Someone Has to Supervise Mark Hamill While He Reads the Star Wars: Episode IX Script

It isn’t easy being popular. Just ask Mark Hamill. He’s the OG of Star Wars and has seen a lot of changes over the years. Particularly when it comes to guarding secrets. Luke Skywalker himself is granted no special accommodations regarding the security of Star Wars IX. He has to learn his line from headache-inducing print just like everybody else.

Entertainment Weekly recently spoke with the star about how being an international phenomenon has changed the franchise. Back when George Lucas was first getting the Death Star off the ground, no one placed any stipulations on whose eyes could see the script. Hamill even confessed to passing it around to his friends who marveled at the bizarre story. Now, everyone is clamoring to learn the secrets and even the cast cannot be trusted.

“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. 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.”

He’s not exaggerating. The red pages were originally used for The Force Awakens and ensure that the print will not be legible when photocopied. Even if someone does get their grubby little paws on a copy, they won’t be able to distribute it easily. That is an unlikely scenario, though, as all of the scripts are kept under strict supervision.

“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.”

Good luck to anyone who has pages and pages of lines to memorize. They will have to work fast or spend a lot of time in quarantine.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters December 20 of next year.

Featured Image: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Photo: John Wilson. ©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.