, and in another act of courage, he came back. Throughout his more than 20-year career, he has always sought out new ways to challenge himself, never taking the easy way out. "You have to have challenges, or you sort of lose the reason to get up in the morning." What will his next challenge be? It has been suggested that if The Black Pearl does well, he and his partner may do another project for Dark Horse. He also hasn't given up on the The Black Pearl as a movie. "There's interest shown, but only if I would just sell it outright. I've wanted to try my hand at directing, but having no track record, that's a problem. Maybe I won't like it, but I'd like to try it, just to see if I do. Let me step up to the plate. If I strike out, I can always say that I tried." Whatever the case may be, we can all rest assured that we haven't heard the last of Mark Hamill.

SW - The Official Magazine, October/November 1996