Joey Paur
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About ten years after Star Wars: A New Hope was unleashed on the world, Mark Hamill sat down with Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine for in interview to talk about his career and what it was like for him shooting the original trilogy with director George Lucas.
We’ve shared a couple of excerpts from this interview already, but there’s another part of it that I wanted to share. It’s a lot of fun finding and reading old interviews like this! At one point the actor was asked what his memories were from the three Star Wars films.
This interview with done in 1988, which was only five years after The Return of the Jedi was released in theaters, so Hamill’s experiences were still pretty fresh in his head. This was his reply to that question:
On Star Wars, I would say it was having the first two weeks off in Africa. Also it was exciting working on a film with all of those props: the laser guns, floating cars and droids was really like transporting us into another world and I loved that! I had never worked with Sir Alec Guinness and Tony Daniels was so much fun on that location, we were really good buddies there.
Seeing the whole African culture was also very interesting. Meeting Peter Cushing, although I didn’t work with him, was a thrill. I was always a big Hammer fan.
On The Empire Strikes Back, I think it was Kershner’s mystical trappings and the way he shaded it so darkly and pulled the rug out from under you that I liked the most. It had one of the great shock endings of all time. The hero having his hand cut off, I mean, that doesn’t happen to heroes. There were so many things I liked about that one.
The last one, Return of the Jedi, was sort of sad because it was a farewell, it was all over. But, yet, for all of us, there was that sort of anxiousness that you get when you’re graduating from one class to another and the anticipation of what’s next? So there were a lot of conflicting emotions
there: sort of relief and regret. There was also a little anxiety over the fact that your family wouldn’t be together anymore. I mostly miss the people. When I think about it, the thing I miss most is the cast and crew. A lot of the films were made far away in England and we were all very close.
Hamill was then asked which of the three films was his favorite. This is an easy question for a lot of fans! Most would immediately say The Empire Strikes Back, while a lot of other fans would say A New Hope. I think The Return of the Jedi would be the last on the list, but that was the first Star Wars film that I saw on the big screen! So, it does hold a special place in my heart. But, Empire is definitely my number one.
This wasn’t an easy question for Hamill to answer, so he ended up choosing all three. He explained:
Each film is special in a different way. It’s like saying, “Which is your favorite kid?” It’s hard to pick a favorite. The first one was new and fresh and different. The second one, I think, it tried to utilize the fact that you thought you knew what was coming and I liked that. Each one had its own personality and character and it it’s hard for me to say, That’s my favorite.’”
I guess that’s a fair answer. While we’re on the subject, let us know what your favorite Star Wars movie is from the original trilogy!