Mark Hamill broke down whilst filming the sacking of Luke’s temple pic.twitter.com/hVnXJdDyb9
โ Star Wars Legacy (@theswlegacy) March 18, 2018
Returning to the role of Luke Skywalker was an emotional experience for Mark Hamill, to say the least.
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A scene from the new documentary for Star Wars: The Last Jedi shows the filming of Luke Skywalker discovering the new Jedi temple being burned down after his confrontation with young Ben Solo. Check it out in the clip above.
The scene was previously teased in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, though fans finally got the full context in the movie by writer and director Rian Johnson. It was just as heartbreaking for fans to see as it was for Hamill to film, according to the documentary.
In the scene, Luke crawls out of the debris of Ben’s hut after having a moment of weakness, even debating whether or not to kill his nephew before he had the chance to fully turn to the dark side. Ben responds by absconding with a few of Luke’s other students, but not before killing the rest and burning everything to the ground.
Luke watches on with tears in his eyes, one hand on his astromech companion R2-D2, and according to The Director and the Jedi, those tears were very real.
The clip above shows Hamill staying on the ground after the cameras stop rolling. Johnson approaches him and consoles him, resulting in a heartwarming interaction between the titular director and Jedi.
Hamill also had an emotional reunion with Frank Oz and his classic puppet character Yoda.
In the months since the film premiered in theaters, Hamill has spoken at length about his role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and how he didn’t envision the same path for Luke as Johnson did.
“It just wasn’t a Luke I understood.” He had to come up with his own reasons for why Luke “picked the new Hitler to be the next hope” as well as “how I justified cutting off my telepathic communication with my sister.”
He also explained how he enjoyed Johnson’s take on the character when it was all said and done as it challenged him in ways he didn’t expect from a Star Wars film.
“I was amazed at the complexity of it, that it was so challenging, the range of emotions, every color in the pallet. Mine happened to be of a darker hue,” Hamill said at a BAFTA Q&A.
“You have to trust someone,” he added. “As long as I was able to express my reservations about Luke โ because you can’t help but feel some measure of ownership like ‘Luke wouldn’t say that,’ or ‘Luke wouldn’t do this,’ โ but once we had that conversation, my job was to wipe out what Mark Hamill wants and do my best to realize Rian’s vision.”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now available on Digital HD, and will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on March 27th.