Mark Hamill has shed some light on the intense efforts that Lucasfilm utilizes to protect theStar Wars 9script. Hamill notes that things were a lot different when he received the script forA New Hopeback in the late 1970s, revealing that he thought the idea was goofy (something that he has said many times over the years) and that he let friends read it to see what he meant. However, those days are long gone as Lucasfilm takes its security very seriously these days.
In a recent interview,Mark Hamillwas asked about the upcomingStar Wars 9. Obviously the actor can’t offer up much information, and he isn’t currently on set with the rest of the group. Hamill is on the set of History’sKnightfallin Prague, but reveals that he’s about to receive a script update and that it’s a very big deal. He explains.
“Nowadays it’slike working for some secret deep state government organization, like being in the CIA. They’re going to send rewrites over to Prague on this dark red paper that gives you a headache to read.”
This isn’t the first time thatLucasfilmhas used the dark red paper that Mark Hamill is referring to. They used it onThe Force Awakensand the dark red coloring means that it can’t be copied because it will just show up as black. But that’s not all, like most of the bigger scripts these days, likeInfinity War,Game of Thrones, and others, nobody is able to take anything home with them. Hamill had this to say about theStar Wars 9security measures.
“They’re going to fly (the rewrites) over with somebody from the company. They’re going to come and give it to me and wait for me to read it before I give it back. So no pressure! You can’t even keep it overnight. But that’s the way it is now.”
While Mark Hamill isn’t really into the latest security measures surroundingStar Wars 9, he understands why it has to be the way that it is. The cast ofInfinity WarandAvengers: Endgamewere able to read portions of the script in a supervised trailer and were only given a few pages at a time on the days that they were filming. However, Hamill still prefers the old school days of being able to take things home for easier memorization. He says.
“I like to make notes, little cartoon drawings in the margins to help me visualize it … whatever you have to do to help remember it. You can’t do that in electronic form, it’s so impersonal. I’m old school and long for the days of paper scripts. They wound up letting me keep a script when we were doingThe Last Jedi, but I had to lock it up in a safe every night and then carry it with me and never let it out of my sight. And I can understand why - if (a script) gets out it ruins it for everyone.”
As for anyStar Wars 9intel,Mark Hamill was tight lipped. But, he did reveal that he has already completed about a week of filming and that he still needs to go back and finish up. It’s not clear how Hamill’sLuke Skywalkerwill be returning, but it is believed that it will be through either flashback or as a potential Force Ghost. J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm are going to great lengths to keep everything under wraps. You can read the rest of the interview with Mark Hamill over atEntertainment Weekly.
