'Star Wars Episode 9' Secrecy Is Like Being In The CIA, Says Mark Hamill

It's no secret that secrets of Star Wars must be kept secret, for fear of the secrets secreting and ruining everything (especially the secrets). But the secrecy around Star Wars has gotten even more extreme than you might realize. There are criminals in movies that get transferred between prisons that don't have as much security as the secrets of Star Wars.

Star Wars saga star Mark Hamill has been around since the beginning of the franchise, and it should come as no surprise that the secrecy surrounding these movies has changed drastically. In a recent interview, Mark Hamill talked about how many people he passed around the Star Wars script to simply because it was so weird. And now he can't read it without somebody watching him until he's done.Entertainment Weekly was speaking to Mark Hamill about his upcoming project Knightfall, and conversation briefly turned to Star Wars secrecy since he can't talk about anything involved with production on Star Wars: Episode 9. Hamill said:

"You know how it is these days, every time you sign NDAs. I remember back when I read the first Star Wars [script], I was like, 'Wow, that's the goofiest thing I've ever read.' I gave it to my best friend to read, and I said, 'What do you think of it?' He said, 'It's really wild, it's crazy, can I give it to Meredith?' 'Sure, go ahead.' It went around to all my friends. Of course back then nobody cared. Nowadays it's like working for some secret deep state government organization, like being in the CIA. They're going to send rewrites over to Prague on this dark red paper that gives you a headache to read."

We've seen the dark red pages of a Star Wars script before in this photo from the set of The Force Awakens:

So why are the script pages red? If you try to photocopy red script pages like that, they print out black, making it nearly impossible to easily make a quick copy of the script if you stumbled upon it somewhere. That doesn't stop anyone from taking a high resolution photo with the phones we all carry around in our pockets. But first you'd have to get your hands on a script without someone looking over your shoulder.

Hamill adds that in addition to the difficult to read red pages, someone has to watch him read the script too:

"They're going to fly [the rewrites] over with somebody from the company. They're going to come and give it to me and wait for me to read it before I give it back. So no pressure! You can't even keep it overnight. But that's the way it is now."

With J.J. Abrams back behind the camera, and this being the supposed last installment of the Skywalker saga, secrecy is probably more intense than ever. It only makes sense with how quickly information can spread and how easily it can be sent without much afterthrough. And that's just fine with us, because we'd rather be surprised by what Abrams has in store for us.

Star Wars: Episode 9 is expected in theaters on December 20, 2019, and hopefully we'll get a trailer soon.