THE APPRENTICE: MARK “SKYWALKER” HAMILL
“There’s no greater example of a composite artform than a film such as Star Wars: there are so many different creatures, John Williams’s incredible score, the costumes, all of it. You just hope you can hold your own in this gigantic menagerie. The toughest scene was probably the lightsabre duel with Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. It was meant to be a carbon freezing chamber, which they achieved by using steam, so it was like sword-fighting in a sauna bath.
But it all came together beautifully. When you start seeing the scrolling prologue in a toilet paper commercial: oh my gosh! It’s entered the vocabulary. I did lose my anonymity, which is something you can’t really anticipate. I was just reading about Fay Wray, who died at 87, and her struggles after making King Kong, and I agreed with how she gradually embraced it as an almost spiritual experience. When I see people’s affection for the movie, especially young people, it’s really hard to be cynical. And Star Wars has opened more doors than it’s closed for me. I’ve done comic books, animation voiceovers, video games and I’ve just directed my first film, Comic Book: The Movie.
The last time I watched the films was when George Lucas added the extra footage in 1997. I was struck by how well they hold up. Because they’re not set in a specific timeframe, very young kids think they’re new. The prequels are astonishing with their special effects. They are epic in ways that ours could never be. George is at the cutting edge of technology all the time. He told me way back when we were on the set of Jabba’s palace: “Eventually this set will be built puppet-sized and all you guys will be shot on green screen and inserted into the set.” And he’s backed up his claim.
I don’t see him as much as I’d like, although I’ve seen more Star Wars people because of the release of this DVD than I’ve seen in many years: Frank Oz, Irvin Kershner, Carrie Fisher. I’ve always said Luke’s relationship with Leia was the ultimate good news/bad news scenario. The good news is she’s one of the most attractive women in the universe; the bad news is she’s your sister! We laughed a lot making these movies. You forget how much like summer camp it was.”
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THE ACOLYTE: SIMON “SHAUN OF THE DEAD” PEGG
“I first saw Star Wars in 1977, at the ABC cinema in Gloucester. Since then I’ve seen it loads and loads of times, although I couldn’t put a finger on the exact number — I’d be much sadder if I could.
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I studied film at university, and wrote my thesis on Star Wars, with particular reference to a Marxist theory called ‘consent’. Basically, Marx had the idea that by consuming the media without comment, you are intrinsically agreeing with it. So I was arguing that Star Wars is an expression of post-Vietnam, right-wing America, and that by watching the film, you are celebrating the ideas that it puts forward.
If you think about it, Star Wars redefines good and evil as very clear-cut, and it is full of young, white Americans thrusting forward. It also has certain ethnic archetypes; Chewbacca is a background non-human, like the faithful Polish gunner in a Second World War movie, while C-3PO is gay, but essentially harmless because he hasn’t any genitalia.
People always complain that film theory is unnecessary, but it is enormous fun to pick a film apart and realise that it reflects certain moods and ideas in society. All art is an expression of where it comes from and Star Wars was a great example of that.
I recently went to a comic convention in San Diego where I met Carrie Fisher. I told her that when I was a kid, I used to kiss her picture every night before I went to bed. She looked at me as though I was weird — and I realised that I probably was.”