WHO IS LUKE SKYWALKER?

"There is no greater solitude 

than that 
of the samurai 

unless it is that of the tiger 
in the jungle... 

Perhaps..."

— Bushido 
(Book of the Samurai)

Japanese Kanji Symbol

"SAMURAI "

When Kathleen Kennedy  was left with the reigns of Lucasfilm, she was instructed to find a director for the Next STAR WARS movie. She wanted J.J. Abrams to be at the helm, but didn´t know how to convience him. So she set up a meeting and asked him...

"To this new generation

 ...who is Luke Skywalker?"

push play 

if you want to listen 

to the soundtrack

"I'M LUKE SKYWALKER. 

I'M HERE TO RESCUE YOU."

-A NEW HOPE

The quintessential  archetype of HERO.  Dressed in white, then in grey finnally in black. Mark Hamill had the oportunity to play a character BIGGER THAN LIFE, that gave a whole GENERATION, A NEW HOPE. He is not in a  history book but in films. A young farm boy, full of dreams, living with his aunt and uncle. He wants to go to the academy to become a pilot and being able to fight the EVIL galactic EMPIRE. Mentored to become a JEDI and helped by the rebelion bring order to the galaxy.

I love star wars, ever since i saw the RETURN OF THE JEDI as a little kid, watching this world of monsters, space ships, light sabers, everything. I loved the whole idea, the concept of fighting evil and having cool creatures, weapons. I recall my parents never, ever would allow in our home toy guns, not even plastic or something that resembled a gun. But i remember in 1983 i was 6 years old  going to the theatre and after watching Return of the Jedi i  asked my parents for a green lightsaber they sold  outside the movie theatre.

I was static!!! i wanted to take it to school and show everyone i had a green light saber as my Hero Luke Skywalker!! I wanted to be like him. Using the force and jumping on sand or snow and running in the forest and being a pilot on an X WING. I related so much to him and the way he was always brave and went on adventures. 

From Padawan
to Master to Padawan

Bushido ( "the way (or the moral) of the warrior") is a Japanese term for the samurai way of life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry in Europe. Bushido was also influenced by Shinto and Zen Buddhism, allowing the violent existence of the samurai to be tempered by wisdom and serenity.The Bushidō code is typified by eight virtues:

Righteousness 

Courage 

Compassion 

Respect 

Integrity 

Honour 

Duty and Loyalty 

Self-Control 

Samurai films and westerns share a number of similarities and the two have influenced each other over the years. One of Japan’s most renowned directors, Akira Kurosawa, greatly influenced the samurai aspect in western film-making.

George Lucas's Star Wars series incorporated many aspects from the Samurai films. One example is that in the Japanese film, seven samurai warriors are hired by local farmers to protect their land from being overrun by bandits; In  A New Hope, a similar situation arises. Kurosawa was inspired by the works of director John Ford and in turn Kurosawa's works have been remade into westerns such as The Seven Samurai into The Magnificent Seven and Yojimbo into A Fistful of Dollars. There is also a 26 episode anime adaptation (Samurai 7) of The Seven Samurai. Along with film, literature containing samurai influences are seen as well.

The word "jedi" is said to have been adapted by George Lucas from Japanese 時代劇 (jidaigeki) (meaning "period drama" motion pictures about samurai), or perhaps inspired by the words Jed (King) and Jeddak (Emperor) in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a series that Lucas considered adapting to film. The film Rogue One suggests that it relates to the planet Jedha, source of the kyber crystals used in lightsabers.

From the opening crawl to the martial arts style fighting, mixing the old FLASH GORDON serials from 1936, TARZAN wonderful escapes,  and the epic SAMURAI movies like The Tale of Zatoichi,  The Hidden Fortress and SEVEN Samurai, George Lucas found the inspiration he needed to create the modern day MYTH. STAR WARS became an instant influence on everyone, new filmmakers have to honor this ancient tradition of looking back before heading to the future.   Another film maker Lucas used as influence was Masaki Kobayashi .


Masaki Kobayashi a Japanese film director, best known for the epic trilogy The Human Condition (1959–1961),
 the samurai film Seppuku (1962), and Ghost Stories

SEEMS FAMILIAR?

Buster Crabbe 

and Jean Rogers

 in “Flash Gordon” 1936

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill

For the lightsaber duels he used Kenjutsu, which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan,means "the method, or technique, of the sword." This is opposed to kendo, which means "the way of the sword". This influence holds to this day for example  Donnie Yen, playing  Chirrut in  ROGUE ONE (2016).

The Tale of Zatoichi directed by Kenji Misumi that tells 

the adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman.

The Hidden Fortress- Akira Kurosawa

Even in the narrative, the way Lucas told this particular story was a tribute to the old masters. The TRANSITIONS or wipes from one scene to the other was a common language in Star Wars that set the perfect tone .

Mark Hamill asked Sir Alec Guiness, Why would you do a movie like this? He answered: "I always wanted to play a wizard in a movie for children."


You have to remember Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola, De PALMA, Scorsese were among the first generation of movie directors that had cinema since their childhoods. To build a hero you need a MENTOR.

"George (Lucas) and i had some free time while filming in the north of africa, so i asked him ....why are we doing episode 4, why not episode 1??, George told me "They are like Flash Gordon Original SERIALS i want the audience to feel they missed something and just came up to the story."

-Mark Hamill

"I want to learn the ways of the Force 
and become a Jedi like my father." 

-Luke Skywalker

Born September 25, 1951, Mark Richard Hamill , the middle of 7 children, plays Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series. His other works include Corvette Summer (1978) and The Big Red One (1980), among other television shows and movies. Hamill has also appeared on stage in several theater productions, primarily during the 1980s. He is unmistakenly a great actor and to us all he will always be LUKE SKYWALKER.

Hamill did a tremendous job not just as a performer but without knowing it, HE  made a deep impact in a whole generation of little children, all over the world. He remains to this day our hero. 

His father was in the navy, so his family had to move a lot from place to place. Going to 9 schools in12 years. From San Diego to New York trying to fit in coast to coast. That marked him for life.

"Luke is the Dorothy (Wizard of OZ) of Star Wars, he is the character you can relate to. Young people need that character, someone you don´t feel threaten by him. "

-Mark Hamill

A NEW HOPE

George Lucas favored casting young actors who lacked long experience. To play Luke (then known as Luke Starkiller), Lucas sought actors who could project intelligence and integrity. While reading for the character, Hamill found the dialogue to be extremely odd because of its universe-embedded concepts. He chose to simply read it sincerely, and he was selected instead of William Katt, who was subsequently cast in the Brian De Palma-directed Carrie (Lucas shared a joint casting session with De Palma, a longtime friend)

If you remember in a New Hope, everyone pushed Luke aside, uncle OWEN , Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, Obi Wan , even R2 at some point. Obviously this coming of age story wouldn´t be what it is without the first act. The young naive ready to take over the galaxy.

Hamill is also a prolific voice actor who has given voice characters in many animated television shows, movies, and video games since the 1970s. He is known for his long-standing role as DC Comics' the Joker.

Robert Englund was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall where auditions were taking place for Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend, would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. He suggested to Hamill that he audition for the role; Hamill did and won the role.

Luke Skywalker was initially called "Anakin Starkiller", and went through multiple design changes. The character was at one point designed as a 60-year-old grizzled war hero, later as a Jedi Master, and as a woman. The last name "Starkiller" remained for the first few months of production,Hamill on-camera using the name 'Luke Starkiller" the sole time he referred to himself during filming."Starkiller" was dropped due to what Lucas called "unpleasant connotations".

Contrary to what many think , Lukes first father figure is not Obi Wan, but Uncle Owen. And as all his father figures die so it is time for Luke to mature and become his destiny.  A JEDI.

"it´s a fairy tale, a farm boy, a wizard, a princess, the pirate"
-Mark Hamill






"Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon... for a more civilized age."

— Obi-Wan Kenobi,



The Jedi are the main protagonists in the Star Wars universe. They are depicted as an ancient monastic and academic meritocratic organization whose origin dates back to c. 25,000 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin; the destruction of the first Death Star).


With the help of classically trained actor ALEC GUINESS, Lucas found the right JEDI KNIGHT that would instruct Luke on the power of the FORCE.



THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
AFTER loosing his mentor at the hands of Darth VADER , Skywalker is more lost than ever in the ways of the force. That is why the ghost of his former master appears to him in a moment of terrible dispair to tell him he must go to find YODA in the Dagobah System.



Director Irvin Kerschner pushed everything further, the characters, the plot, the intensity, the depth, the dark side. Luke thinks he knows everything so when looking for Yoda, he imagines a great warrior , tall, all knowing. But one of the metaphors of the story is what Yoda says to luke


"Judge me by my size do you?"

At the climactic battle scene in Cloud City, at the end of Empire, Director Irvin Kerschner approached Hamill and told him :
"I know whats going to happen,
George (Lucas) knows whats going to happen
i´m going to tell you what´s going to happen ....
We will PLAY THE SCENE as it is in the script
Darth Vader says Obi Wan Killed your father.....
But in reality we will record Vader´s Voice

LATER saying
"No I AM YOUR FATHER "
And if it LEAKS anywhere , we´ll know it was you Mark!!

An alternative ending pitched by George Lucas for Return of the Jedi was Luke assuming his father's role as Darth Vader after his death and intending to rule the Galaxy in his place.



Though Lawrence Kasdan favored the idea, Lucas ultimately declined, since the films were made for children.Another conclusion to the film featured the character disappearing into the wilderness like "Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns".

The Light sabers
The traditional weapon of the JEDI is the lightsaber, a device which generates a blade-like plasma controlled by a crystal.

The crystal is the heart of the blade.

The heart is the crystal of the Jedi.

The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.

The Force is the blade of the heart. 

All are intertwined: 

The crystal,The blade,The Jedi.

You are one.

- Traditional Jedi lightsaber ceremony

The most notable instrument wielded by a Jedi is the Lightsaber. Both Jedi and Sith use lightsabers as their main weapon. The Jedi's lightsabers emit cool colors, usually blue or green blades (sometimes yellow, or purple, as seen in the case of Mace Windu), while the Sith emit warm colors. Lightsabers can be of many different colors depending on the crystal fixture. Although a Jedi's class used to be defined by the color of the lightsaber, by the events of the theatrical trilogy films, most Jedi choose to make their lightsaber any color they see fit. Most Jedi use naturally formed crystals, whereas Sith tend to use synthetic crystals, which are usually red in color.

George Lucas loved using the real world as influence and starting point for all his creations. So he used an old flash from a camera to construct the first lightsaber

RETURN OF THE JEDI 

Have you ever noticed IN RETURN OF THE JEDI 
when Luke gets to Jabba’s palace, the GAMORREAN ( pig) guards try to detain him, and he force chokes one of them and force shoves him against the wall – a reaction that, before or since, has only been shown in evil characters. 

I believe when Darth Vader dies, Luke starts to live . In a sense there is no more that conflict. Both are at peace. The life of each other is not a war. Vader is no more, the galaxy has return to order. There is no Dark Side anymore. 

"I AM A JEDI, 

LIKE MY FATHER BEFORE ME."

Luke Skywalker

THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY DIRECTORS 
From left to right
(Kerschner, Lucas, Marquand)

WHERE IS LUKE?

I remember getting ready to see The Force Awakens, thinking, what is it going to be about? and the first thing that appears in the opening crawl is LUKE SKYWALKER has vanished.... I thought wooow that´s awesome, so intelligent,  because days before it became such a HUGE deal that Luke didn´t appear on the poster .

Hamill learned of the sequel trilogy over the summer of 2012 at a Star Wars celebration during lunch where Lucas told him one was in development. 

"The first meeting I had with (Director) JJ Abrams he told me ;Don´t worry ...you won´t be in england that much time"
-Mark Hamill

"Once he said (Harrison Ford) in the press that he was doing it I thought 'Well, I just got drafted. Because if I say no to this, these people are gonna be outside my house like the angry villagers in Frankenstein with lightsabers instead of torches. I'll be the most hated man in fandom.'"

So Hamill agreed to return, unaware at the time that he would only be in the film for about a minute. 

Luke's lack of screen time in The Force Awakens was due to concerns by screenwriter Michael Arndt that his presence would mean the end of interest in Rey, leading to an agreement that he be removed from the plot and instead become a plot device.  He was made the build up character at the end with the John Williams score at full. It is the perfect ending to keep us interested until Episode 8.

Hamill attending meetings for script readings helped conceal Luke's role and he instead was given the position of reading stage directions, Abrams saying it allowed him to remain involved and that his reading helped make a "better experience for everyone.

Skellig Michael (the island at the end of The Force Awakens) was the perfect setting for the final scene. It is misterious and just watching the build up of the music is breathtaking. So when we finally see Luke after so many years, he doesn´t speak and we can see in his eyes everything he has suffered. One of the best ending scenes of the whole saga.





According to STARWARS.COM ;

"After the Battle of Endor, Luke traveled the galaxy with R2-D2, seeking long-forgotten Jedi lore as he pondered how to resurrect the Jedi order. But his efforts ended with one of his apprentices leaving his plans in ruin. After this tragedy Luke vanished, and no one knew where he had chosen to spend his self-imposed exile."

The Last Jedi

Its curious how the color of The Last Jedi logo,Star Wars uses red for the third film in its trilogies—see Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi.  The choice of color suggests there’s a common thread connecting the films .

-Director Rian Johnson  has said  the story begins immediately after the last scene of The Force Awakens

what will Luke tell to REY????

i believe it will be the same line Obi Wan told LUKE when they meet...

I really like Mark Hamill as a person, in his twitter @HamillHimself

 bio says:

Believe in yourself! Work hard, never give up & anything's possible. OR: Kick back, relax & aim low-you'll never be disappointed. 

We’re still 9 months AWAY from the movie’s release, and very little has been revealed about it. I really respect that. And looking forward to watch The Last Jedi.

"i more than anyone should know

 what it feels like to be 

associated with a a single role"

-Mark Hamill

"Its not my story anymore, 

its a new generation of heroes and villains." 

-Mark Hamill

I believe LONG AWAITED FILMS are better if you are surprised, if the experience is new. Even if you are an avid Star Wars fan and know all about trivia and fun facts. The mystery, the sounds, the expectation to know what is going to happen.

I know i´ve said it before and i´ll say it again ...

I yearn ... for that moment when the lights 

in the cinema dim 

and then it finally

appears....