DIRECTOR’S CUT

Mark Hamill Reveals Long-Kept ‘Star Wars’ Secret

“I’ve never forgotten it,” the actor said.

Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, has spilled about a scene that was cut from the film. The actor told The Hollywood Reporter that the cut line was between his character and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). “It’s just me and Han Solo. He says, when he gets toward the Death Star, ‘OK, that’s enough for me. We’re turning around. I’ve held up my side of the bargain’,” he recalls. To which Luke Skywalker replies, “‘But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilea or Sullust. And what there is most likely directed toward a large-scale assault.’” Hamill said the dialogue left him thinking, “Who talks like this?” He explained that the line made it nearly impossible for him to portray it as an original thought. The actor shared that George Lucas did not welcome commentary on the script from his actors. “[He’s] not an actor’s director,” said Hamill, later explaining he was left to perform the line in the most authentic way he could. The scene was later cut from the final edit. “Thank God it was cut,” the actor said.