Mark Hamill Says He'll Likely Appear In 'Star Wars Episode VII,' But Nothing Is Signed Yet
Just like the rest of us, original Luke Skywalker Mark Hamill, is trying to find out about Star Wars Episode VII. He just can't get a meeting.
In a new interview, Hamill said he had meetings planned with both producer Kathleen Kennedy and screenwriter Michael Ardnt, but both were forced to cancel. His understanding, though, is that they want him (and Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, and maybe other actors) to appear in the J.J. Abrams directed sequel, but nothing has been signed yet.
Read his quotes and more below.
Hamill was talking to Entertainment Tonight (via Yahoo) about his new film Sushi Girl when he was asked about Episode VII:
They're talking to us. George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we'd be interested. He did say that if we didn't want to do it, they wouldn't cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. ... 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. Both have had meetings set that were postponed — on their end, not mine. They're more busy than I am.
As for the tone he and Lucas discussed, as well as him not being the sole returning actor:
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. And 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 and Tony Daniels, everybody that's around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody's on board here, rather than just one. I guess I'll have to tune into your show to figure out who's on board.
Where does he see his character, as well as the main characters of the story:
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.'
Finally, with the original trilogy having practical effects and the prequels so CG heavy, how does he hope these movies look:
I 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.'
I think Hamill has all the right answers here in terms of everything, Plus, his answers about where he and the rest of the original actors are in the process seems extremely plausible. Do you think he, Fisher and Ford will, indeed, all end up returning?