Mark Hamill knew he had to say yes when George Lucas told him about plans for a new Star Wars trilogy. "It's not like a choice – it's like I was drafted," Hamill told a huge crowd on Saturday night at the four-day Star Wars Celebration fan event in Anaheim, California, of his decision to reprise his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which was partly filmed in Abu Dhabi last year.
“Could you imagine if for some reason I said, ‘I don’t think I want to do it’? I would have all of you surrounding my house like villagers, angry villagers with lightsabers instead of torches,” said the 63-year-old Star Wars veteran.
Hamill admitted he was caught off guard when Lucas invited him to lunch. When Hamill's wife suggested that perhaps there was a new film in the works, Hamill laughed because Lucas had told him specifically that he was done making Star Wars movies after the prequels.
He assumed Lucas was going to announce a 3-D release of the original films or roll out another special edition box set of the films, laughing about the number of different versions that have been made available.
Still, his interest was piqued when Lucas said Hamill’s daughter could not come along to the meeting – and he knew then that it must be something big.
When details of the project started coming together, Hamill said he was cautiously optimistic about J J Abrams, the chosen director for Episode VII. "I was a little suspicious because he was a Star Trek guy," said Hamill, laughing. The actor quickly clarified that he likes Star Trek but added: "It just seems odd."
He went on to compliment Abrams for his inclusiveness. He is, Hamill noted, the first Star Wars director to come out of the true fandom of the original films.
“He feels the way you feel in terms of wanting practical effects, real sets,” he said. Regarding the secrecy surrounding the new film, which is due to open on December 18 in the United States, Hamill said he is constantly worried about leaking information. He said that he even learnt the subtitle of the seventh film on the internet. “They’re so secretive these days,” said Hamill. “When we did the first one, no one cared.”
Hamill was “cleared” to tell the packed house that he did record a voice-over specifically for the new teaser trailer, which debuted on Thursday during the Celebration’s kick-off panel.
In the teaser, we hear Luke's voice saying a familiar, but slightly altered line from Return of the Jedi: "The force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power too." He laughed and said that he kept messing up and saying: "My father had it." The end result is a combination of the original recording and Hamill's new session, the actor said.
After the trailer was played again in the arena, Hamill marvelled that there was "so much information there for you to speculate about" embedded in the footage. "It implies so much that's gone on from [The Return of the] Jedi till now," he said. "They don't call it a teaser for nothing. They want to tease you."
artslife@thenational.ae
