Of the many things that have enraged some Star Wars fans about The Last Jedi enough to propose a remake, how writer/director Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm handled the conclusion of Luke Skywalker’s story is chief among them. Some minor, yet deeply riveting, bits regarding how what happens to Skywalker reflects his meager beginnings in A New Hope have pulled detractors and supporters alike in Johnson’s direction. Nevertheless, the titular hero’s decision to seclude himself away from everyone and everything, or to give up the good fight, still rubs some folks the wrong way.
Enter the man himself, Mark Hamill, who spoke with IGN about the matter. Despite his apparent misgivings about Johnson’s plans for the character, the actor accepted the “tragic” story by going method — even though he’s “not a method actor”:
“[O]ne of the techniques a method actor will use is to try and use real-life experiences to relate to whatever fictional scenario he’s involved in. The only thing I could think of, given the screenplay that I read, was that I was of the Beatles generation — ‘All You Need Is Love,’ ‘peace and love.’
“I thought at that time, when I was a teenager: ‘By the time we get in power, there will be no more war, there will be no racial discrimination, and pot will be legal.’ So I’m one for three. When you think about it, [my generation is] a failure. The world is unquestionably worse now than it was then.”
Considering the current state of the world — where it can feel like those in power are rolling back the advances of prior generations — Hamill’s generational sentiment regarding where The Last Jedi finds Luke makes sense. Then again, those fans who remain unhappy with the film can always blame The Beatles.
(Via IGN)