The rumor that Harrison Ford had signed on to return as Han Solo in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII started last week, but Mark Hamill now says that he and the other original stars have not officially signed on for the film. They are talking to Lucasfilm about it, however.
“They’re talking to us,” he said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we’d be interested. He did say that if we didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t cast another actor in our parts they would write us out. I can tell you right away that we haven’t signed any contracts. We’re in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed — on their end, not mine. They’re more busy than I am.”
Hamill says in the interview that he doesn’t know what he film will be about officially, but based on his tone, it would appear he knows more than he is letting on.
“I’m assuming, because I haven’t talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring — like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range [as] an influential character. When I found out [while making the original trilogy] that ultimate good news/bad news joke the good news is there’s a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she’s your sister I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to wind up like Sir Alec [Guinness]. I’m going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.'”
Also with the rumors of Ford returning in full swing, Hamill mentioned that he thinks everyone should come back for the film rather than just one actor, adding fuel to the fire that he knows more than he’s saying.
“Another thing I’d want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that’s around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody’s on board here, rather than just one.”
Hamill also mentioned the direction he thought the film should go in terms of tone and its special effects use, and it makes sense to us.
“I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and lighthearted and humorous in my opinion, anyway….hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects. I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings — I’m sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant a video game, and that’s unfortunate. If they listen to me at all, it’ll be, ‘Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'”
Star Wars: Episode VII is scheduled to hit theaters in 2015. J.J. Abrams will direct the film from a script by Michael Arndt. Disney and Lucasfilm are planning a new trilogy with a new movie coming every other year.
(Photo Credit: Nikki Nelson / WENN.com)
