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Star Wars was a pivotal turning in Mark Hamill’s acting career. However, when he first landed the role of Luke Skywalker, he wasn’t sure what kind of a role it was.

“My agent called and said, ‘Oh, they want you to screen test for Star Wars.’ And they sent me a seven or eight-page scene. Never the whole script,” Hamill says during an interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. “I didn’t get the whole script until they gave me the part. So, I’m reading this, and it’s set on the Millennium Falcon. No Wookiee, just Han Solo approaching the Death Star. And I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it.”

The first thing Hamill did was ask Harrison Ford, who gave a typical Harrison Ford answer.

“I went to Harrison [Ford] and said, ‘You’ve worked with George on American Graffiti. Is this sort of like a parody of Flash Gordon.’ ‘[imitates grumpy Harrison Ford voice] Come on, let’s just get it done and get out of here.’ So, he was no help.”

When in doubt, go to the source. And so, Mark Hamill asked George Lucas, and his answer left a lot to be desired.

“I went to George. ‘George, this is like tongue and cheek, right? This is like a send-up, or a Mel Brooksian take on the old chapter serial plays.’ And he said, ‘Um, uh, well, let’s just do it and we’ll talk about it later.’ Translation, let’s just do it and we will never talk about it later. George doesn’t like to talk about backstory or motivation. He’s a movie director who comes alive in the editing. He’s not an actor’s director. He casts so closely to the character, that we just naturally react to the way our character is supposed to act.”

Now that the movie is a pop culture phenomenon and one of the biggest franchises in the world, we know that it’s not a parody, but rather a loving homage to classic adventure serials. We also know that George Lucas and Harrison Ford are great at dodging uncomfortable questions.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.