Mark Hamill Landed His ‘Star Wars’ Role With Help From This ‘Stranger Things’ Actor
Mark Hamill is best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. While many would thank George Lucas for giving Hamill his break, there is an unlikely source who says that they are the reason why Hamill even knew about Star Wars. Horror icon and Stranger Things actor Robert Englund says that he helped Mark Hamill land his role in Star Wars.
Mark Hamill and Robert Englund both play iconic movie characters
After landing the role of Luke Skywalker in Episode IV — A New Hope, Hamill played the role several more times. Most recently, he came back for the Star Wars sequel trilogy and even had a cameo as the character in The Mandalorian on Disney+. Hamill is mostly attached to Star Wars, but he has gone on to be a very successful voice actor with roles in Batman: The Animated Series and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Robert Englund is an iconic actor in the world of horror movies. Englund portrayed the role of Freddy Kreuger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Englund has played the character seven times, last playing him in Freddy Vs. Jason. Freddy Kreuger is one of horror’s most legendary villains and that’s largely due to Englund’s terrifying performance.
Robert Englund helped Mark Hamill land his role in ‘Star Wars’
Before they became huge stars, Hamill and Englund were friends, who shared the struggle of trying to make it in Hollywood. In an interview with The Guardian, Englund said that he was auditioning for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and was told that Lucas was filming a space movie next door, which turned out to be Star Wars. Englund knew Hamill wanted to work with Lucas so he told him about the opportunity.
“I really wanted to be in Apocalypse Now,” Englund said. “I wanted to read for Chef – played by the great Frederic Forrest – but that part had been taken. They heard that I was a surfer, so I read for the surfer, but I think they thought I was too old. As I was leaving, one of the producers told me they were casting across the hall for this George Lucas space movie. George Lucas was my hero, so I thought: ‘Hell, I’ll go.’ At the time, they wanted Han Solo to be played older, like a cool uncle who lets you smoke marijuana at Christmas. They looked at me for five minutes, took a couple of Polaroids; I did not read. That’s all I remember.”
“But as I left, I snatched the audition sides [script excerpt] for this much younger character called Luke Skywalker. I went back to my apartment in the Hollywood Hills and my buddy Mark Hamill’s cowboy boots were on my front porch. He was working down the hill at the CBS studios as a very successful television actor. Mark was watching the Bob Newhart or Mary Tyler Moore show. We’d watch together in the afternoon and then call our agents at 5 pm to see how our auditions had gone. I remember saying: ‘Guess what? George Lucas is making this space movie.’ We both loved American Graffiti, so Mark called his agent and put her under pressure to get him an audition. It’s a bit like the Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I was living at that time with Jan Fischer, who went on to The Lost Boys; our best friend became Luke Skywalker; and I became Freddy Krueger. At the time, we were just three young people living in the Hollywood Hills with big dreams.”
Englund does some revolting things on screen, but off-screen we have him to thank for giving us the perfect Luke Skywalker.
The Freddy Kreuger actor recently appeared on ‘Stranger Things’ in a guest role
Englund recently took his horror chops to Netflix. The actor appeared in Stranger Things in a creepy role as Victor Creel, the man who is falsely accused of killing his family and has been in an asylum ever since. His appearance is horrifying and he delivers a suspenseful scene that proves why he is so celebrated in the horror community.
Stranger Things season 4 is currently streaming on Netflix.
