By: Benjamin Hart
Last week was an amazing one for Star Wars fans as
Star Wars Celebration came to Anaheim, California with a seemingly endless amount of reveals from the past, present and future of the Star Wars Saga. One of the anticipated panels of the event featured two fan favorites discussing just that. "Mark Hamill: The Return Of The Jedi" featured James Arnold Taylor interviewing Luke Skywalker himself on the Celebration stage. Their conversation covered everything from set stories from
The Empire Strikes Back to Hamill's recent appear on
The Flash TV series. But by far the most interesting things said during the panel were about Star Wars Episode VII.
First off, Mark had a lot of great things to say about his new co-stars, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and others. "People said, 'well, did they ask you for advice?' and I said, 'are you kidding? I should ask them for advice." And when asked if he had seen the
new trailer for The Force Awakens prior to it's premiere Thursday morning, Hamill revealed that he had indeed watched it a week earlier when he went to Bad Robot studios to record the now infamous voice over heard in the trailer. Hamill went on to confirm that even though the lines in the trailer were pulled from
Return Of The Jedi, he had re-recorded those same lines which J.J. Abrams & crew had combined to create a reverberation of Luke's voice in the trailer.
Later, Taylor questioned Hamill about how he was first approached to return to Star Wars. Hamill proceeded to tell a story about himself, his wife and Carrie Fisher being asked out to lunch by George Lucas while at at a previous Star Wars event. Hamill admittedly laughed at the idea of a new trilogy including himself, He soon learned of Lucas' plans, but didn't give a yes or no, adding he was in a state of shock. "What's really interesting is later I thought: It's not like a choice, it was like I was drafted. Can you imagine if for some reason I said, 'I don't think I want to do it.' I would have all of you[pointing to the audience] surrounding my house like... angry villagers with Lightsabers instead of torches."
And on J.J, Abrams, Hamill joked that he was suspicious of "that Star Trek guy", but had high praise for the filmaker. Hamill noted that
The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars film to be in the hands of someone who grew up in Star Wars fandom and adds that Abrams shares the same thoughts and feeling that many Star Wars fan have.
It's always great to hear from Mark, and it's especially refreshing to hear him speak about The Force Awakens more candidly than normal. Thanks to James Arnold Taylor and crew for putting on such a great show at Celebration Anaheim!
Source: YouTube
