Mark Hamill once shared his best memories of the original STAR WARS trilogy

About ten years later Star Wars: A New Hope unleashed upon the world, Mark Hammill sat down with Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine for an interview to talk about his career and what it was like for him filming the original trilogy with director George Lucas.

We’ve already shared a couple of excerpts from this interview, but there’s another part I wanted to share. It’s so much fun to find and read old interviews like this one! At one point the actor was asked about his memories of the three Star Wars films.

This interview was done in 1988, just five years later Return of the Jedi was released in theatres, so Hamill’s experiences were still pretty fresh in his head. This was his answer to that question:

On Star Wars, I’d say he was having the first two weeks off in Africa. Also it was exciting to work on a film with all those props: the laser guns and the floating cars and the droids it was really like transporting us to another world and I loved it! I’d never worked with Sir Alec Guinness before and Tony Daniels was so much fun at that location, we were really good friends there.

Seeing the whole African culture was also very interesting. Meeting Peter Cushing, even though I haven’t worked with him, was a thrill. I’ve always been a huge Hammer fan.

In The Empire Strikes Back, I think it was Kershner’s mystical trappings and the way he shaded it so dark and pulled the rug out from under you that I liked the most. He had one of the greatest shock endings of all time. The hero having his hand cut off, I mean, it doesn’t happen to heroes. There were so many things I liked about that.

The last one, Return of the Jedi, was a bit sad because it was goodbye, it was all over. But, nevertheless, for all of us, there was that kind of anxiety that you feel when you’re graduating from one class to another and the anticipation of what’s coming next? So there were a lot of mixed emotions

there – a kind of relief and regret. There was also some anxiety that your family would no longer be together. I especially miss the people. When I think about it, the thing I miss the most is the cast and crew. Many of the films were filmed far away in England and we were all very close.

Hamill was then asked which of the three films was his favorite. This is an easy question for many fans! Most would immediately say The Empire Strikes Back, while many other fans would say A New Hope. I think Return of the Jedi it would be last on the list, but that was the first star wars movie i saw on the big screen! So it holds a special place in my heart. But Empire is definitely my number one.

It wasn’t an easy question that Hamill answered, so he ended up picking all three. He explained:

Each movie is special in a different way. It’s like saying, “Which is your favorite child?” It’s hard to pick a favorite. The first one was new, fresh and different. The second, I think, tried to use the fact that you thought you knew what was going to happen and I liked that. Each had their own personality and character to him and it’s hard for me to say, this is my favorite.’”

I guess that’s a right answer. While we’re on the topic, let us know your favorite Star Wars movie from the original trilogy!