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Mark Hamill laments 'Star Wars' secrecy, 'Force Awakens' workout

By Kelly Lawler



Tell us MORE, Luke! (Photo: Mike Marsland, WireImage)

We searched the entire galaxy and we found Luke hanging out with some Star Wars nerds in London.

This year's Star Wars Celebration (think Comic-Con but only for our friends from a galaxy far, far away) began in London on Friday, and one of the franchise's most elusive stars took center stage right away. Mark Hamill hosted an hour-long panel all on his own Friday morning, and it was nice to see him after he mostly sat out of The Force Awakens' press tour to prevent silly questions like "where's Luke?"

The panel (which, like many others will be at the convention, was live-streamed on StarWars.com) allowed fans access to Mr. Skywalker himself, and they had some questions. Here's what he (finally) had to say.

On Episode VIII

“People say, 'Give us a detail about Episode VIII,'” Hamill said. “I know you’ll love the irony that I am contractually forbidden to do so.” (Although what if we had said "pretty please"?)

On finding out he was only in one scene in The Force Awakens

“You should have seen me. What are the very first words in the crawl? ‘Luke Skywalker has vanished,’” Hamill said. “I said, “Hoo, this is gonna be good!”

He added that he wasn't "insulted" by his minimal screen time. “I thought it was a really great surprise. But I don’t think they prepared me correctly,” he said. “I went to training, and I lost all this weight. I thought, ‘I must be doing something physical if they’re sending me to the gym twice a week and torturing me physically.”

Unfortunately, he wasn't really doing much at all in the movie. “It’s all about preparing you. ‘Oh, by the way, all that workout where you lost all the weight? You’re going to have to turn – and remove your hood,’” Hamill joked. “I’m like, ugh, I need to lie down for a minute.”

On the required secrecy on a Star Wars set

“It can be annoying and intrusive,” Hamill admitted. “You get call sheets, there’s no names, everybody’s got a number! You’re number 11. You’re 33. You’re looking at the call sheets wondering who’s working today, and it’s like oh I loved 22’s work. She’s twice as good as 11.”

At a certain point, he noted, the regulations can get in the way of that whole acting thing. “I understand why they’re doing it, but it can get really out of control with the pages that get shredded every day,” he said. “I’m in the elderly recluse stage of my career, I have to write cartoons in the margins to make me remember these lines. Need a script you can write on and take home and look and read! So they let me have one scene, and I keep it on my person.”