Mark Hamill Has Changed His Mind ‘a Little’ About ‘The Last Jedi,’ but Still Has Regrets
Christian Zilko
Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is almost as famous for Mark Hamill’s controversial press tour as it is for the film itself. Hamill famously objected to certain creative decisions in the film, namely the revelation that Luke Skywalker essentially quit the rebellion after a painful failure and had spent years living a hermit-like existence by himself.
“I said to Rian, ‘Jedis don’t give up.’ I mean, even if [Luke] had a problem, he would maybe take a year to try and regroup, but if he made a mistake, he would try to right that wrong, so right there, we had a fundamental difference,” Hamill said at the time. “But 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. That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that.”
Hamill quickly walked back the comments after they caused a media firestorm, but it appears he’s still thinking about the film. A fan account on Twitter recently questioned Hamill about the movie, asking “Do you have any anecdotes or memories from making the film you would be willing to share? Have you changed your mind about anything after these past 5 years? Would you have done anything differently? Thank you.”
Not really.
A little.
Yes.
You're welcome.— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) December 16, 2022
Hamill isn’t the only “Last Jedi” veteran to speak about the film recently. Rian Johnson has frequently been asked about the film while promoting “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” and the filmmaker has made it clear that he has no regrets about the changes he made to the “Star Wars” formula.
“I think it’s impossible for any of us to approach ‘Star Wars’ without thinking about it as a myth that we were raised with, and how that myth, that story, baked itself into us and affected us,” Johnson said in a recent interview. “The ultimate intent was not to strip away — the intent was to get to the basic, fundamental power of myth. And ultimately I hope the film is an affirmation of the power of the myth of ‘Star Wars’ in our lives.”
