Mark Hamill is one of the most well-known and talented actors in Hollywood. Though he has starred in many massively successful projects throughout his career, the one role he is most widely recognized for is his work in the billion-dollar franchise, Star Wars as one of the primary and most prominent characters in the film series, Luke Skywalker.
It is quite interesting to find out that the first film that Hamill starred in in the franchise, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, he was under the impression that he would be playing a side-kick character to Harrison Ford and almost threw up when he first saw the film.
Mark Hamill Thought That He Was A Side-kick in Star Wars
When Mark Hamill initially auditioned for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, he did so opposite the legendary actor, Harrison Ford, who was also auditioning for a separate role, Han Solo. The star revealed that when he was going through the early audition processes, he was under the impression that his character, Luke Skywalker would be a sidekick to Ford’s character, getting only a fraction of the screentime compared to the others.
“Because when I tested, I figured Harrison’s a leading man. So I thought, ‘I’m playing his sidekick, right?’ Reading it, I’m going, ‘Wait a second. Wasn’t I reading for Luke Starkiller (later changed to Skywalker)? This can’t be right.’ … I was just astonished.” he stated.
The reason for this was the fact that during their auditions, the star was not told much about what the movie was going to be about. It was only until Hamill received the actor script that he actually realized that the character that he was playing was the protagonist of a multi-film franchise, which will go down in history as one of the most significant film series of all time.
Mark Hamill Almost Threw Up When He First Watched Star Wars
Mark Hamill went on to reveal that when he started working on Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, he was fairly new to acting and matured in his craft over the course of filming the movie, making the difference quite noticeable. This seemed to have worked in his favor as Luck Skywalker starts off as a wide-eyed boy who grows to become a Jedi Knight.
“So, out comes this singsong falsetto, ‘But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!’ Aaargh! It made me ill! I swear, I thought I was gonna throw up the first time I saw it. But I’ve seen it four times now, and each time I like myself better. I like myself for about 30% of it. I think I fit in. I do.'” he stated.
While this may have been an amazing addition to the film, Hamill couldn’t help but cringe and feel deeply uncomfortable while watching the film due to feeling that his acting was incredibly poor. The star went on to add that he has to physically stop himself from throwing up when he watches this film as he only finds part of it to be bearable.
Source: Village Voice