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Mark Hamill appears at Star Wars Weekends!

June 6th, 2014 by Irwin Fletcher Comments

Star Wars Weekends is going on now at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and one of the celebrity guests this weekend is none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.

Today Disney revealed a promo image for the Weekend, that you can see below:

In addition Mark Hamill had an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, about his time in the original trilogy, his reaction to the prequels, fans, and on preparing to return, and more.

On his place in the Star Wars past:

“In my mind, there was a beginning, and a middle and an end for me and my association with George’s trilogy. It was firmly in the past.  When the prequels came out, I watched from a distance, but I was totally fine.”

On preparing for Star Wars: Episode VII:

“I’ve altered my diet. I’ve started working out. There’s that.  But on the film itself: I toured the departments, I’ve looked at wardrobe, and I saw the creature shop. I went around and met all the cast people, saw the technicians working on some new things.”

On Star Wars spoilers:

“This is a whole different world … The first one, no one cared. The second one there was a lot of interest, but it was before the Internet. … I tell people we’re not trying to annoy you or tease you or play some massive game. Basically what the goal is to keep the surprises for the movie instead of spoiling them on the Internet.”

On George Lucas’ vision for the characters:

“He always liked the idea of seeing the original characters as elderly characters.”

On agreeing to do Star Wars: Episode VII:

“Look, I’m aware that a lot of people don’t care one way or another, but for the UPFs – the ultra passionate fans – they would come after me like the angry townspeople with torches in the old Frankenstein pictures. I would have a lot to answer for if I didn’t at least try to make the effort. It’s not like I had a choice. I feel like I was called up for service by the Selective Service.”

On reuniting with the cast:

“I hadn’t seen Tony Daniels or Carrie [Fisher] or Harrison [Ford] or Peter Mayhew in ages. … I was wonderful to see them again, because I didn’t expect to. Again, this is all so unexpected. It’s like getting out that pair of pants you haven’t worn in five years and finding a 20-dollar bill in the pocket. Oh, this is nice.”

On the Star Wars fandom:

“I haven’t seen those movies since they were in movie theaters. I don’t watch them on home theater or DVD. There are people who are far more expert in it than I am. They know more, way more, about them than I do, and they care more. … You don’t have to love them, but I am surprised sometimes at how vehemently they get if they’re not satisfied, which is scary. I have this feeling that no matter what we do there’s going to be a faction that really is disappointed. You just can’t live up to that. Any kind of reunion type endeavor, whatever it is … you can never go home again.”

On fan events and autographs:

“If you hit me up on the street I’m not going to charge you. I’ll sign what you want. It makes a big difference if you’re making an 8 year old happy as opposed to some guy who’s going to take that same autograph, turn it around, slap a ridiculous price and gouge the fans on the internet. I’m really torn. It makes us crazy because you feel like you’re trapped like that.  There’s no way to make it go away. … That’s one thing that’s unpleasant. You’re trapped between the dealers and the fans.”

On Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm:

“I think he [George Lucas] really feels a great relief of passing this property into the right hands. I couldn’t be more excited even nominally a part of the Disney family.”

Star Wars: Episode VII will be directed by J.J. Abrams from a script that he wrote with Lawrence Kasdan. Set to star to original cast members Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in addition to new cast members John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, and Max von Sydow.

Return to a galaxy far, far away on December 18th, 2015.

 

I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.