Need "Star Wars" info? Ask Mark Hamill, of course!
We’ve all spent the past few days analyzing this Disney purchase of Lucasfilm and the announcement that they’re planning a new “Star Wars” trilogy. EW, though, went right to someone who was there at the creation: MarkHamill, the original Luke Skywalker, the man who screamed the most famous “Noooooooo!!!!” in movie history.
It turns out that Luke was tipped off about plans for the new movies a few months ago:
“…last August, he asked Carrie and I to have lunch with him and we did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the Star Wars TV series that I’ve heard about — which I don’t think we were going to be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor — or the 3-D releases. So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [Laughs] I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material. It’s one of those things: people either just don’t care for it or are passionate about it. I guess that defines what cult movies are all about. We’ll see. I’m anxious to know what’s going on, but the main story [yesterday] was the sale to Disney. I have mixed feelings about that, but they haven’t done badly by Marvel and the Muppets and Pixar. It’s one of those big decisions that at first seems unusual but then the more you look at it, the more it makes sense.”
Is anyone else stuck on the picture of George, Carrie, and Mark hanging out together? And that Lucas thought it was important to give them the news before anyone else? I find that cute, but I guess I am just Miss Sentimental.
No word yet, of course, if there will be a role in the movies for Hamill. He never became a movie star, but has had a highly successful voice over career. And if the one movie you star in turns out to be one of the biggest, most influential movies in history, well, it’s hard to top that, isn’t it?
I’m sure there will be plenty more “Star Wars” news in the coming days.
