ST Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) in Episode VII

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It's not that the world will end if Luke doesn't have a beard in the ST, but it has been tradition for most Skywalker mentors to do so. Yoda and Mace Windu being the exceptions to that tradition, but Mace was more of an indirect mentor to Anakin rather than a direct mentor. I think it would be cool if Luke did have a beard in the ST, but my enjoyment of the ST does not ride on that issue.

 

but neither Anakin or Luke has had one

 

Twenty-seven? God, I was growing a grizzly one at twenty.

 

My moustache, sideburns and goatee are all right but my beard doesn't connect. I'm sure it will by the time I'm 20 though

 

I'm a bit concerned that the OT cast will have difficulties getting back into character, for the simple reason that everyone evolves, matures, and their views change. Will they be able to pull it off again? I hope so.

 

I was a Wookie by the time I was 16.

 

Listen to the ladies and your wife, Mark! NO BEARD! Luke needs his chin dimple.

Plus, he's put in so much effort to losing that weight and getting his jawline back, why waste that effort only to obscure half of his face? He's looking like his old self again. And yes, it's hilarious how the men here want his face hidden by a beard and the ladies want to see that chin dimple. LOL.

And I really don't think Luke needs to look like a uniform PT Jedi or Obi-Wan Kenobi in Tatooine hermit clothes clone (which the former are). Luke very much has his own look and that needs to be kept intact. He's the start of something new, not a return to the old ways that failed. Luke is clean-shaven and wears pants. When he's the picture of innocence and light, he wears a lot of beige with the occasional yellow and orange. When he's mature and kick-ass, he wears black.

I'd prefer the trio to still keep their characters' looks intact as much as possible. That means no beard for Mark (and hopefully a bit more length on that hair) and pants, Harrison needs to grow some sideburns (also a bit more hair length and a center part--the shag is the shortest version) and have a new variant of the bloodstripe/holster/boot look (perhaps a different shirt style and a mix of jacket and/or vest--the pants and bloodstripes can also change color), and Carrie needs an overload of hair extensions that create hairdos that can only be achieved if your hair is down to your butt. And I'd suggest that rather than self-referencing the OT with the costuming that they do things that are in the same vein, but new, which is the route the OT films did from film to film with character growth changes in mind (the colors have a lot of meaning). The cinnamon buns might be tempting, but the characters within the narrative shouldn't be self-aware of their own iconography like that. Also, Leia stopped wearing white during ESB for a narrative reason and she never wore the color again in RotJ. The color change after the flight to Bespin was definitely a symbolic choice. When she's in a relationship with and has Han, she doesn't wear white. When she loses Han, she briefly puts on clothes that she wore prior to getting together with Han back on.

But I still say the hairstyle will be the main thing that Mark and Harrison need to choose and it'll be the main thing that will transform them into Luke and Han. It does help separate them and their other roles from these specific characters. Their hair does change throughout the films (and they morph from '70s to '80s haircuts), but they all share a somewhat similar look.

 

Yeah he's losing weight but just think about how thin he'll look WITH the beard on top of the weight loss.

We all know he has a dimple underneath, we won't forget just because he has a beard. It'll make him look much more rugged and wise.

 

Luke's not really the rugged type. That's not his character. Luke, Leia and Han are all very different personalities. Han is the rugged sarcastic one. Luke is the white knight compassionate hero.

Even a 62-year-old Mark doesn't really scream "old, wise sage" the way Alec Guinness (he looked and acted a good decade older by today's standards) looked at the same age. Mark isn't half as doddery. He's certainly a polar opposite in the way he treats fans. Luke can be allowed to be the cool, sweet uncle, rather than the old uniformed mentor. Luke's earnestness was one of his defining attributes. He's the ultimate do-gooder optimist and dreamer. Mark gave Luke a 'nice guy' personality. Luke is pretty much Dorothy Gale.

Carrie will have no problem with her acerbic deliveries, but I would love for the writing to give her something more in the dramatic range, instead of her comedic comfort zone.

Harrison might have to dial back the grump slightly to get a bit of the cocky smartass back (though Han can also be vulnerable), but the latter is very much part of the personality he gave the character. I hope they give him a meatier storyline than RotJ that gives him something to work with. He's the character that can poke fun at things. He's the everyman and the cynic.

The trio was really the actors themselves giving the characters their own personalities in many ways. It's not entirely an acting job where you're trying to be someone else or copying a fully-defined character. The characters evolved around the actors. The writing evolved through the actors and their chemistry!

Mark's own personality today might be a starting point to finding the character now.

 

Fully agreed. This is a older, wiser, more sophisticated Jedi master. Beard would be awesome.

 

To beard or not to beard? That is the question.

 

The thing is, Mark Hamill isn't 20 something any more. He can still act boyish but he shouldn't try to look it.

 

Precisely, and my point is he is NOT the character he was back then, and the beard would do well to help distinguish the new Luke. That should also be portrayed in his interactions and behavior as well, but the image would add to that IMO.

 

As long as that new Luke isn't Obi-Wan 2.0. I want to see Luke, not Obi-Wan. No stiff wise master stick, but a warm, approachable father figure who is not high on his horse.

 

Hamill isn't exactly Laurence Olivier incarnate, but I've always felt his performance as Luke in the OT was underrated. If you go back and watch, he does a really nice job of taking Luke from naive farmboy to maturing student to confident Jedi over the three films (It kind of mirrored Hamill's growth in real life, which I'm sure helped). In ROTJ in particular I felt he was able to add the necessary gravitas without losing his warmth or humanity (Not unlike Ewan Mcgregor in the PT).

I don't think Mark would play Luke here like a stiff, stoic task-master. I think he'll take a cue from Alec Guinness, who I think kept Obi-Wan noble, but avuncular.

Oh, and put me down for the pro-beard group. I think it would suit him nicely.

 

Ugh. Alec Guiness Obi-Wan was stodgy, stiff and not very approachable, the opposite of what I want Luke to be.

 

I gotta disagree with you on that. I thought he played the role with a great warmth and a twinkle in his eye.

Now I wanna be clear on this; I'm not saying Luke should be Obi-Wan 2.0. They're different characters, with different life experiences. Obi-Wan came of age in the Old Republic, giving him a certain classical formality, and then he carried the regret of his student's fall (Anakin's we learn later, though Guinness didn't know this at the time) through 20 years of forced exile. That not only gave him a certain pathos, but the long hermite-like existence made him a bit eccentric. This is baggage Luke likely won't have at this point.

 

but wouldn't the events of the Galactic Civil War have given Luke a certain outlook on life?

 

Juke Skywalker

He was nice, but cold. He wouldn't even comfort Luke after the death of his guardians or the shock over discovering Vader was his father. He barely blinked when he cut off someones arm.

Luke was never that cold at all.

What outlook? That even the most inhuman monster can have something good in him?

 

the fact that war changes people. i'm surprised that facing the death of his father, his mentors, his childhood friend (biggs), his uncle and aunt, finding out that he has a sister, didn't give luke a little bit of PTSD.