Mark Hamill interview: 'Everyone thinks they know me, wherever I go'

The actor returned to the series that made him an international superstar with ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. Now, the 66-year-old speaks to The Independent about leaving the fate of a galaxy far, far away to the next generation of heroes

Mark Hamill at the Tokyo premiere of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (Rex)

Mark Hamill is tired. I’ve been told as much four times within 10 minutes. Not by Hamill himself (of course), but by the various minders and public relations people hovering outside the actor’s hotel room. And the 66-year-old has every right to be tired.

We’re meeting late on a Monday. Already today, Hamill has done dozens of interviews, snapping selfies with journalists from around the world. Yesterday, the actor was up late accepting the Icon Award at the Empire Film Awards. The day before saw him kick off Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations, meeting and greeting fans, including President Michael D Higgins. For anyone, of any age, that’s a busy schedule.

Entering Hamill’s room, I feel ever so slightly like Rey approaching Luke Skywalker during the final moments of Star Wars: The Force Awakens – an eager newcomer meeting a personal hero (except rather than handing over a lightsabre, I place a Dictaphone down on a table). Luckily, Hamill does not throw the recording device over his shoulder and walk off. Instead, the actor gives a wide smile, offers a wonderfully bright “Hello, how are you?” and tells me all about Ireland.

“It was surreal in the moment,” he says. “You can’t believe something like that is happening to you; meeting the President of Ireland and the spectacle of the parade. And everyone is so nice. They all feel like they know you. That’s the nice thing about being in something that’s as universally recognised as Star Wars. Parents normally tell kids ‘Don’t talk to strangers’, but everyone thinks they know me, wherever I go.”

Hamill – as anyone who has interviewed him before will attest – loves offering up anecdotes and impressions. We start talking about fans and what they say to him: “It’s really interesting because they all relate it to their own lives. ‘I met my wife online thanks to Empire Strikes Back. By the time Return of the Jedi came out we had a son named Luke.’ They tell you these stories! ‘It helped me get through my grandmother’s illness.’ Star Wars has inspired people in a way I never expected – it resonates with them in a way that’s deeper than anyone could have anticipated.”

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker: ‘Everyone thinks they know me, wherever I go’

We are here, as you may have guessed, to discuss the DVD release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As anyone who caught the film in cinemas will know, the eighth episode in the Skywalker saga marks a definite conclusion to Luke’s storyline, a character who has been synonymous with Hamill ever since the original Star Wars launched in 1977. I ask whether it feels like the end of an era.

“Yeah, it does,” he says. “There’s no question about it. I remember speaking to Rian [Johnson, the movie’s director] and asking ‘Can’t we push this off until 9? I was only in a sliver of 7!’ But I was also influenced by George [Lucas]’s original plan, where Luke did not die until Episode IX, after he trained Leia. But then we need to forget that. ‘Kill the past,’ they say in the movie. I have to remember that. This is the new generation, where I’m not the protagonist anymore. And that’s fine because I love having other people do all the heavy lifting.”

The new generation (Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega) can easily carry the series forward, Hamill says. More importantly, audiences certainly do not need to see the original trio – Luke, Leia, and Han Solo – flying the Falcon any longer. “It was fun seeing Carrie [Fisher] and Harrison [Ford] – Harrie and Carrison, I used to call them – running around the Death Star, bumping heads and exchanging wisecracks when we were in our 20s and 30s. If we were doing that now it would be kind of sad, like Grandma and Grandad losing the keys to the car. It would be age inappropriate.”

Despite acknowledging the handing over of the Star Wars baton as a positive, there was still an “undercurrent of sadness” when filming The Last Jedi for Hamill. Not because he was leaving the franchise behind (and we do not talk about Carrie Fisher's passing here either) but because of the blockbuster’s plot. The film sees Luke Skywalker growing old and facing his own mortality. Hidden away on the planet Ahch-To, the former moisture farmer comes to terms with his own past during the film – including a controversial plot point that sees Luke almost kill a student, Ben Solo AKA Kylo Ren.

“It is dark in a way I did not think about,” he says, “but I embrace being the more Obi-Wan like character, because that’s the natural progression of life.”

Anecdote time: “There was a period after Return of the Jedi when Star Wars had not come back. These movies are timeless, not dated by their cars or fashions. So, you have these fans who are parents with young children who have just seen Star Wars for the first time and think we made it two weeks ago. The parents say, ‘Look who it is, it’s Luke Skywalker!’ And there I am at 50, and the child is aghast. ‘What happened to this guy, he really let himself go!’ It’s natural and good to see the ageing process. So at least now, when they see me, it’s OK because they’ve seen me in the current film rather than thinking about me in my 20s.”

As well as giving children some perspective on what an aged Luke looks like, the recent wave of Star Wars films has also afforded Hamill something of a second coming. After the initial Star Wars trilogy, the actor stayed mainly away from the limelight, focussing instead on voice work – becoming what many people considering the quintessential Joker – and theatre. Two weeks before our interview, though, the actor was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a star-studded ceremony attended by Harrison Ford and George Lucas, while last year he was named a Disney Legend.

“What’s so funny is, normally I’m happy doing what I’m doing,” he says. “Nobody knew I was on Broadway unless they were living in the tri-state area. I would come back to LA and people would wonder, ‘Oh, are you still in the business? We thought you retired.’ Doing voiceover work reminded me how much I enjoy performing without doing a curtain call or being recognised. It reminded me you don’t need the spotlight – to be on talk shows or magazine covers – to really enjoy performing. I would have been perfectly content living out my final years being a character actor and voice actor. And while I did not expect to come back to Star Wars, who could say no? If you can’t have fun doing a Star Wars movie, then something is definitely wrong. ”

While there’s no sense of jealousy in Hamill’s words, I can’t help but wonder whether the actor would have had things a little different if he could. After all, his colleague, Ford, continued to land leading Hollywood roles after the initial Star Wars films finished, including Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, and The Fugitive. Would Hamill have preferred to have had Ford’s career?

“When they sent me the first Star Wars script, the cover said: Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. It was a long title! And I thought, immediately, that Harrison Ford was Luke Skywalker. Because, when we tested together, he was the leading man.”

Hamill lies back slightly, doing a spot-on impression of Ford: “He was all, ‘Hey kid, I held up my side of the bargain,' when I was doing this bubbly little teenager. He oozed charisma and knew exactly how he wanted to be portrayed. I was like Luke: all over the place, bouncing off the walls and wondering where I fitted in. So, I wasn’t jealous of Harrison, I was happy for him, because I could never do what he did. But I don’t think he could do what I did. Nor would he want to.”

Instead, he much preferred doing voiceover work and singing on Broadway. “I’m not the greatest singer, but I had great confidence in my singing, because I’m acting like a great singer. Harrison would not want to do a musical or step outside his comfort zone. That’s the challenge to me. To do something I’ve never done before.”

That’s not to say Hamill did not previously want that busy lifestyle enjoyed by only a certain echelon of actors, admitting to caring about getting into Hollywood’s A-list parties. Naturally, things have changed: “I now love just staying home as much as going out. I have the dogs, the TV, the books I want to read. It’s a really good life!”

Another change was how much Hamill appreciates being on the set of Star Wars, admitting that during his 20s he “took for granted” having those experiences. “It’s special in a way that I did not know at a time,” he says.

As the actor speaks about working on Star Wars all those years ago, I quickly realised this may be the final time Hamill ever does press for a Star Wars film. I feel almost obliged to ask my next question: what’s your fondest memory looking back on that first movie?

“I remember everything being a revelation. I only dreamed of England from watching A Hard Day’s Night – loving the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and all that. I had seen the country on films like David Copperfield. I had real romantic notions. I was a big Peter Sellers fan and loved British comedy. Flying in and seeing those rooftops, just as they were in Scrooge, that was special. Then, meeting one of my idols, Alec Guinness, and realising what a sweet, kind, generous man he was.”

Another spot-on impression, this time of Guinness: “‘I don’t want to be known as… [Hamill slaps his own face]’ Alec kept slapping me, and saying, ‘I don’t want to be known as Sir Alex. I want to be known by my name and not my accolade.’”

Hamill continues: “Then going to Africa for the first time. Everything was new. Going to Finse [Norway] for the ice planet. Wondering how they were going to do Jabba the Hut. I remember that big giant puppet. I climbed right inside. To have an inside seat to all that was incredible.”

Time for one last question. I ask Hamill what’s next for him. Finally, the first sign that he may actually be tired. “Let’s see, we’re going to Gibraltar tomorrow. Then we’re going to New York. Then, I’m finally going to have a nap.” He laughs heartily and awaits the next journalist to enter the room.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download 9 April.