Mark Hamill Regrets Publicizing Criticisms of Luke Skywalker in ‘The Last Jedi’
To say that Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been a contentious film would be a bit of an understatement. When the film opened, fans engaged in all-out war online, some creating online petitions to have the movie struck from Lucasfilm’s canon and remade. One of their biggest complaints about the movie was that Luke Skywalker acted nothing like how they thought he should, tossing (literally) his past away and not taking up the Jedi master mantle until much later in the movie. Mark Hamill unintentionally added fuel to the fire by publicizing the concerns he said he had about Rian Johnson’s version of the character in a few interviews during the press tour, and fans latched on to those in a way he didn’t expect.
On Tuesday night, Hamill tweeted that he regretted telling everyone about the doubts he had about the character: “I regret voicing my doubts & insecurities in public. 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- @rianjohnson made an all-time GREAT one! #HumbledHamill”
In a previous interview with Vanity Fair, Hamill recalled saying to Johnson, “I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character. 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.”
In his tweet from Tuesday, Hamill quote-tweeted another tweet of screencaps from an interview he did in which he talked about his concerns, but ultimately ended up liking this version of the character. “I’ve had trouble accepting what he [Rian Johnson] saw for Luke,” he said in the older interview. “But again, I mean, I have to say, having seen the movie, I was wrong. I think being pushed out of your comfort zone is a good thing, because if I was just another benevolent Jedi training young padawans, we’ve seen it!”
If this had been any other movie, this probably would have just blown over. But since it’s Star Wars, and especially since it’s The Last Jedi, his statements were wildly overblown by fans who imagined all kinds of fighting behind the scenes. Many thanks to Hamill, voice of the fans and Star Wars nerd himself, for setting the record straight.