Mark Hamill On What He’d Like To See In Star Wars: Episode VII

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Luke SkywalkerAs Star Wars: Episode VII starts pre-production, Disney and Lucasfilm still have not officially confirmed that the big three of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher will be returning, although it would be pretty stupefying at this point if they didn’t. That lack of comment from the Mouse House also hasn’t stopped the three actors from openly talking about the new film. According to IGN, during the 30th anniversary screening of Return of the Jedi at EW’s CapeTown Film Festival in Hollywood, Mark Hamill surprised the audience at the Egyptian Theatre. Hamill answered questions about the making of Return of the Jedi and also talked about what he would like to see in Star Wars: Episode VII.

The 61-year-old actor explained that he would like to see Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Master and play the Obi-Wan Kenobi role to a new generation of Jedi Knights. “Heavy on the Jedi mind tricks, less on the lightsaber duels,” says Hamill. “That one in Empire nearly killed me! Six weeks I’m being beaten within an inch of my life on a daily basis! It was awful! And then it’s cut down to like six minutes. ‘Eh, it’s no big deal.’” For sake of comparison, Sir Alec Guinness was 63 years old by the time the original Star Wars movie was released in 1977. If Mark Hamill would appear in Star Wars: Episode VII, he would be the same age by the time the new movie is released in 2015. So it’s clear that Hamill is the right age for a Jedi Master role.

Hamill also talked about the infamous meeting he had with Carrie Fisher and George Lucas about the new Star Wars trilogy. Hamill and Fisher had no idea that there would be new Star Wars movies and thought that Lucas instead wanted them to promote the new Star Wars 3D up-conversion re-release, which has been postponed. Hamill says:

“We were trying to figure out, ‘What’s he going to talk about?’ Wait a second, I think he’s going to release these in 3D. Maybe he’s going to ask us to do publicity or something.’ We just had no idea. But my wife said, ‘What if he says, ‘We’re going to do more movies’?’ I said, ‘Yeah, right!’ It wasn’t even on the radar for me, at all.”

Hamill also admitted that he had at least one creative meeting with Disney and Lucasfilm about Star Wars: Episode VII. He gave his input on what he’d like to see in the film, in terms of technology and special effects. Hamill continues:

“I’ve only had one creative meeting about the new films, but I do remember saying, ‘We’ve got to find a proper balance between CGI and old school [FX]. That’s what the challenge is,” he added. “To try and meet expectations of what you guys want. I think there’s nothing wrong with CGI, but I think you have to have a balance, because the camera perceives the width and the depth and the weight – even if it’s a miniature model, the camera just realizes that. So when you have too much CGI and the clouds are CGI and the trees are CGI and the buildings are CGI, you’re getting to a point where the figure in the shot is like a hybrid of an animated film and live-action.”

Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters everywhere sometime during the summer of 2015, in 3D.

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