Just about everyone on the planet knows our cover boy Mark Hamill. In between playing quintessential hero Luke Skywalker, Hamill has kept himself busy in a variety of mediums: TV, Screen, Broadway, Voice-Overs, Interactive Games, and Comics. This interview was from an in-person session done with the Actor in 1996 in N.Y.C.

By Amanda Palumbo & Kim August

BLACK PEARL your ‘graphic novel’ is quite a departure from what people expect from Mark Hamill.

“The ‘Human Condition’ is tragic and it’s funny at the same time. We’re (Mark & Cousin Eric Johnson) playing it pretty straight. Not BLANKMAN, not some goofy guy in a costume. BLACK PEARL is about a guy who attempts to take his ‘two minutes of fame’ that’s fueled by a tabloid television show, and goes out into the night to fight crime.”

You actually had problems with a tabloid (The GLOBE),because you wouldn’t talk to them at the time they requested an interview.

“The GLOBE asked if I would do an interview, and I said ‘I don’t know, maybe I should wait until it’s closer to the comic book’s release...’ In any event, what happened was, we sort of ignored them. ‘Cause they’re a tabloid and I’m scared of them basically. If they want to know about personal things about either me or someone I know, I don’t think it’s right for me to say.”

Even if you say something, they would still stretch it out. Like the GLOBE did when they ran the article that claimed you said “STAR WARS ruined your life!”
“I DIDN’T DO IT! I didn’t talk to the guy; ‘complaining about STAR WARS ruining my career.’ and that I’m angry and all this...So I thought ‘I wonder if I should call George and tell him, well, he would know I WOULDN’T talk to The GLOBE.’ And then it would just bring this up again, who reads this stuff anyway? So I forgot about it.”

Howard Stern didn’t forget though...

“Stern introduced me on his show that way! ‘...Coming up, Mark Hamill was now complaining that STAR WARS ruined his career, wah, wah.’ Well, now we know what he reads! And I just went off. I just said: “That is such a lie. That is just total bullshit Howard. And Howard was flipping because I said the ‘S’ word on his show.”

You haven’t been afraid to play against type, even getting into make-up. In THE GUYVER and that AMAZING STORIES episode ‘GATHER YE ACORNS...”

“Well, that was like the valentine to the collector in all of us, you know. And when I read this thing I went ‘Oh my God!’ Now Timothy Hutton turned that down. ‘Cause everyone says ‘Oh Mark, they wrote that for you!’ ‘Cause anybody that visits my house my house, they see-”

It’s all memorabilia.

“--hand puppets, and comics and all that stuff. And I said ‘No, I swear to God they did not write that for me. It was for Timothy Hutton.’ For some reason, he was unable to do it. You know, I’m very happy to accept hand me-downs.”

And look what it did for The Joker.

“And when I played Amadeus. Now, I saw it with Tim Curry and I said ‘oh this is so great!’ And I didn’t even think of playing the part. I really did not. And later on I did an audition for something else and it came about. Tim was the original Joker and he was GREAT! So I’m listening to him, have you ever seen his PETER PAN?"

Yeah.

"It was similar to that. It was like ‘Well booooys, soon all of Gotham will be mine!’ So he was very British and it was very guttural. So I’m listening to this 'cause I was going to have to dub 6 episodes -the others were originals where I would record with the rest of the cast-but the first 6 I was dubbing. Like ‘Christmas with the Joker’. I’m listening to Tim and going ‘Oh my God!’ in my head. I wasn’t saying it to the producers because I didn’t want to talk myself out of a job.”

When you were first thinking up the voice of The Joker-he’s all teeth. And I thought ‘Wow! Mark’s doing a Blue Meanie!’

“Blue Meanie-exactly! And I was trying to get some of that in there, they didn’t let me always. They let me do a little of that. But yeah, he really did remind me of a Blue Meanie, no question about it! I loved him because he was never the same way all the time...”

Back to other roles you’ve played, your character in SLIPSTREAM was excellent.

“Yeah see, darn the luck...”

They could have done so much more, like explain why was his hatred so intense.

“I know, I wanted to more too. I loved playing the character. And of course it came out in Europe, and I got some of the best reviews I’ve ever had in my career and of course it’s in this bomb of a movie. I still have great affection for it though, because it wasn’t predictable.”

You were supposed to do more with John Carpenter after VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED right?

“I’m so upset, ‘cause he wanted me to be in ESCAPE FROM L.A.. And Paramount said no. I don’t know who it was or what their thinking was. How could I hurt a movie? I mean, if it’s a big ensemble piece. I love B movies. I loved the first one so much. I’m a big John Carpenter fan. I know him because we both know Dave Davies (from THE KINKS). And Dave was always saying ‘you oughta meet John he’s really great.’ And I said ‘Oh I don’t know. He seemed weird.’ I just figured anyone who made THE THING & HALLOWEEN... Eventually I said yes and went to a Halloween party at John’s house.”

He answered the door dressed as Luke didn’t he?

“Yes! And not only that he’s so easy going, he’s so funny, he’s so nice! And I more than anybody should know that just because you do grotesque and ghoulish things on screen doesn’t mean you’re like that off camera. He knows I’d do anything for him.”

"I know what it’s like to be the serious one amongst all the toys. I had Artoo and Threepio, and they were hysterical: ‘It’s all your fault!’ And I was always saying to George, ‘can’t I at least acknowledge how funny it is that the Princess says ‘You came in that!’ We risk our lives to get her out of the Death Star, and she’s more worried about this crummy ship that we came on; that really killed me, it reminded me of my sisters!" - Hamill on being serious around so much mirth

You also were the Trickster on CBS’ The FLASH, you looked like you had a lot of fun as the character.

“I said ‘You know, it’s really sad that a grown man could be this happy! I got a sidekick little Prank and I got a car!’ It was such a great experience, I loved those people, I really miss them. They’re all so talented. Especially in that second episode when I hypnotize the FLASH. You know (mimics Flash) ‘it ain’t guns that kill people, it’s these little hard things.’ I thought John Wesley Shipp was hysterical. I didn’t really get a chance to look at him. He’s like under mind control, so when I watched the finished film the stuff John was doing was so good. My heart goes out to him, ‘cause God knows, I know what it’s like to be the serious one amongst all the toys. I had Artoo and Threepio, and they were hysterical: ‘It’s all your fault!’ And I was always saying to George, ‘can’t I at least acknowledge how funny it is that the Princess says ‘You came in that!’ We risk our lives to get her out of the Death Star, and she’s more worried about this crummy ship that we came on; that really killed me, it reminded me of my sisters! They’d have my dad drop them off two blocks before the school. So there was that real human element that really made me laugh. And George said ‘No you know Luke is single-minded and he’s very serious. I was the ‘straight man’. And villains are much easier to play because the audience is more predisposed to give them their emotions. Even if it’s their hatred. STAR WARS seems to me to be a fantasy. There’s a princess, the pirate, a wizard and a farm boy. WING COMMANDER’s Blair is much more cynical. A hard-edged guy more than Luke ever was. And it didn’t strike me as being cut from the same cloth. I’m not going to go off and do every space thing in the world.”