Mark Hamill Talks About How STAR WARS Script Secrecy Has Evolved Into Like Being in the CIA

It’s interesting to learn about the great lengths that Lucasfilm and Marvel will take to keep the stories for their films a secret. It wasn’t always like this; there was a simpler time when people just didn’t care.

In recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mark Hamill talks about how the script secrecy has evolved from the time he was first cast in Star Wars: A New Hope to working on Star Wars: Episode IX all these years later.

“You know how it is these days, every time you sign NDAs. I remember back when I read the first Star Wars [script], I was like, ‘Wow, that’s the goofiest thing I’ve ever read.’ I gave it to my best friend to read, and I said, ‘What do you think of it?’ He said, ‘It’s really wild, it’s crazy, can I give it to Meredith?’ ‘Sure, go ahead.’ It went around to all my friends. Of course back then nobody cared.”

It’s a whole different ball game now, though! In fact, he goes on to compare the script secrecy to being in the CIA:

“Nowadays it’s like working for some secret deep state government organization, like being in the CIA. They’re going to send rewrites over to Prague on this dark red paper that gives you a headache to read.”

The dark red paper is a concept that first started with The Force Awakens to prevent script leaks. Hamill doesn’t even get a hard copy of the script to keep and read these days. He explains:

“They’re going to fly [the rewrites] over with somebody from the company. They’re going to come and give it to me and wait for me to read it before I give it back. So no pressure! You can’t even keep it overnight. But that’s the way it is now.”

Hamill says that he misses the days where he could “make notes” on the scripts and doodle on them with “little cartoon drawings” to use as a visual aid to help remember his lines.

Mark Hamill spent a week on the set of Episode IX shooting his scenes. It will be interesting to see how Luke Skywalker will be utilized in this story, especially after the events of The Last Jedi. Hey, maybe it will feature him waking on the island of Ahch-To alive and well saying, “Whoa… that was a crazy dream!”

Seriously though, I’m excited about Episode IX and look forward to seeing how J.J. Abrams brings this epic saga to an end.