Mark Hammil's Acting Skills

I was reading a thread from TPM forum about Jake Lloyd's acting abilities and someone commented that they were as bad as Mark Hammil's. This wasnt the first time I came across posts complaining about his acting skills. I personally found him brilliant in all 3 movies, but thats just me.

So I was just wondering what everyone's opinions are on Mark Hammil's acting skills, and why?

 

I think he did a fine job in the saga. I think the whining in the movies is what turns people off from him. Of course, he's supposed to whine. He's supposed to show shades of Anakin .

 

Yeah, I didn't see anything wrong with it. It was Luke that the people really don't like, but they blame it on Mark.

 

besides jay and silent bob strike back, has the ham done anything after star wars?

 

Here's Mark's IMDb entry. You can get it out to see what he's done outside of SW.

He's done plenty of noteworthy work after SW. He was in Sam Fuller's The Big Red One, the animated Batman series,... and... well, that about all he's done that's worth mentioning. It's too bad really. He seems like a great guy and, while no Laurence Olivier, is still a pretty good actor.

 

I cant see whether Hamill whines. Except for the Toschi Station line.

I thought Hamill did an excellent job, his reaction when he found out that Vader was his father was excellent. I could imagine that that would have been a very hard piece of acting to pull off.

 

I thought Mark was very good in all three star wars movies. And I think the whining was the thing. And it was the toschi station thing mostly. But I feel he did a fine job

 

Yeah, he did a good job. When compare his performance in ANH with what he did in ROTJ, you can see how good he is, how he changed the character as time went on.

besides jay and silent bob strike back, has the ham done anything after star wars?

He's an outstanding voice actor for cartoons.

 

Mark did a great job. If he acted mopey and dull or delivered all of his lines the way many PT actors do (this is how I see it), then I would've been turned off by it. I think Mark was wonderful because he says nearly every line with conviction. (as complicated and goofy as some of his lines were) Even the way he reads coordinates in his X-Wing in ANH, if you'll remember, shows he has great imagination. Or when Luke hear's Obi Wan reassuring voice "The Force will be with you, always," and the way Luke closes his eyes relishing and meditating on the moment --those are the little details I will always remember. I always wished the PT actors would have little moments like this, something to make them more distinct and memorable.

 

Yeah, I think people don't like the whining. Of course, Luke was supposed to be a whiny teenager. So Mark did the job.

 

I have no gripes with Mark's acting.

He bought much to the character of Luke.

 

I agree with most people in this thread. I find him an agreeable actor in the Star Wars movies. I don't fancy much of his work outside of Star Wars, but aside from that, I don't think that the job he did in the movies was in anyway poor. I think one thing we all have to distinguish, particularly when looking at Star Wars actors, is their actual 'effort' and the character itself. Often people will dislike a certain actor because of their role. Example, Hayden Christensen because of certain scenes in AOTC. Whereas, i'd argue I disliked the aspects of the character that he was playing as was written by GL.

 

One thing's for sure about Hamill, he's one of VERY VERY FEW actors, unlike actresses, after the silent movie era who change their facial expressions while performing.

 

I thought the acting in the last 40 minutes of Jedi was nothing short of brilliant.

The scene with him and Vader on Endor is the best dialogue of the saga.

 

I really enjoyed his acting in the first two, and while there a parts of the third I think... ack!, overall he was great.

I do believe he once said while trying his first takes in A New Hope that George kept telling him he was doing Luke wrong. Kept calling cut, and to try again. Finally Mark went over the edge and on the next take, started acting like George. George then muttered, "Cut, perfect." And that is what was printed.

To the other poster on his voice work, yeah I've also heard very high praise for it.

 

Luke Skywalker was a great, great character. In fact he's been my favorite since I was a kid. People like to discredit Mark Hamil simply because he hasn't had that many roles other that Luke Skywalker. But he's a talented actor and you can't take anything away from him.

 

Yeah, I didn't see anything wrong with it. It was Luke that the people really don't like, but they blame it on Mark.

I know what you mean, when i first saw the OT, i was 4, mind you, i didn't like Luke at all. He just seemed like a whiney baby about everything, but as i grew older i started to respect it more. Mark is just doing good acting, and should be given more credit.

 

I completely agree with you guys. Mark's performance in the OT is very underrated just because people don't like the character. Well, if people find Luke irritating in ANH, doesn't that mean Mark did a good job playing the role?

There are a number of moments in the OT where I think the expression on his face brilliantly communicates the gist of an entire scene or sometimes even more, and what he looks like in various scenes is really memorable as a result. Someone already mentioned the sigh he gives after he hears Obi-Wan at Yavin. I'd like to add to that list the moment he makes telepathic contact with Leia and the moment Yoda says "Your father he is." There are few other actors in the Star Wars saga who have so many moments where you can remember precisely how they acted because their sheer communicative power jumped out at you.

 

I agree with most of the above. It is not Mark's acting that is bad - Luke is supposed to be a bit immature and whiney, althougt he grows up throughout the films - by the end of ROTJ he is much less annoying. And I think that Lukes character grows on you - when I first saw ANH I thought he was really anoyying and immature - in one of the scenes he was playing with a toy spaceship. I think that a lot of the OT is about the loss of Lukes's innocence, and Mark Hammil portrays that well.

 

Mark Hamill turned in a performance that was consistently good through the entire trilogy, which is more than can be said for Carrie Fisher or Harrison Ford. All three were great in the first two movies, but in ROTJ it was obviously just another job for Ford and Fisher. But not for Hamill. He was Luke Skywalker. He believed.

 

I've only seen Hammil a lil bit outside of SW

But I know he was in Corvette Summer shortly after ANH, and The Big Red One which I saw a lil bit of, and he was in the broadway play "The Elephant Man"

And I know that critics loved his performance in all three, but he was never able to shake his type cast as Luke much and therefore hasn't been in much else

With that and the fact that I thought he did a great job in the OT makes me believe he's a good actor

People agree, Hammil is a good actor

 

Hamill once noted that in ESB, he was the only human actor on the set for long periods of time (the Dagobah scenes). For him, it was something of a predecessor to the blue screen work that the prequel actors have done, because Yoda obviously wasn't talking back during the actual filming. He had to spend the majority of his time interacting with something that didn't really exist.

 

I think MH has a pretty good grasp on his craft. I enjoyed him in Slipstream. He seems to always have that kind of whiney personna that associates him with Luke from ANH but as long as he accepts roles that meld with his character I think he'll be fine. It's the same with every actor. Very few are good in every type of role. He also seems to really enjoy life behind the camera as well & not just as a VO. I would love to see him direct.
[image=http://www.blueharvest.net/images/set/tat/mark-camera.jpg]

 

Hayden's portrayal as Anakin Skywalker came off a bit more whiney than Mark's portrayal of Luke. Mark Hamill's acting skills are great. Did any of you ever see his brilliant performace in Black Magic with Apolonia?

 

I believe he did a great job throughout the trilogy. I don't see why the whining bothers people. Anyone would whine too if your Uncle made you work on his farm while all your buddies were leaving to do bigger and better things with their life.