During the shooting of “Star Wars,” it seemed as though no one besides George Lucas believed in its chances of success. The crew thought it was a weird little sci-fi movie that would disappear into obscurity, Alec Guinness thought it was a stupid kids’ Film with no real artistic merit that he only acted in because he needed the money, and 20th Century Fox went out on a limb giving it the greenlight because they enjoyed the idea of a “Flash Gordon” homage but never really believed in the script. But there’s one other person who stood by Lucas from the beginning: Mark Hamill.
Hamill shared ‘the very 1st #LukePic’ on social media
On his first day of shooting in the role of Luke Skywalker, Hamill made sure to save the moment with a photograph, because he knew it was a very important moment in his life, and of course it was. The film went on to become the highest grossing film of all time and a behemoth multimedia phenomenon, still selling billions of dollars’ worth of tickets today and with hit video games based on the toys based on the films and its own theme park on the way.
Hamill has shared the image, which according to his caption, was taken early in the morning in Tunisia on the first day of shooting, while he was waiting to begin his first shot in which Luke is “emerging from home for robot auction.” So, this picture is the very first picture taken of Luke Skywalker, before the “Star Wars” cameras had even started rolling on him.
Hamill told one of his Twitter followers that at the time, the crew, despite being “kind,” were dismissing “Star Wars” as “rubbish,” and that he “kept telling them ‘We’re on a winner!’”
Hamill’s upcoming roles, besides reprising his most iconic role in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” later this year (and possibly again a couple of years later in the ninth canon “Star Wars” film, depending on what happens in “The Last Jedi”), include a supporting part in “Minkow,” the story of fraudster and conman Barry Minkow, co-starring with James Caan, and voice roles in the animated film “Howard Lovecraft & the Undersea Kingdom” and a kick-ass intergalactic sci-fi video game set in the “Star Citizen” universe called “Squadron 42.”
