The phrase that Mark Hamill begged George Lucas to remove from ‘Star Wars’

The script of Star Wars of George Lucas It is a masterpiece of impeccable structure. It is impossible to narrate a intergalactic adventure of such magnitude—or, really, any kind of story—more excitingly and effectively. Scene by scene, it is rightly considered the narrative reference of the blockbuster genre.

However, it may not have been that way. At least that’s what he thinks Mark Hamillthe indisputable Luke Skywalker that in an interview on the program Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson He admitted that he had to talk seriously with the filmmaker to get him to eliminate a dialogue he had with Harrison Ford –that gave life to Han Solo–, during episode IV. Star Wars. A New Hope It is considered one of the best films in the saga, but when it was released, many of the ideas of George Lucas They were experimental and somewhat risky. Apparently the dialogue was one of those first details that needed polishing.

“I remember there was a line that I begged him to take out of the script and he finally did,” Hamill told Carson, describing the scene in which the Hawk Millennial reaches the asteroid field that once was Aldera. “I will never forget it until the day I die, sometimes I dream about that phrase.”

«Harrison Ford (Han Solo) told me: ‘Look boy, I’ve done my part of the agreement. When I get to an asteroid, you, the old man and the droids will get off,’” he explained. Then, the actor had to respond with the line: «’But we can’t go back, fear is your greatest defense; “I doubt if the current security system is better than it was on Aquilae or Sullust and what is there will surely lead to a full-scale assault.”

In English, it 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 most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.” A real tongue twister that Lucas demanded that Hamill recite as quickly as possible, it being impossible for the actor to do it in a way that would be intelligible.

“It was impossible to make it sound like a natural, spontaneous dialogue. I thought: ‘Who talks like that, George?’, said the interpreter, who did not hesitate to fight with Lucas eliminating the dialogue completely: ‘It’s not fair, because they’re going to throw tomatoes at us. Not to you! Luckily for him and for the fans of the saga, the phrase finally did not make it through the final cut of the script and was not filmed.

Despite that small dispute, Hamill only has good words for the consolidated director. «I am very grateful to George for allowing me to be part of that in its beginnings, in those humble times when George said that Star Wars era the most expensive low budget film ever made. “We never imagined it would become such an established franchise and a popular culture phenomenon.”

Hamill was somewhat right in his fight, since he was not the only one to advise Lucas on the dialogues of the films. Harrison Ford stated in another interview that he even told the filmmaker: “George, you can write this, but you sure can’t say it,” in reference to another convoluted line of script that was easier to read than to recite.