Mark Hamill has admitted that Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s portrayal of Luke Skywalker isn’t his version of the character for George Lucas’ original saga.
Before I continue with this article I must implore people not to take what Mark Hamill says here out of context. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has easily been one of the most divisive Star Wars movies ever made and that’s not surprising if you take into account people’s unwillingness to let the past go. Kylo Ren literally says in this movie “let the past die” and that’s what this movie is all about. Part of that Star War history is Mark Hamill. His performance of Luke Skywalker is pivotal in this movie and yet when he first read the script he apparently disagreed with everything that writer/director wrote with regards to his character.
This is not really surprising. Mark has been used to playing the Luke Skywalker from the original saga yet this version of Luke has lost all hope and has disconnected himself from the Force. Much of the movie is about Luke’s redemptive story arc and I personally found it to be fascinating. Anyway, let’s move on to what Mark actually said.
During an interview with JarJar Abrams, Mark said: “I said to Rian ‘Jedis don’t give up’”, Hamill said, referring to writer/director Rian Johnson. “I mean, even if he had a problem, he would maybe take a year to try and regroup. But if he made a mistake, he would try and right that wrong. So right there we had a fundamental difference, but it’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story – and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective.”
“That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that. I’m sorry. Well in this version, see I’m talking about the George Lucas Star Wars. This is the next generation of Star Wars, so I almost had to think of Luke as another character. Maybe he’s Jake Skywalker. He’s not my Luke Skywalker, but I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well.”
However, Luke certainly hasn’t been one of the people trolling the movie on the Internet. “I still haven’t accepted it completely. But it’s only a movie. I hope people like it. I hope they don’t get upset, and I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man that they needed for this job.”
I’ve heard a lot of people and read a lot of articles that say that Mark Hamill hates Rian Johnson’s movie. Well, that’s just not true. Listen to what he’s actually saying. He didn’t agree to begin with but realised that Rian’s treatment of Luke was vital for the movie as a whole. And it all ended up with Mark delivering his very best performance as Luke Skywalker.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in cinemas as we speak and warrants repeat viewings.
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