More than forty years later, Mark Hamill reveals a touching message from his former Star Wars co-star, Carrie Fisher, as he struggled to accept his legacy in George Lucas's saga. Deceased for almost ten years, the latter was not only his support on screen, but also in real life...
Mark Hamill had some difficulty assuming his role as Luke Skywalker
It is not uncommon for an actor or actress to be so associated by the public with a role that they can no longer shake it off, like Hugh Jackman and Wolverine or Mark Hamill and Luke Skywalker. The latter plays the lead role in a film that marks a before and after in the history of cinema, Star Wars. The audience's enthusiasm for George Lucas's universe has not waned since the release of A New Hope in 1977, and the sudden fame that greeted Mark Hamill at that time was not easy to manage. In a recent interview, the actor confided in the difficulty he had in assuming and highlighting his place in one of the most famous sagas in the world... And Carrie Fisher, who plays Princess Leia, has a lot to do with this acceptance.
Mark Hamill helped by Carrie Fisher in front of and behind the camera
In 1981, between the releases of the second and third films of the original trilogy, Mark Hamill made his Broadway debut in the lead role of The Elephant Man, without explicitly crediting Star Wars in his resume for the play. It was Carrie Fisher who encouraged him to highlight his legacy, as he recently told Variety.
[Carrie Fisher] came to see one of my plays on Broadway. And in the program, in my bio, I had listed all my theater roles, and at the end, it said, "He is also known for a series of popular space movies." [She asked me] "What does that mean? Why don't you mention Star Wars?" And I said, "Well, I want to show that I have a resume that includes many theater credentials." And she said, "Hey, don't sweat it. You're Luke Skywalker. I'm Princess Leia. Own it." And I kind of understood what she meant, you know, because you're like, "What territory am I occupying that nobody else is?" So she kind of helped me put it into perspective.
.@HamillHimself as John Merrick, The Elephant Man. Broadway, 1981. #CoverChange#BroadwayHistory#HamillHistory pic.twitter.com/9oqSCaUude
— It's(not)MarkHamill (@ItsMarkHamill) August 6, 2019
The 70s and 80s, a complicated period for Mark Hamill
Throughout his life, Mark Hamill suffered from his role in Star Wars as much as he loved it. While he has just made this radical decision regarding Luke Skywalker, let's remember that the release of A New Hope was part of a turbulent period in his life, also marked by tragedy. Before filming The Empire Strikes Back, the actor suffered a violent car accident just before the end of shooting. "It was a really bad accident. Miraculously, his teeth didn't shatter. But his nose did. They had to take some of the cartilage from his ear and put it in his nose," Carrie Fisher would confide many years later. Until the Disney-era revival of Star Wars, Mark Hamill remained distant from Luke Skywalker: after an unsatisfactory attempt at a Broadway career, he remained largely out of the public eye for most of his career. Although he looks back fondly and gratefully on Carrie Fisher's support in the 1980s, he nevertheless spent his life under the crushing shadow of Star Wars...
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