F Mark Hamill Talks The Practical New Droid; Not Appearing In The Teaser; Harrison Ford & More | Galactic News One

Mark Hamill Talks The Practical New Droid; Not Appearing In The Teaser; Harrison Ford & More


We all know how much director J.J. Abrams loves his mystery box, however Disney and Lucasfilm have been quite open and at times humorous about the information that gets out both through official channels or through leaks. From the first cast photo, to all the leaks and immediate response, to the teaser and most recently the reveal of some of the characters names, information has come out.

Speaking to Yahoo! Movies, star Mark Hamill gave us another little piece of information about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The actor revealed that the Soccer Droid, now known as BB-8 was a practical effect and not CGI like most of us assumed.

“They never cease to amaze me with what they’re able to come up with, you know? I said, ‘How are you ever gonna top R2-D2, the most adorable droid in movie history?’ And then they have this new one… And when they were demonstrating how they did this thing, live on set — because it’s not CGI, that’s a live prop — I was just amazed. They let me play around with it. [Laughs] I was running it all around at the creature shop up in Pinewood. I’m telling you, it’s an absolute delight. And not having thought that I’d ever go back there, to go back into that world, is just – I get the chills. It’s just so much fun.”

When asked about the teaser and his absence from it the actor responded:

“This is about the new generation of characters; I think that’s the most important thing. It’s the opening act of a whole new approach to the storytelling. So I never thought that the stories would be – first of all, I never thought I’d be involved in it again, period. And then when George [Lucas] said that they wanted to do more, I rightly assumed that it wouldn’t be our story, because we had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This must be our offspring and the current generation, with us there lending the kind of support that Peter Cushing and Alec Guinness did in the original. So no, that didn’t surprise me.  And I mean, I’m one of those people where I just think, ‘Keep me out of it. I’ll ruin it, I’m sure!’ [Laughs] I’ll show up and just ruin the whole thing.”

It's interesting his use of the word "offspring" in the response. Are the rumors of Luke having one, as well as Han and Leia, Lando, and Obi Wan true? Is that why we only know the first names of Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega's (Finn) characters?

Either way, Hamill went on to talk about his initial nervousness about returning to the franchise.

“I said to George, ‘Have you really thought this through? Because maybe it’s not such a great idea.’ But I had a feeling, I said,  ‘You know what – if there’s a weak link, if Carrie [Fisher] or Harrison [Ford] decides they don’t want to do it, there’s an out. Because it’s all or nothing. It should be all of us or none of us.’ So I was ready to go either way. And now that we’re all in, we’ll see what happens.”

Months prior to George Lucas selling of Lucasfilm to Disney the director met with Hamill, Ford, and Fisher to reveal to the actors that there was a new trilogy on the way, and according to the actor Ford was surprisingly enthusiastic about maybe returning.

“[Ford] was someone that was unpredictable. I hadn’t seen him in years; I didn’t know what his feelings were. I know he’s sometimes grown impatient with people that don’t want to focus on what he’s doing currently and want to go stroll down memory lane. God knows, I’m used to that sort of thing. But who knew? And for him to jump back in so enthusiastically, I was delighted. It’s a wonderful character. Everybody loves Han Solo.”

Finally Hamill talked about his "contractually obligated beard", and teased what it might be about.

“That is what I call my contractually obligated beard. Listen: I think they look fine on other people. It’s just not me. I mean, I never got used to it. But face foliage is almost a part of the costume. And it does bring a gravitas, perhaps unearned, but nevertheless, it makes a statement that they wanted to make, and I’m more than happy to oblige them.”


Source - Yahoo! Movies

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