Mark Hamill Talks 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

From Star Wars: The Force Awakens other than the continuation of the story in this world many of us love, people are also excited about seeing characters from the original trilogy and what their role will be in this new version, namely Luke (Mark Hamill), Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han (Harrison Ford). Mark Hamill has joined in on the talks about the teaser trailer and gave some insight of his involvement in the film, Hamill is sworn to secrecy but there were still things he could say about his experience in the upcoming film.

All of these comments come from an interview with Yahoo! Movies, where he talked about the beard he had to grow to play an older Luke Skywalker:

"That is what I call my contractually obligated beard. Listen: I think they look fine on other people. It's just not me. I mean, I never got used to it. But face foliage is almost a part of the costume. And it does bring a gravitas, perhaps unearned, but nevertheless, it makes a statement that they wanted to make, and I'm more than happy to oblige them."

Hamill was also asked about his absence in the teaser trailer, if he was surprised that he was not in it like some of the fans were:

"Not really. This is about the new generation of characters; I think that's the most important thing. It's the opening act of a whole new approach to the storytelling. So I never thought that the stories would be – first of all, I never thought I'd be involved in it again, period. And then when George [Lucas] said that they wanted to do more, I rightly assumed that it wouldn't be our story, because we had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This must be our offspring and the current generation, with us there lending the kind of support that Peter Cushing and Alec Guinness did in the original. So no, that didn't surprise me.  And I mean, I'm one of those people where I just think, 'Keep me out of it. I'll ruin it, I'm sure!' [Laughs] I’ll show up and just ruin the whole thing."

The actor also confessed that he had second thoughts about his appearance in new Star Wars films, and that for him it was a package deal for Luke, Leia and Han to appear in the new film:

"I said to George, 'Have you really thought this through? Because maybe it's not such a great idea.' But I had a feeling, I said, 'You know what – if there's a weak link, if Carrie [Fisher] or Harrison [Ford] decides they don't want to do it, there's an out. Because it's all or nothing. It should be all of us or none of us.' So I was ready to go either way. And now that we're all in, we'll see what happens."

To add to the previous statement, Hamill followed by commenting that he was also hesitant to think that Ford would return to reprise his role as Han Solo:

"Well, you know, he [Ford] was someone that was unpredictable. I hadn't seen him in years; I didn't know what his feelings were. I know he's sometimes grown impatient with people that don't want to focus on what he's doing currently and want to go stroll down memory lane. God knows, I'm used to that sort of thing. But who knew? And for him to jump back in so enthusiastically, I was delighted. It's a wonderful character. Everybody loves Han Solo.

Hamill also joined the discussion about the new droid BB-8 (the rolling droid), saying that he likes it and revealing that the droid was made with practical effects and not CGI:

  "They never cease to amaze me with what they're able to come up with, you know? I said, 'How are you ever gonna top R2-D2, the most adorable droid in movie history?' And then they have this new one. I can't even tell you his name, but you saw it in the trailer. And when they were demonstrating how they did this thing, live on set — because it's not CGI, that's a live prop — I was just amazed. They let me play around with it. [Laughs] I was running it all around at the creature shop up in Pinewood. I'm telling you, it's an absolute delight. And not having thought that I'd ever go back there, to go back into that world, is just – I get the chills. It's just so much fun."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18th, 2015.