Mark Hamill turns 70: Loved for “Star Wars”, disappointed for “Star Wars”

Mark Hamill turns 70
Loved for “Star Wars”, disappointed for “Star Wars”

“Who will say a, need to say b as well.” The same law applies to actor Mark Hamill and character Luke Skywalker. Nobody knows that better than the “Star Wars” beast, who will celebrate his 70th birthday on September 25th. Neither in our galaxy, nor the galaxy far, far away. For him, however, this has always been more of a blessing than a curse, as Hamill told the news agency spot on news. What he ultimately attaches to the nobility of his character: “What if I were only known for having played Charles Manson? Or people would say: ‘You know, he was the best Adolf Hitler of all time!'”

Thanks to Freddy Krueger for “Star Wars”

The fact that Hamill was allowed to rise to one of the greatest heroes in film history in 1977 is allegedly due to one of the greatest atrocities in film history. Because at that time he shared an apartment with actor Robert Englund (74), which in 1984 became Freddy Krueger’s nightmare. It was he who made his flatmate aware of the casting for an unknown flick called “Star Wars”. “So my ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ story is that Freddy Krueger told Luke Skywalker to call his agent – and he got the job,” recently told Englund as a guest on the podcast “Inside Of You”.

In the year of his breakthrough, Hamill had to experience how close dream and nightmare can sometimes be. When “Star Wars” finally conquered the cinemas after several delays at the end of 1977 and Hamill became world famous, he no longer looked so much like his screen hero. In January of the same year, shortly after the shooting, the actor had a serious car accident and parts of his face had to be reconstructed.

As is well known, this did not affect his success or that of the franchise. “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” became global box office hits in the 1980s. Nevertheless, during the “Star Wars” boom, it became clear what shaped large parts of Hamill’s career: the name Skywalker was too big to allow other film characters to sit next to him.

The voice of evil

With the exception of small guest appearances or roles in commercially unsuccessful films, nothing happened in the cinema for Hamill for a long time. What many do not know: He has embodied a figure as iconic as Luke Skywalker for decades. However, the German audience does not get the benefit of experiencing that. For almost 30 years he has been lending his voice to the diabolical Joker in the original setting of various “Batman” productions, whether comic series or video games.

It was not until 2021 that Hamill achieved another coup in this regard. In the new edition of “He-Man” called “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” he speaks in the English original as the super villain Skeletor. So when he’s not in front of the camera, he’s really taken with the dark side.

The frustration over his “Star Wars” comeback

A gigantic hype shook the power when it became known that 2015 would mark the beginning of a new “Star Wars” trilogy. Especially since in addition to the comeback of Hamill, those of Harrison Ford (79) and Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) were announced. Not all fans were enthusiastic about the final result, however, and Mr. Skywalker personally never got tired at times, expressing displeasure about some decisions.

“I fundamentally contradict your concept of the character,” he said to director Rian Johnson (47) when he made Skywalker a bitter recluse in “The Last Jedi”. He later regretted saying this publicly. Still, he couldn’t quite let it sit on him. In the old trilogy it had “a beginning, a middle section and an end”. With the new films it was “a beginning and an end” – “no middle section, but that’s okay”.

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