The Star Wars franchise is undoubtedly one of the biggest ones out there with a fan following so huge it could be its own country! The first film of the franchise, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, was quick to make Mark Hamill a household name. Bringing Luke Skywalker to life, the actor was immensely praised for his work.
However, Mark Hamill’s Star Wars journey could have ended at the beginning owing to a horrible car accident. Thankfully, the accident didn’t cause the actor serious harm and he was able to continue his Star Wars journey. On the other hand, this accident caused a disagreement between the late actress Carrie Fisher and director George Lucas.
Mark Hamill’s Accident Led to a Script Change
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Talking about his accident to Gossip Magazine, Mark Hamill stated that he was going on the freeway at about 65-70 mph when the unfortunate happened. The accident left his nose and cheek fractured and the actor scarred. Hamill even had to have reconstructive surgery.
According to the Princess Leia actress, Carrie Fisher, Hamill’s scar was so significant that it had to be written into the sequel. The very beginning of the sequel saw Luke Skywalker being attacked by a Wampa. As stated by Fisher, the scene was written just to incorporate Hamill’s scar from the car accident. In the Blu-Ray commentary of The Empire Strikes Back, Fisher stated,
“I was still shooting ‘Star Wars’ when Mark got into the car accident. It was a really bad accident. Miraculously his teeth didn’t shatter. But his nose did. He had to have some of his ear put into his nose. So they adjusted the film with this snow monster to right away in the movie scratch his face to account for his looks being different.”
While it sure seems like a plausible theory, it turns out that Fisher and George Lucas have different opinions when it comes to it. According to the filmmaker, the Wampa was not included in the film to simply back Hamill’s scar.
George Lucas Disagrees with Carrie Fisher
It is a little strange that the director and lead actress do not agree on a major aspect of the film. As far as Lucas is concerned, Wampa’s attack on Luke was simply to make the film more suspenseful. He clarified that while the attack sure helped sell the scar, it wasn’t the motive behind it.
In the same commentary, Lucas stated,
“At the end of ‘A New Hope’ he had been in a car accident and I knew Mark was going to look a little different than he was in the first film. But my feeling was some time had passed, they’ve been in the Rebellion fighting, that kind of thing, so the change was justifiable. There’s a scene in the film where Mark gets beat up by the monster [Wampa], which helps even more, but that wasn’t really the meaning of why we wrote the monster in the beginning. We needed something to keep the film suspenseful at the beginning while the Empire is looking for them.”
Hamill, himself, never commented about whether the Wampa scene was specially written after the accident or not. Well, it looks like this mystery is going to remain unsolved for now.
You can stream Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back on Disney+.
Source: Slash Film
