The “Star Wars” actor says he regrets doubting Rian Johnson’s portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the movie.
Mark
Hamill has thoughts about Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars: The Last
Jedi.” Disney; Stuart C. Wilson/Getty
Images
Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” movie,
took to Twitter on Tuesday to express regret for trash-talking
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” in public interviews.
It’s a thumb in the eye of the few “Star Wars” “fans” who have
seized on his previous comments to back their negative opinions
of the movie.
“I regret voicing my doubts & insecurities in public,”
Hamill wrote .
“Creative differences are a common element of any project but
usually remain private. All I wanted was to make good movie. I
got more than that — [director Rian Johnson] made an all-time
GREAT one!”
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in “The Last
Jedi.” Lucasfilm
In interviews leading up to the movie’s release earlier this
month, Hamill distanced himself from Johnson’s vision for Luke
Skywalker.
“I at one point had to say to Rian, ‘I pretty much fundamentally
disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character,'”
Hamill told
Vanity Fair . “‘Now, having said that, I have gotten it off my
chest, and my job now is to take what you’ve created and do my
best to realize your vision.'”
He also told The New York
Daily News that he personally doesn’t agree with Luke’s “it’s
time for the Jedi to end” philosophy, as stated in the movie’s
trailers .
“I’m the host body to which this character has been assigned,”
Hamill said .
“I don’t care what happened to this guy. Jedis do not give up.
It’s just inherent in them.”
In “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Skywalker appears only
briefly, at the end of the movie. He plays a much larger role in
“The Last Jedi,” but some fans
disapprove of the character’s direction.
Detractors of “The Last Jedi” have pointed to Hamill’s past
comments to argue that he tacitly disapproved of the movie.
But Hamill — grudgingly — came around to Johnson’s vision. He
conceded that the series needed to move forward to a new
generation of characters.
“It’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story, and Rian
needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective,”
Hamill said at a
press event. “He’s not my Luke Skywalker. But I had to do
what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well.
Listen, I still haven’t accepted it completely, but it’s only a
movie.”
Hamill — whose acting talent has long been considered a weak
point in the “Star Wars” movies — is getting high marks for his
performance in “The Last Jedi.”
“The Last Jedi” director
Rian Johnson. Stuart C. Wilson/Getty
Images
“Hamill, who once created one of cinema’s most iconic characters
but would never be considered by anyone to be a great actor,
gives the single best acting performance of his career,” Chris Nashawaty
wrote in his review of the movie for Entertainment Weekly.
“The Last Jedi” remains largely beloved, despite the argument
over the portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the film. Detractors of
the movie apparently
bombed the movie’s Rotten
Tomatoes audience score online. But Cinemascore, an
independent firm tracking audience sentiment, gave it an
“A,” which is the same score “The Force Awakens” and “Rogue
One: A Star Wars Story” received.” The film also has an 89%
rating from ComScore and Screen Engine, which is roughly the same
as the other two recent “Star Wars” movies.
Audiences still seem to want to see the movie in theaters, too.
The movie has made nearly $800
million so far and is on its way to being the
highest-grossing movie of 2017.
