Mark Richard Hamill Accident is a mystery. The scene from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ led to a huge mystery that ‘Star Wars’ fans haven’t been able to solve for 40 years. In 1977, Hamill was an unknown actor who was filming for his first sci-fi movie which was yet to be released. In the film, Hamill had to wear an all-white costume and had to hold a sword all the time.
The Accident
On 11th January 1977 Mark Richard Hamill met a car accident leading to the fracture of his nose and cheekbone that was heard to be most probably the left one. Hamill was immediately rushed to the hospital. He had to undergo grafting and remove the cartilage from his ear to rebuild his nose.
Mark Richard Hamill’s Take
Nothing much was said or known about the accident as Mark Richard Hamill was still an unknown artist struggling to earn fame. However, in 1978, speaking to a magazine for the release of his movie Corvette Summer which was released between A New Hope and its sequel The Empire Strikes Back Hamill spoke about the accident first time. He said
“What happened was that I was on the wrong freeway. I was way out in the sticks somewhere and there were no cars and no traffic, thank God. I was going about 65-70 mph…”
Further, he told
“I was speeding, going too fast… and what happened, I think, was that I tried to negotiate an off-ramp and lost control, tumbled over, and went off the road. I fractured my nose and my cheek.”
The use of a Body Double
He told in an interview that he had to do additional photography (reshoot) for Tatooine scenes for his movie A New Hope. Due to this unfortunate incident, the director George Walton Lucas Jr. had to use Hamill’s body double. However, Hamill and George Walton Lucas Jr. were lucky enough that these were mainly the scenes in which they had to shoot from his back.
The Sequel “The Empire Strikes Back”*
According to the director, Hamill’s accident did not affect his role in the sequel of the movie The Empire Strikes Back. But the audience found it quite disturbing and strange as in the opening scene of The Empire Strikes Back, we can see the sky walker’s face being scratched by a powerful furred biped (that dwells in the snowy wastes of the ice world Hoth called a Wampa). In the opening scene, the Wampa digs its claws into Luke Skywalker’s face and then drags Luke Skywalker and his Tauntaun back to its cave.
George Walton Lucas Jr.'s Take
On inquiring George Walton Lucas Jr. said that according to him,
This unfortunate accident did not affect the completion of his movie A New Hope but did it change Hamill’s role in the sequel The Empire Strikes Back?
The director said that
Hamill had met the car accident by the end of his film A New Hope and he knew that Hamill was never going to look the same in real life as well as in the movie The Empire Strikes Back that’s why this scene was written to justify his new look to the audience.
In the Blu-ray commentary of his sequel movie The Empire Strikes Back he told that
This scene had nothing to do with his accident.
Have a look at the scene and you decide:
The Heroine Carrie Frances Fisher’s Take
Carrie Frances Fisher had played the role of Princess Leia Organa in the movie. When Carrie was asked to recall the movie, she recalled it quite differently. She told that she was shooting Star Wars when Hamill met an accident. Calling it an extremely bad and unfortunate accident, Carrie told that Hamill was lucky that only his nose was fractured and his teeth did not break. Hamill’s cartilage was used to rebuild his nose. That’s why the director, George Walton Lucas Jr., had to adjust the opening scene of the sequel film The Empire Strikes Back. It can be seen in the first scene how the Wampa attacks Luke Skywalker and drags him into his cave. His injured face can also be seen throughout the movie.
The Effort by Directors
Irvin Kershner, “The Empire” director, absolutely did not want the audience to notice Hamill’s rebuilt face as something in the film. To divert people’s attention from his rebuilt face and to justify his new facial features both, George Walton Lucas Jr. and Irvin Kershner looked for all the possible ways to adjust the movie scenes. At last, their hard work paid off and they chose the best possible scene which did justice to Hamill’s rebuilt face and it clearly stated the reasons for his new and strange facial features.
The Reporting – Truth or Exaggeration
Keeping his personal affairs to himself and not wanting to talk much about his accident, Mark Richard Hamill did not say much about his accident. He believes that personal affairs are meant to keep to yourself not for publicizing. However, he said that all the stories related to his accident surfacing all over the news, print media, and papers had been exaggerated. This does not mean that he did not meet any accident or he did not have any scars on his face or his face was not re-structured. Hamill said that even though after all the treatment and surgeries his face was successfully reconstructed, yet there were some scars left on his face which needed help from the makeup department to cover them up.
A New Hope
However, recalling his days after the accident, Hamill said that he had believed that A New Hope was going to be his last movie as he had to undergo complicated and major surgery to rebuild his nose and that was going to leave marks on his face. But he was lucky enough to have friends like George Walton Lucas Jr. and by the grace of God, he not only recovered well from his surgery but with little marks on his face, of course, but his director and his team did their best to adjust the movie, its scenes, and his getup and makeup to cover up all the scars and to regain his self-confidence and his self-belief.