On January 11, 1977, Mark Hamill was caught in a car accident in which his left cheek and nose were broken.
If the accident had happened four months later, the news would have come out of newspapers around the world. But at the time, Hamill was still an unknown actor who had just directed a science fiction film in which he dressed all in white and wielded a shiny sword.
Hamill had to remove the cartilage from the ear to reconstruct the nose.
Mark Hamill crashed after filming ‘A New Hope’
In a conversation with Gossip magazine in 1978 for the release of “Corvette Summer”, which was published between “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back”, Hamill spoke of the accident. “What happened was I was on the wrong road,” Hamill said. “I was lost somewhere and there were no cars and no traffic, thank goodness. I was going about 65-70 mph … I was accelerating, I was going too fast … and what happened i think i was trying to get to an exit and lost control, tumbled over and got out of the way. I broke my nose and my cheek. "
Hamill also said in the interview that he would record the scenes for “A New Hope” in Tatooine the next day. This prompted director George Lucas to use a stunt double, although the shots were for scenes where you wouldn’t see Hamill’s face.
The accident at Hamill, therefore, did not affect the conclusion of “A New Hope”, but the question is whether it changed “The Empire Strikes Back?”
George Lucas says the Wampa scene was not written to explain Hamill’s appearance in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, but it helped
This is where the story gets blurry.
In the opening sequence of “The Empire Strikes Back,” Skywalker’s face is scratched after being attacked by a Wampa, who digs its claws into his face and brings Skywalker and his Tauntaun back to his cave. George Lucas says the Wampa scene justified Hamill’s new look to viewers, but suggests the scene was not written due to his accident.
“At the end of ‘A New Hope’ he was in a car accident and I knew Mark would look a little different from the first movie,” Lucas said in the Blu-ray commentary on “The Empire. Strikes. back ".
“But my feeling was that some time had passed, they were part of the rebellion struggles, things like that, so the change was warranted. There’s a scene in the movie where Mark is defeated by the monster [Wampa], which helps even more, but that wasn’t really the reason we wrote the monster in the beginning. we had to keep the film exciting at first, while the Empire looked for them. "
However, Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia, remembers things differently.
“I was still shooting ‘Star Wars’ when Mark was involved in the car accident,” Fisher said in the comment. "It was a very serious accident. Miraculously, his teeth didn’t break. But his nose did. He must have put part of his ear in his nose. So they adapted the film with this snow monster to scratch it straight into the film. face to declare that their appearance is different. "
Revealed in the book “The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”, a scene was filmed after Skywalker was rescued from the Wampa attack in which his damaged face was assisted by a droid.
That part was left out, although it seems clear that Lucas and Empire director Irvin Kershner were looking at how far they wanted to go to face Hamill’s restructured face.
Mark Hamill hasn’t said anything about it over the years but said the makeup department trusted its real scars for its appearance in the cinema.
Hamill said nothing about the origins of the Wampa scene, but this interview with the actor posted on YouTube in 2014 indicates that the makeup department in “Empire” played with his scars from the accident.
He briefly described what he remembered from the accident, then said, “They used a lot of real scars to build” the makeup used for the scene.
It is not Hamill who admits that the Wampa scene was written because of the appearance of his face after the accident, but it is interesting to hear that his scars from the accident were on the makeup department’s mind.
The Star Wars franchise is one of the largest and most successful franchises in the world. The franchise all started with a lone farmer on a desert planet called Tatooine, and from there it grew into a phenomenon few people can imagine.
One of the main reasons for the success of the original trilogy was due to the main trio of characters, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo. All three were played by actors unknown at the time, and due to the success of the trilogy, they have all become household names.
That said, an interesting fact is that Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, almost died in a car crash before he got fat.
A look at Mark Hamill’s car crash
Remark this accident affected the franchise Why Mark Hamill’s death could have sunk the franchise A look at Mark Hamill’s car crash In January 1977, Hamill had a serious accident where he broke his nose. What had happened was that Hamill was driving his car on a freeway in the middle of nowhere he was “going about 65 to 70 mph”. Then he tried to get onto an exit ramp but lost control of his car and it pulled off the road. He survived this accident but was injured enough. Actually but since Hamill was injured Lucas just used a brace. In a job interview with Michael Aspel, Hamill also mentions that although he was injured by the accident, he only needed to have his nose repaired. The rest of her face did not need plastic surgery, as some people said at the time. That said, his nose still looks different.
Remark this accident affected the franchise
Mark Hamill wanted George Lucas to go a different ‘crazy’ way While Hamill played down the severity of the crash, it did have an effect on the next Star Wars movie he worked on, The Empire Strikes Again. That said, there are conflicting sources as to exactly how it affected this movie. for example However, Carrie Fisher, who played Leia, said the scene was changed so that the Wampa attacked Luke’s face in order to explain Hamill’s different appearance. As a result of this conflict of evidence, supporters are divided over why this Wampa scene was written in the leading place. That said, all lovers agree that if Hamill’s crash had been worse, the whole franchise could have derailed.
Why Mark Hamill’s death could have sunk the franchise
Few actors or actresses die while in the process of filming for a major franchise, but it has happened before. For example, Paul Walker, who starred in the Quick & Furious movies, died while filming Furious 7. As a result, the filmmakers used CGI and Walker’s brothers to film a consignment for Walker, and that worked out pretty well. worked. That said, if Hamill had died in his car crash, or if he was seriously injured and unable to work, Lucas wouldn’t be able to do these things. CGI technology didn’t really exist in the 1970s, so Lucas’s only choice would be to recast Luke. This could potentially have sunk the franchise entirely since the lovers fell in love with the one trio, to such a point that their redesign is practically prohibited these days. If Lucas were to recast Luke, there is no guarantee that fans would fall in love with the franchise. Without this kind of support from lovers, the Star Wars franchise probably couldn’t have lasted this long.
Mark Hamil’s Wife
The famous American actor Mark Hamill, world-famous for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, has been a happy man in his marriage for 40 years. He met his wife, Marilou York, while she was his dental hygienist and worked in Westwood.
Still, their meeting wasn’t love at first sight and it was on their first date that Mark made sure they were the right fit for each other:
I took her to see Annie Hall see if she had a sense of humour. I had already let down women who didn’t.
Their story, therefore, looks more like ‘love at the first burst of laughter’, and the two spouses are only happy when they are together. They can relax, forget about worries and have a good time.
‘Star Wars’ actor Mark Hamill pays tribute to his gorgeous wife on their 40th wedding anniversary, On his official Instagram account, Hamill posted several photos showing the couple together, and wrote:
Nowhere in the world is there a heart like yours for me. Nowhere in the world is there love like yours for me.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Mark Hamil’s Net Worth?
His net worth and salary amount to $ 18 million. He is an American actor, writer and a producer by profession. -
Who has Mark Hamil Voiced?
Mark Hamill is a voice actor very well known for voicing Joker, Luke Skywalker and Skips. Taking a visual tour of his career and you will find outs 384 images of the characters he has voiced and can listen to 65 clips showing his performances. -
How many times has Mark Hamil played the Joker?
Mark Hamill has voiced the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Mask of the Phantasm, New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Birds of Prey, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Robot Chicken, Batman: Arkham Knight, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.
In A Nutshell
But when “Star Wars: A New Hope” opened on May 25, 1977, breaking box office records and everyone involved - especially Hamill as Luke Skywalker - during the night, attention was drawn to the accident.
When the ‘80s sequel’ A New Hope ‘’ The Empire Strikes Back 'opened with a Wampa attack from Skywalker to the face, fans assumed the scene was written because Hamill’s face was different. after the accident. The rumour has become one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the “Star Wars” saga, 40 years after the film’s release.