Mark Interviews 1990+

Hamill on 'STAR WARS'

Despite his enthusiasm for science fiction and comics, Mark Hamill these days rarely talks about his role as Luke Skywalker. Reproduced below are his comments on different aspects of all three films, on the basis of questions our readers have told us they would like answered...

On Luke Skywalker himself:

I admire Luke's sense of loyalty and adventure. I mean, I'm one a farm and I want to see what's over the horizon. 'What am I missing here? What's going on?', basically. It's so brilliant because of George Lucas, because I'm trying to figure out a way out of that humdrum, void kind of lifestyle and boom! I buy two robots and one of them has a hologram in him.

On how much of Mark is Luke:

When I see the movie, I don't feel it's really me. I see Luke Skywalker, and I'm embarrassed when he's naive... Like when Han Solo says, 'Who's going to fly this thing kid, you or me?' and I say, 'You bet I could!', I find myself thinking, 'Oh, don't be such a nerd!' but reacting like that is right in character, I guess.

On how he got the part:

A friend of mine called Robert Englund told me about the auditions... I heard from him that there was a picture George Lucas was doing called STAR WARS. At that time it was called The STAR WARS, instead of just STAR WARS. Robert said he'd been out for it. Now a lot of actors will tell you about parts only after they've definitely lost them. Robert's not like that. He's like me, fatalistic. We all go up for a part and someone'S going to get it. So I asked him what it was like, and he said 'I don't know. I haven't seen the script. George Lucas and [director] Brian de Palma [then casting Carrie] are doing joint auditions. George is the little guy on the left who never talks.' So I go, 'OK, I'll go for it.' I went to one interview, didn't see a script, didn't do anything. I just talked about myself. 'Hi, I'm Mark Hamill. I have four sisters and two brothers, I grew up in Virginia and New York and Japan.' They said 'Thank you,' and I went away. This was in November of 1975. In February of '76, I tested. The way I found out about the test as an envelope arrived in the mail, and there were six pages of dialogue and a note saying to be there Tuesday to test.

I had totally ruled the part out. I had thought George was unimpressed, and I went and tried out for Apocalypse Now. Fred Roos was the STAR WARS Casting Director, and he's very instinctive. I think he really helped me get the part. I think he pressured George to pick Carrie and Harrison and me. We were cast as an ensemble. There were two sets of three actors. We were never mixed and matched.

(George Lucas has said of casting STAR WARS: "They're good actors and they're more or less by nature like the characters in the story. The important thing about a movie like STAR WARS is that it is believable to an audience, and that they believe in the characters. And these actors, because of who they are, bring believability to the situations.")

On the influences behind STAR WARS:

I, personally, think it's a very Japanese movie. Very Samurai. Darth Vader's costume, and his duel with Ben Kenobi, are very Samurai.

On The Empire Strikes Back:

The Empire Strikes Back [doesn't] have that cathartic kind of effect [that there is with the end of STAR WARS]. It didn't achieve the same kind of a specific objective STAR WARS did other than having Luke coming to terms with Darth Vader. Empire was so unlike STAR WARS it was a bitter pill to swallow. There wasn't that happy-go-lucky triumphant feeling STAR WARS left you with. Empire left you with too many loose ends, like making Harrison Ford into a coffee table... I found the end unsatisfying.

On Return of the Jedi:

This is the last chapter of 'The Adventures of Luke Skywalker', so there was no reason for us to save anything. We reach the very pinnacle of a white knuckle ride. Prepare yourselves! It's a white-knuckler, straight down from here!... Just when you thought you knew what would come next - you find out you're wrong!

I told George [my costume] is very Vaderish, but he said 'It's supposed to be.'

On STAR WARS in general:

STAR WARS was successful because it was new. No movie quite like it had ever been done before. STAR WARS speaks to us from that very optimistic, everything-will-work-out-all-right viewpoint we have when we are very young. Empire reminds me of that time in our lives when we leave home and discover it can be a bad world out there. I was surprised and delighted over Empire's success, even more than STAR WARS.

On playing against those strange aliens - and Darth Vader:

It's very hard for the Royal Shakespearean actors playing Imperial guards to act in a scene with a barely-audible Dave Prowse - he has great presence, there's no denying it, but he can't be heard in the mask. That's what we're up against. Anytime you work with creatures or in any scenes where there's smoke or when the actor's speaking voice is not going to be used in the mix anyway - and that includes anybody in a mask - youu are bound to be in some trouble. It's the most unnatural form of acting.

On those lightsaber duels:

Learning swordplay is like learning choreography when you do a musical. While I certainly can't improvise as a swordsman, everything within the framework of what Luke has to do I've learned by rote. It's [Stunt Co-ordinator] Peter Diamond's job to make me look good.

On George Lucas:

George is very amiable as far as suggestions go. I can't tell you how many suggestions of mine he has listened to. In a book about Akira Kurosawa I found a photograph of a character with shaved widow's peaks, a top know with a bone in it, and a little eagle claw earring. I decided that was Luke's new look. You should have seen George's eyes when I brought that photo in just before filming [of Return of the Jedi] stared. His face remained the same but his eyes turned into little kaleidoscopes of fear. I'd love to play poker with George now.

On those weird things that 'just happen on set':

I've always loved the sound for the name of the creature that drags me underwater in the Death Star trash compactor - a dianoga. During abreak after the third time I had gone under, I pulled off a little bit of smutz that stuck to my stormtropper costume, looked at George who was intently directing and sang, 'Pardon me George, could this be dianoga pooo poo?' (To the tune of Chattanooga Choo Choo)

SW - The Official Magazine, October/November 1996