In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Mark Hamill spoke at length regarding his involvement with Star Wars: Episode VII. Yesterday, Showbiz 411 reported that Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford were all set to return, although an earlier report said a deal with Ford wouldn’t be closed for weeks or possibly months. In this case, it’s best to go straight to the source, and Hamill confirmed his earlier comments that George Lucas wanted to know if they were interested, and that the filmmakers have been talking to them. Lucas also told Hamill that if they didn’t want to do the sequels, “they wouldn’t cast another actor in our parts; they would write us out.†And on that day, George Lucas finally did something right again. Hamill went on to say, “I can tell you right away that we haven’t signed any contracts. We’re in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm.†Hamill added “Both have had meetings set that were postponed — on their end, not mine. They’re more busy than I am.â€
Hit the jump for much more including what Hamill assumes will happen with the characters, other actors he’d like to see return, and the visual style of the sequels.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight [via CS], Hamill strongly hinted at how Luke will be depicted in the sequel:
“I’m assuming—because I haven’t talked to the writers—that these movies would be about our offspring, like my character would be sort of in the Obi-wan range [as] an influential character. When I found out [while making the original trilogy] that ultimate good news/bad news joke the good news is there’s a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she’s your sister. I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to wind up like Sir Alec [Guinness]. I’m going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.’â€
Of course, Obi-wan was in a self-imposed exile, but since the Empire was defeated at the end of Return of the Jedi, I don’t see why Luke would have to live out in a desert igloo with droids.
However, it sounds like Hamill would prefer if the new movies wouldn’t be quite so dark:
“I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and lighthearted and humorous, in my opinion, anyway….hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects. I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings — I’m sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant a video game, and that’s unfortunate. If they listen to me at all, it’ll be, ‘Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.’â€
I think plenty of fans agree with Hamill, but that approach seems unlikely since the demands of what moviegoers want in terms of spectacle can only be served with massive amounts of CGI even though the original trilogy holds up perfectly fine. Hopefully, they find the “right balance of CGI and practical effects†rather than the green-screen heavy world of the prequels.
Hamill would also prefer some throwbacks in terms of bringing back more than Luke, Leia, and Han Solo:
“Another thing I’d want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee [Lando Calrissian] and Tony Daniels [C-3PO], everybody that’s around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody’s on board here, rather than just one.â€
That’s a very thoughtful sentiment, although I think once you get past Luke, Leia, and Han Solo, it may be tougher to bring back outside characters in terms of where they would fit into the story. Perhaps past the point of Luke, Leia, and Han, you have old supporting characters reduced to cameos in order to make way for the new characters.
Michael Arndt is working on the pic’s screenplay as we speak, and once Star Trek Into Darkness opens in May, Abrams will be able to devote his full attention to Star Wars for the next 2-3 years. As such, we should be hearing some more solid information regarding Star Warslater this summer.
