Interview conducted by Josh Horowitz
November 14, 2003
There are a handful of people in your life that hold an odd unmovable portion of your childhood psyche. For obvious reasons, Mark Hamill is one of those people for me and many others of my generation. Since those three movies wrapped up in 1983(you know the ones), he’s had a successful career as a voice-over artist (most prominently perhaps as Joker in the Batman cartoons), and the occasional foray into film, television, and comics. Currently he’s on Broadway acting as one half of a two-person play called SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS. Hamill plays Michael Minetti, a dance instructor who forms an unusual relationship with his pupil, Lily (Polly Bergen) over the course of…that’s right, six lessons.
I met up with Hamill at a spot that I thought would just be fraught with potential. Sure enough, when I entered Midtown Comics in New York City on a Friday afternoon, there he was, 20 minutes early and seemingly much more interested in all the store had to offer than in talking to me. Amid the two dozen plus comic faithful barely recognizing him at first under a cap, he thanked me for introducing him to a store so close to the theater where he’s currently performing. This was honest enthusiasm from a devoted collector. We talked while he admired the toys in the more secluded upstairs section of the store.
While his anonymity was well-guarded at first, that came apart by the end of our afternoon. Bringing Luke Skywalker to a comic bookstore is sort of like thinking John Glenn is going to slip unnoticed through the Air and Space Museum gift shop. Before his rushed exit in preparation of another performance, we did have time to talk about his love of comics (manifested in his upcoming film, COMIC BOOK: THE MOVIE), coming back to the stage, and the most unlikely STAR WARS film ever made.
Josh Horowitz: Who’s the biggest collector in the family?
Mark Hamill: I would have easily said me years ago but I would say now that [my son] Nathan’s surpassed me now that he works for Matt Groening’s comic book company.
JH: Are comic book stores sort of part of the routine for you?
MH: Westside comics was my store here in New York when I lived here but it closed. It was a part of my routine. My collecting life has changed over the years as priorities shift around. It becomes more and more like collecting original art as the prices become absurdly out of reach.
JH: Do you have one prized possession?
MH: Yes and no. I remember thinking; I have the best copy in existence of ADVENTURE COMICS #40, the first appearance of Sandman. I bought it 15 years ago for about 1200 dollars and was offered 60 [thousand] for it. I get frustrated with collecting thinking I’m doing it for the wrong reasons thinking, oh I’ll be dead in 50 years anyway. When push comes to shove, we saw an apartment about a week ago and I said, how much cash do we have to put down? I’m selling that ADVENTURE #40. I really am not a dealer. I have things that are really rare but I like them. That’s why I collect them.
JH: Why do you think comics still have such a hold on you?
MH: Part of it is the nostalgia for me of going back to that simpler fun time. COMIC BOOK: THE MOVIE is an extension of trying to understand what kind of hold this form of pop culture has on a grown-up who by all standards should have given them up in early adolescence. Part of it comes from that stringent lifestyle that my father imposed on us. Frivolous behavior and silliness was wasted time. He was not accepting of a lot of different forms of entertainment, comics included.
JH: Comics were a form of rebellion for you.
MH: In a way. Yeah. Instinctively I knew if my father hated them, there must be something good about them. Plus there was the fact that this form of entertainment was clearly made just for us. We didn’t have VCRs we couldn’t own a story. Comics were the closes thing to that.
JH: I know you’re struggled to bring your comic, THE BLACK PEARL to the screen for years. After trying to direct a feature of your own for so long, how did the actual experience go?
MH: It was wonderful. Thrilling beyond words. This [COMIC BOOK: THE MOVIE] was largely experimental. We’re more guerilla filming than even something like the Christopher Guest films. This was certainly more haphazard
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than those but I think that’s why we caught lightning in a bottle. There are conventional contrivances that smack of Hollywood moviemaking in our film but that’s because you’re in the classic three act form and you cant get really get from with it. I originally saw it more as WOODSTOCK. You shoot the comic book convention with as many cameras as you can and the story will emerge. We realized we’d better have a fall back position to have some nominal storyline. And the real epiphany came to me when I was in Wisconsin. Having pitched the film as a documentarian making a film, I thought, I have to have somebody who really knows comic books to give this the authenticity it needs. I realized I was the only one who could do that.
JH: So it all really clicked when you got out of LA?
MH: There was such serenity up there [in Wisconsin]. I complain about George [Lucas] being isolated from reality and yet the same thing was happening to me. I was playing in an ensemble piece. I’d have ten days off sometimes. Rather than going back to Los Angeles, it became a really creative time for me. The whole dynamic of the conflict in the film changed. Originally it wasn’t so much about comic books as it was Hollywood and movies and Kevin Smith did that so well in JAY AND SILENT BOB. Then I came up with created Golden Age characters so we didn’t step on lawyer’s toes. You sit and you look at this blank page and think, what did I get myself into? And then all of a sudden just like that book report that is due in 48 hours, you drink six cups of coffee and take the phone off the hook. In Wisconsin I just took a pad and a pencil and sat out in the fields.
JH: But you’ve spent much of your life in California.
MH: I love California. I was born in Oakland, California. I went back to get a key to the city from Jerry Brown, which was a great honor. I didn’t know till I got there that there were like 68 other people also getting the key to the city. [LAUGHS] You have to laugh.
JH: And now you’re moving to New York for SIX DANCE LESSONS?
MH: We have. We’re here. Even if this play closes tomorrow, I’m still here. I love California but living in Malibu is like a perpetual vacation. There are no seasons. You drive 45 minutes to any engagement. A lot of your life is in the car.
JH: Did theater have an early impact on you?
MH: When I was in junior high school, my dad got tickets to THE ODD COUPLE. He didn’t want to go. I went all by myself and laughed so hard. And I used to think, they’re going to do that tomorrow…twice! And I thought about it. The next day I’m looking at my clock thinking, they’re probably getting on stage now. I went by the stage door not to get autographs but to see with my own eyes the people I’d seen in the play.
JH: You did a lot of stage work early in your appearing AMADEUS and THE ELEPHANT MAN on Broadway. Did you miss it?
MH: I didn’t think I missed Broadway but then you get a piece of material like SIX DANCE LESSONS that is so much fun to perform. You always read about these actors who say they want to get back to their roots. Mostly it is because the first chance they got to get up in front of people was in a live theater. I missed playing live. It occurred to me while I was watching the Rolling Stones,
why would they want to do it? It’s because they love playing music before an appreciative audience. I was perfectly happy to do things behind the scenes. I don’t feel compelled like oh, get me in DHARMA AND GREG! Get me something! I think there’s a natural momentum to what you do in your career and I didn’t plan this. I did this movie with Arthur Seidelman called WALKING ACROSS EGYPT. It’s one of Ellen Burstyn’s finest performances. I thought it was better than what she got nominated for that year [REQUIEM FOR A DREAM]. So when I read SIX DANCE LESSONS [directed by Seidelman], I thought this is the funniest most accessible play that’s been offered to me. Of course the critics were really mixed. Some people thought it was horrible. Some thought it was delightful. I went to a Tony award winning show and I was sorely disappointed. Having said that to you. I was the only person in the audience that wasn’t just kvelling with absolute joy.
You yourself probably have one of your own where it’s a popular entertainment but it’s just not your thing. That’s our problem with SIX DANCE LESSONS. It’s not my job to evaluate if it stands in the pantheon of fine art. If I like it, I assume everyone else will like it. And for the most part, I’ve been right.
JH: This is a two-character play. Do you find that it puts a lot of wear and tear on you?
MH: It’s tough. It’s a real workout. You give it everything you’ve got and then you start charging up for the next one. It’s a very interesting discipline. And because of the regimentation, I have made so much more of my time.
JH: Which is the most difficult dance for you to perform in the play?
MH: When I read it, I thought, I don’t know if I can do this dance-wise. [In preparing] I did everything but cry. It’s that hard. You resent the dances until it becomes like riding a bicycle. The only one I thought I would know for sure is contemporary. Everybody can twist. I can’t tell you how hard it was to learn to pony. That’s that basic stupid 60s go-go girl step. There’s no way to pony and still be dignified.
JH: I was looking through the video section of this store and they’re selling the infamous STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL. When Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman are a part of a STAR WARS special, doesn’t somebody have an inkling this might not turn out so well?
MH: I’ll tell you exactly what that was. The toys were not manufactured yet. So when it became clear that there was going to be a huge demand for toys, to keep the momentum up, George relinquished the rights to the people that produce specials. It was just appalling. It wasn’t like it was a surprise. You read this thing and go, who is smoking what?!? This is just awful! I remember I was smart enough to decline a song. When I read that Leia was going to sing and then Luke was going to sing, I said I don’t want to do this. It’s shit!
COMIC BOOK: THE MOVIE comes to DVD in January. SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS is currently playing on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre in New York. Mark's new series, THE WRONG COAST, is coming soon to AMC.
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