Mark Hamill feels 'disconnected' from Luke Skywalker

11 December 2017

Mark Hamill feels "disconnected" from his 'Star Wars' character Luke Skywalker, despite being synonymous with the role for 40 years.

Mark Hamill's The Big Issue cover

The 66-year-old actor has played the iconic hero in the sci-fi franchise since the first instalment was released in 1977, and although many people consider the star and his character to go hand in hand, he has admitted he doesn't relate to the fictional adventurer.

He said: "I look at Luke Skywalker and there is a disconnect for me. I'm not heroic. I don't even like flying. I'm not a comfortable flier. So all these virtues he has I don't relate to them. Mark Hamill feels pain, Luke Skywalker feels no pain. He is the celluloid hero and I'm not. I do feel pain, I do age and get old. Luke will forever be that farm boy."

Because he doesn't feel connected to his role as Luke, Mark has been watching audition footage on YouTube of other actors reading for the role, and said he was "amazed" that he had managed to win the role for himself.

He added: "What was amazing to me was that I liked all of the Lukes. They were all perfectly valid and would have been great in the movie. I'm thinking: 'Why did it turn out to be me?'"

In the original trilogy of 'Star Wars' movies, Mark teamed up with Harrison Ford's Han Solo, and Princess Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher - who died in December 2016 aged 60 - and the star believes the trio of character worked because the actors had "chemistry".

Speaking to the latest issue of The Big Issue magazine Mark said: "They picked Carrie, Harrison and me. I think it was chemistry. If you put it in different combinations, it didn't work. I've heard so many people, like Sylvester Stallone, saying he turned Han Solo down. And Burt Reynolds claims he turned down Han Solo and James Bond. That is kind of dodgy, I don't think he could play British convincingly - if he could do the accent he would have done it by now. They are all fine actors. It would have been so different had they taken it."