Over the years, there have always been rumors about new “Star Wars” films and you probably heard them more than you can remember. When did you finally believe, “Oh, wait. This is real. This isn’t a joke”?
I never paid any attention to it because George [Lucas] told me when he was filming “Revenge of the Sith,” which would have been 99? 92? 95? [Note: “Revenge of the Sith” began filming in 2003]. Yeah. I spoke with him and he said,”This is it. I’m not doing seven, eight and nine anymore.” Which I was never a part of anyway. They were going to do new characters, as far as I knew. Unless George didn’t tell me, but I said, “Why not?” He said, “Well, I don’t want to be doing them in my 70s and blah, blah, blah.” I said, “George. If anybody’s earned a retirement, you do. You don’t do them just because you announce them.” It was not even on my radar screen.
In the summer of 2012, we were at a “Star Wars Celebration” in Orlando. He wanted to meet with Carrie [Fisher] and I, and my wife, and we had no idea what he was going to ask. I said to my wife, I said, “You know, he’ll probably want us to do some kind of supplemental material.” At the time, they were going to release the movies in 3D. It might have something to do with that. They were talking about a TV series, it might have something to do with that. But we would come back and do a documentary, “The Making of…”, “Reflections on…”, as supplementals when it came out on Blu-ray, for instance. So I said, “It will be along those lines.” She goes, “What if he wants to do another Trilogy?” I just laughed. I said, “That’s crazy. It’s just out of the question. He told us he’s not going to do that.” So, I was ready for anything except that and when he said, “Well, I’m going to retire and turn the company over to Kathy Kennedy, and Kathy and Lucasfilm want to do a new trilogy. If you don’t want to do it, we won’t recast, we’ll just write your characters out.” I felt like I’d had a blow to the solar plexus. I was just stunned but I was able to maintain a poker face. As I’ve said before, Carrie went, “I’m in! And is there anything for Billie in it?” Classic stage mother dialog. Later, you know, an hour later, when the meeting was over, we took pictures with George. George went on to do what he had to do and I said to Carrie, “Carrie, poker face, man. Why did you … You shouldn’t be so … Be aloof! Be aloof for the better! Because you can negotiate and you don’t want to show how anxious you are.” And she cuts right to the chase. She goes, “Mark. What kind of parts are there for a woman over 50 in Hollywood?” And of course, she hit the nail on the head. They have it much more difficult than the men.
But she was like that. Leia was always … Luke wouldn’t recognize what was right in front of him. I didn’t recognize Obi-wan. I was looking for Ben Kenobi. I had no idea. He had to say, “That’s a name I’ve not heard in many years.” Oh! It’s you! Same with Yoda. “Hey, get out of my stuff, you little creep! I’m looking for a great Jedi warrior!” He’s right there! So, that’s a characteristic of Luke. He was like slow on the uptake, but once he got it, he was good to go. My sister on the other hand, was, you know she was a senator at 19, and you know, politically active, and very bold, and all the things Luke wasn’t. You know Luke was sort of like a clueless farm boy and Carrie said, “You’ve mastered that freshly-punched look.” ‘Cause I always looked slightly bewildered.”
Mysterious person: We have time for about one more question.
Can you at least tell us where Luke is, spiritually, at the beginning of the movie?
Well, what’s so ambiguous about seven is that they wanted the audience to read everything they wanted into his face without him really revealing that. Did Leia communicate with him telepathically and say this girl’s coming? “She’s got great powers, you should help her”? Does he know that his nephew murdered his father? All of these things, you know?
Because one of the the fundamental problems I had when I read the situation Rian came up with was I said, “This goes against the Jedi code”, he says, “What are you talking about?” I said, “A Jedi doesn’t give up.” If he does something wrong, he rights it. Oh, sure he would he traumatized, maybe go and reflect on a mountaintop for a year or two, but would he let all of the Resistance fall to the wayside and say, “No, you know, that’s all over.” So, we had our disagreements, but ultimately, I realized it’s not Luke’s story anymore. It’s a new protagonist’s.
Right.
And in a way, Luke is more of a plot device than a real character because he sets up something that will make sense to you at the end of the movie and you go, “Oh, I get it now.” But, it’s challenging in a way that pushed me out of my comfort zone. But that’s because I’m hanging on to the past. Hanging on to the Luke from the original trilogies and that’s not where we can be anymore. This is a new generation. This has to be the way they want to do it. Not the way I want to do it. But, to tell you the truth, I really got on board. I listened. I’m frequently wrong.
In fact, I once was asked to meet with Arnold Schwarzenegger, like the second year he was in Hollywood, a friend of mine had been in “Stay Hungry” with him and he said there’s the Austrian actor that wants to meet you and the bodybuil- I said, “Oh, I saw that documentary! Oh yeah, sure I’ll meet him.” I went into Santa Monica and I met him, and we had a conversation. Really nice guy and then after about an hour we had a coffee or tea or whatever, and I said, “Can I be really honest with you? ‘Cause I wanna give you advice, and it might make you feel uncomfortable, but I just can only be honest with you.” And he said, “Whatever you want to tell me.” I said, “Well, if you could lose that accent, the world will open up for you. I mean, you could always play an Austrian, but if you can get an American accent or British accent, you won’t be so narrow in scope of how they cast you.” He said, “O.K., what else?” I said, “Well, that name. That long unwieldy name. No one’s gonna be able to pronounce it. It’s so long. Unless you’re planning on a career of making movies with just Cher, there’s no way they’re ever gonna be able to put you up on the marquee.” So, those were the two things I told him. Lose the accent, and change your name. Within two years he was the biggest star in Hollywood. So, my point is, I should do like what George Costanza did in that episode of “Seinfeld,” “listen to my advice and do the opposite.” Remember what he said? “I’ve been such a failure, I’m gonna do the opposite of what my instincts tell me.” So, he goes up to a pretty girl, he says, “Hi, I’m unemployed and I live with my parents!” And, things change for him.
So, like I say, even though I had a lot of problems, ultimately I saw the error of my ways and I think Rian’s done a spectacular job. You’re not gonna believe this thing. I mean I couldn’t take it all in. It’s too much to process. And there’s so many colors. Mine is darker and somber, but there’s great adventure, there’s suspense, there’s comedy. It’s so funny in so many places. And it’s like I say, deeper and more challenging than in a long time.
Cause I mean really, “Force Awakens” has you buckled your seatbelt and it was a great amusement park ride as they established that universe again. This one, every character gets challenged in ways that they didn’t expect. Not just me, everyone. And as Luke says, “This is not going to go the way you think.”
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He wasn’t kidding about that last line either.
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is now playing nationwide.
