Mark Hamill is no stranger to Star Wars memorabilia. There is one prop that Hamill had the chance to hold after decades, the original lightsaber that he used in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The lightsaber was used in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, inducing a Force memory in Rey calling her to the Force. The lightsaber had much the same effect for Hamill who had his own Force memory when he held it. This experience was recently revealed in Hamill’s new show Pop Culture Quest.
CinemaBlend caught up with Hamill who elaborated on the experience:
“I didn’t know that was going to happen. People sometimes assume that we get to keep our props which, of course, we don’t. I didn’t know that they were going to have that on set. That’s the fun thing about a show like this; it’s unpredictable, and you can never be sure exactly what’s going to happen. And it has some emotional resonance for me, because I’m not overly sentimental, but it really brings back memories. When I think of those movies, I mostly think of the cast and the crew, you know. The guy who was my dresser, or the prop guy, or even the tea lady.
The studio stuff was done in England; of course we went on location to various countries, but I see these photographs and these memories of the people who most people don’t know, and they were the family that you lived with when you were making these films. Some of them I’ve worked with again, and some I haven’t seen since we did the original films, but it’s a sense memory thing. You hold something like that in your hands and you think, “Oh gosh, I remember when John Mollo was here.” Like I say, it brings back some really great memories.”
John Mollo was responsible for creating the signature look of Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy. This is such a great moment. It is nice to see that although Hamill is staying busy with his work these days, that one small hand-held item can take him decades into the past instantly. The episode of Pop Culture Quest that this happened in was the ninth episode titled, “Raiders of the Lost Props”.
Pop Culture Quest airs on the Comic-Con HQ streaming service.
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