Mark Hamill Has "Star Wars" Fans Sleeping On His Front Lawn | Letterman

my first guest tonight burst into prominence in  1977 as luke skywalker currently he is in new   york city playing quite a different character  mozart in the broadway production of amadeus   and we are more than happy to have him with us  here tonight please welcome mr mark hamill mark nice to see you thank you very much for uh being  on the program and by the way i thought you were   terrific in uh return of the jedi thank  you a very nice job there sir very much   let's uh uh talk a little bit about  the part you're currently playing   i started uh thinking that i should get back  to why i became an actor in the first place   because i did a lot of plays in high school  and in college none of my family was in show   business uh what did they do what what did  you find my father was in the navy i have a   brother who's a doctor who is considered the  success of the family to this day oh i see but you know i've done a lot of television and  i've been working basically i'm 31 now i've been   basically working steadily since i was 17. and  of course in 77 i became an overnight success   and discovered that people sort of forget  really that the films were made for young   people george lucas wanted to make like the  ultimate saturday matinee we never thought   we'd be reviewed by time magazine we just thought  we'd be making a a real good popcorn movie yeah   uh and i i wasn't worried about typecasting or  anything else that the journalists would ask me   and then i discovered that it's really true first  of all there are not a lot of films being made uh   there are tremendous financial risks involved  and the only way that you can really sort of   stay keep your finger in the pot so to speak is  is come to new york come to new york do workshops   anybody can audition for plays if you can just  make it in off the street they'll see you and that   wasn't always the case in california so i started  auditioning for everything it didn't matter now   what was the reaction because this was after the  success of the first movie so you're you're a big   deal uh now what was the reaction to the people  that you were auditioning with when they said well   there was a guy here with mark hamill once there  was a guy at the amadeus audition who was also   auditioning for mozart and he said what are you  doing here where you got the film rights to the   play or something he said no no i'm just trying  out like everybody else they're suspicious a   little bit huh suspicious yes they thought maybe  i was some sort of entrepreneur or something but   uh i don't know i auditioned for and i sort of got  myself into a situation that i couldn't extricate   myself from i wasn't really relishing the idea i  did it with the national tour with john wood and   michelle seiler for six months in fact they're  they're at the fisher theater in detroit now so   if anyone's in the michigan area charter a bus  sell the family pet and get out and see the show   it's a wonderful production the national tour but  uh you know i was auditioning for sir peter hall   and i mean fortunately he had no idea who i was  but i mean i was still terrified but i knew i had   the element of surprise going for me because you  know people when they see a special effects movie   like that and they know it's not real they just  can't imagine that you're really doing anything   you know because they know it's it's magic of some  sort but i auditioned for him and i wound up being   offered the role and i thought i'd never be able  to live with myself if i said hey you know what   i turned down amadeus and they'd say yeah sure  so yesterday i gave my 213th performance so now   i know what it's like to do a long run yeah yeah  well now this this guy um mr mozart uh he uh from   what i know of this he was kind of a uh uh he was  uh twisted a little he was a little he was a child   prodigy who never really grew up and uh he was  the first freelance musician in the sense that   you had to have a commission to be able to write  music in those days and really it's mostly based   on the fact that peter shaffer was a musical  critic for the london times and he came across   these letters that were really scatological and  content and real earthy humor and uh letters   from uh letters to his cousin bosley to his wife  constanza but the whole family lie was like that   they were otherwise like that the father was like  that they were from a provincial town salzburg   which was sort of like a joke to people in  vienna and uh i think he was his own worst enemy   he always spoke his own mind but the contrast the  real spark for the play is how could this man who   wrote this incredibly pure music be someone who  could jump up on furniture and imitate animals and   goose people and drink wine and do kind of you  know because they've always painted him as this   porcelain figure i first heard about it when  paul schofield was doing it at the national and   i figured paul schofield was playing mozart  i had no idea i mean i really didn't have a   background in classical music but uh it's really  wonderful for me to play a character that's not   really likable especially in act one and since  i'm playing to a lot of out-of-towners now because   most of new yorkers have seen amadeus they're  still shocked i can't believe it sometimes because   it's fairly tame but since they're in 18th century  garb well it's more shocking in all honesty the   stuff that i heard the this afternoon and we were  discussing was uh i would be shocked by it well uh   unfortunately we can't we can't tell people  what's so shocking about it but you're gonna come   here it's just it's just ugly beyond your wildest  imagination mark campbell is is here uh you   mentioned a name that i didn't recognize when  you mention it and let's point out who that was   i've never heard of him he's the he's the founder  of the royal shakespeare company and he was at   the national theater in london the chances of  me ever working with him are so negligible i   thought there's i better take this or i'll never  get the chance they do bring a lot of english   cast to america but it's not really reciprocal  i don't think they let americans go to england   very much but uh uh he's a biggie yeah so but also  too he had no idea of i mean he he has never seen   star wars this guy is not going to star wars no  he's like the guy who refuses to see e.t oh yeah   but i think he's pretty busy you know so yeah  uh let me ask you about the story of people   camping out on your front yard in california  although maybe we don't want to talk about   that because you don't want to encourage  that well i mean it's the thing is it's like   people that talk about the merchandising or  anything else it's it's supply and demand it's   like any maybe pop group or or a hit television  series it is supply and demand if kids want to   bring lunch boxes with that particular  thing on it uh i i it amuses me actually   because uh i mean look at how quaint some  of the like the beatles bubble bath looks   these days it'll probably be just collector's  items in another 10 years but what about the uh   uh in addition to the uh it's it's it's the band  they have another job during this time every night   they're uh uh i thought that was a rim shot i  didn't say anything no no no no we wouldn't do   that uh but you know what i'm talking about yeah  you're you have a home suddenly the movie comes   out you're a major star and you got people living  on your yard well it was yeah and also they'd look   through the window so you'd find yourself going to  change channels on the tv on your hands and knees   he said this is no way to live no that's  not good this is no way to live so i moved   and you know but didn't you at one point  actually uh kind of deputize these folks   well i thought i better get them on my side  you know don't alienate them so i'd go out and   sign secret packs where they wouldn't reveal the  whereabouts of my secret abode and actually have   them house sit when i would leave and pick up my  mail you know yeah throw out all the leftovers in   the fridge that we're getting people like that  are generally pretty responsible so you want to   put them in charge of your property better  an ally than a yeah an enemy by the way the   cast at the broadhurst said bribe david go  on and shamelessly uh so this is from the   cast at the broadhurst and they thought you'd  like a t-shirt i do like t-shirts well there   you go i'll i'll wear this with a great deal of  pride thank you very much mark it's awfully nice thank you sir uh now you don't have to see the  play no no i'd go see this play in a minute not   i mean you don't they don't pass these out at the  door anyway no no no um tell me about the before   you got into a full-time uh acting in stardom and  so forth you had other jobs yeah i did you know   i was a janitor i worked in an ice cream store  i worked at associated which ice cream store   uh yeah well it's closed now called will rights  it was in southern california well right so i'm   not familiar with it it folded soon after i worked  there good ice cream very good ice cream yeah okay and after that you worked for i worked for  associated press for about 30 minutes i thought   i was i mean i thought it was like the front page  you know i wanted to be like ben hecht and charles   mccarthy with a hat and a press card you know i  had delusions of being jimmy olsen or something   instead i was sweeping out the stock room and  cutting copy and it was very frustrating i finally   went i thought it was funny at the time i  how old were you then 17. just a kid a punk mr punk but i went in i thought this was amusing i  thought at least to get the attention of of the   city editor and i i kicked the door open  and i said stop the press's chief i got a   story that'll set this town right on its ear  he looked up from the desk and said get out   and so i did but what i didn't realize because  i came back to work the next day and there was   a pink slip in my box he meant like get out of  the building out of my life yeah totally out of   the hemisphere gone gone history right uh now what  are you gonna do when the uh the uh play closes or   when you leave it i you know what what is your  like you were talking about the probably not   going to be another star wars and would you do one  if there was going to be another one well george   is very very tired he's spoken sort of obliquely  about a third trilogy which won't be until like   2011 and as proud as i am to have a job lined up  at the turn of the century i mean i can't really   relate to it uh uh i so i i for all you know  intents and purposes i just figure well that's it   and i feel very lucky to have been able to do it  i know it's not a great showcase for actors but i   mean i'm just starting out i should be grateful  and i have a feeling that going on some of the   talk shows like when i was on tom snyder i just  came off sort of bitter and i don't feel that way   really i had a real good time doing the movies uh  but i'd like to try other things i'd love to meet   a writer or director that would like to sort  of take that image whatever image i have and   sort of mangle it for the american pub but you  do which is why i did lindsey anderson's film i   didn't get paid for it it was just a chance to i  mean there were directors that i would work for   without reading a script or or anything just this  was the third in the series of uh the name of the   film oh well the britannia hospital i haven't  seen it i'm probably in it for like 30 seconds   but the idea was i should show people that i'm not  i'm mostly interested in a good role not so much   in the money well you make a good point that  this is just the beginning of a career actors   and i love doing comedy i'm a tremendous fan of  of the monty python people and albert brooks and   well you and a lot of them now you don't  need to say that kind of stuff no i mean   you gave me the shirt mark let's let's don't push  our luck here no you're okay but uh is that bad no   that's fine that's perfect no but the thing is  too i mean you want to show people that you are   are courageous that you want to take chances  that you don't want to just if i if i didn't   feel serious about my career i would  just take the money and run and retire   because you know george was very generous he cut  us in on the profits and if we spend it carefully   we probably won't have to work again for a long  time listen uh i hate to cut you off here but   we're running a little bit late and you gotta  go perform anyway tonight it was a pleasure   meeting you mark thanks for being here mr mark  hamill ladies and gentlemen we'll be right back you

Channel: Letterman

Views: 24,183

Keywords: letterman, david letterman, dave letterman, interview, letterman interview, letterman official, letterman late show, letterman late night, late night, stupid pet tricks, stupid human tricks, top ten, late show, top ten list

Id: JS6gbG4EStk

Length: 12min 13sec (733 seconds)

Published: Wed May 04 2022