Mark Hamill reveals he thought ‘Star Wars’ was a parody of ‘Flash Gordon’ at first
Mark Hamill has jokingly revealed that he thought Star Wars was a parody film of Flash Gordon the first time he ever read the script.
The actor, who famously played Luke Skywalker in the iconic franchise, was speaking in an interview on the ITV show This Morning when he began to reminisce on his most high-profile lead role, and the mishap he created at the beginning of the process.
Hamill explained: “The thing is I didn’t get the whole script, for the screen test it was only eight pages. I thought, ‘Who talks like this?’,” before recalling how he turned to his future co-star Harrison Ford, whom he had previously worked with, for advice.
“So I spoke to Harrison and you know what he said? ‘Hey kid, let’s just get it done.’ He was no help at all,” Hamill joked, before noting how he then went to director George Lucas for help.
The actor continued: “I said, ‘George this is sort of like a send up of Flash Gordon.’ He went, ‘Let’s just do it and talk about it later.’ Translation: let’s just do it and never talk about it later. He’s not a director who likes to talk about motivation and backstory. He casts people that are so close to what he wants that he doesn’t have to direct us. I was wide-eyed and energetic and all these things.”
However, Hamill also explained how he later realised that he had misunderstood the premise of the film, as he assumed Ford would have been the lead star. I just assumed he was the lead character and I was his annoying sidekick,” he said. “Then I get the movie, and Harrison must be Luke. He was called Luke Starkiller at that time. Then I started reading it and I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s from my point of view,’ which is really unusual to tell it through a teenager.”
The actor is next set to appear in The Life of Chuck, alongside Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Karen Gillan. The film is a sci-fi fantasy based on the 2020 Stephen King novella of the same name, and is set to be released in the UK on August 20th.
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