In a recent interview,Luke Skywalkeractor Mark Hamill discussed one clunky line that almost made its way intoA New Hope, revealing that dialogue certainly isn’t a new struggle inStar Wars.Star Warsis a cultural phenomenon now, andA New Hopecontinues to be seen as one ofStar Wars’best movies, but when it was first released, many of George Lucas' ideas were experimental and somewhat risky. It seems dialogue was among those early kinks that needed to be worked out.
One line in particular gave Mark Hamill a fair bit of trouble during his screen test as Luke Skywalker before it was (thankfully) ultimately cut from the movie. In an interview with thePolitickin' with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendricksonpodcast, Hamill explained:
“There’s a line in the screen test. Thank God it’s not in the movie. To show you how difficult it was to make it sound like it was natural dialogue spontaneously coming out of your head. Because at one point Han said, ‘Hey kid, I’ve held up my part of the bargain. And when I get the chance, you and the droids, I’m dumping and moving on.’ And my line in the screenplay was, ‘But we can’t turn back, fear is their greatest defense, I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust and what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.'”
In addition to providing some insight into what the early days of working onStar Warswere like, this story from Mark Hamill confirms thatStar Warshad some difficulties with dialogue long before the prequel trilogy.
Mark Hamill Was Right To Want This Cut From Star Wars
This Line Was Simply Too Clunky To Ever Work
Mark Hamill has discussed pushing for this line to be removed before, and he was right to do so. As Hamill made clear in his comments during the podcast interview, there was just no way for this line to sound natural. It simply wouldn’t have been believable for Luke to have said all of that—and that’s if the line could have been delivered in the first place.
What’s truly a shame isthis line could have worked had it just been edited down.“Fear is their greatest defense"is a perfect parallel to"Rebellions are built on hope,“which is one ofthe best lines inRogue One: A Star Wars Story. It would also have been a profound and accurate point for Luke to make about the Empire. The Empire absolutely weaponized fear and used that as a measure of control, and this would have been a perceptive comment had it been worded differently.
George Lucas’ Dialogue Didn’t Improve In The Prequels
The Dialogue Was One Of The Biggest Complaints About The Prequels
Mark Hamill’s comments also confirm thatdialogue was an issue even before the prequel trilogy. Among thecomplaints about theStar Warsprequel trilogywas the dialogue, which many found too on the nose, overstated, or (in some cases) a bit absurd. Admittedly, as a massive prequel trilogy fan, I don’t have an issue with many of the lines in the prequels, especially those that are true to Anakin Skywalker’s character.
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Even so, it’s clear that many viewers disliked much of the dialogue in the prequels,Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sithin particular, for many of the same reasons this line fromA New Hopedidn’t work. This suggests George Lucas continued to have a bit of an issue with verboseness throughout the first six Skywalker Saga movies. Luckily, though, this cutLuke Skywalkerline didn’t make it intoStar Wars.
Source:Politickin' with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson
