There is an excited buzz regarding the upcoming new Star Wars film, which is slated for release on December 18th, a little less than one week before Christmas. Well, I guess there is at least one good reason to not dread the approach of another winter.
This Star Wars is a little interesting, because it is different than all of the others that preceded it. Firstly, it will not have anything to do with George Lucas. Many are thankful for that, given the popular perception of the rather mediocre level of the movies in that last trilogy. I agree that those three movies did not stand up to the first trilogy. Some things were missing, including especially a real sense of humor - don't underestimate the power of humor with these things. Also, the lack of a really fearful bad guy from movie to movie. Darth Maul would have served well, but he was inexplicably killed off in the first of those three movies. Also, there was one obnoxious character who should have gone missing in those movies, and that is Jar Jar Binks.
That was not likely all that was missing in those three movies, but it is enough to list those three things here. The point of this blog entry was not a close examination of all that went wrong with those movies but, rather, to talk about this upcoming movie, which actually looks good. That, despite it being owned by Disney (is there nothing that the Disney corporate monster does not own these days?).
This weekend, Mark Hamill, also known as Luke Skywalker, discussed the new movie, and his apparently reluctant role in it.
Hamill said that he was skeptical about joining, although he knew that people would be banging on his door (apparently literally, according to him) if he decided not to. But he was skeptical because the new director, J. J. Abrams, seemed more of a Star Trek guy to him, and not so much a Star Wars guy.
Huh! Didn't think that would necessarily get in the way, but there you have it.
In any case, this was a fascinating article about some of what Hamill had to say, and I recommend that any Star Wars fans take a look!
Mark Hamill said he was 'suspicious' of J.J. Abrams by Lindsey Bahr of the Associated Press, April 19, 2015:
Perhaps the real reason behind his reluctance was not wanting to rekindle the fire of tedious fans urging him to "use the force" every time he's out running an errand or nursing a coffee at Starbucks. Or worse, like running into this whackjob again... https://borgdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chuck-and-mark-hamill.jpg
ReplyDeleteIt must indeed grow tiresome to be constantly badgered when you are out in the public. But it's hard to imagine him not being a part of this particular movie. Luke Skywalker was his signature role, by far.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Then again, I'm guessing it's relatively easy to make one's peace with that if you live a pampered existence in a beautiful home, which he presumably does. I'm reminded of that vaguely similar anecdote regarding Ringo Starr, wherein he was asked if he ever feels bad about people feeling the need to belittle his drumming skills and compare him to flashier drummers (including but not limited to the late Keith Moon of the Who), to which he responded something along the lines of "Sure, it bothers me sometimes, but then I go for a ride in my yacht and suddenly I find myself feeling better."
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