‘Star Wars’: How Mark Hamill Got Harrison Ford to Reveal His Phone Number On-Screen
Star Wars: A New Hope may have premiered over 40 years ago, but fans continue to learn cool new facts about the movie as the years go by. And just recently, one fan unearthed an interview in which Mark Hamill reveals that he actually pestered Harrison Ford to give out his real phone number in the movie.
‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ was released in 1977
George Lucas first introduced his Star Wars universe with A New Hope in 1977. Starring Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, and Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew as Hans Solo and Chewbacca, the film ended up spawning one of the most popular fandoms in the world.
All four actors reprised their roles for the sequels — The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of The Jedi (1983) — as well as the 2015 reboot, The Force Awakens.
The actors ad-libbed a lot
One of the things that made the first Star Wars films so captivating was the natural chemistry between the cast. And as fans have learned over the years, many of the lines in the movie were actually ad-libbed by the actors.
But there was one cast member who improvisedmuch more than the others. In a recent interview with Joe and Anthony Russo for their Pizza Film School web series, Hamill revealed that Ford was a boss at ad-libbing, and that he advised him to let loose and improvise his own lines if he thought they would work.
“I admired him [Ford] so much with that,” said Hamill. “And he said, ‘Well, you should learn Mark, don’t go ask George [Lucas] — just do it on camera.'”
Mark Hamill got Harrison Ford to ad-lib his phone number in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’
In a recent tweet, Marvel editor Jordan D. White unearthed an excerpt from an old interview of Hamill. In the interview, Hamill reveals how he pestered Ford to reveal his phone number in a scene of Star Wars: A New Hope.
“In the scene where we’re trying to get out of the garbage masher, I was supposed to say, ‘Threepio, open the…’ and give this long serial number,” Hamill said in the interview. “So I had planned all along to say, ‘2-,’ so my own number would be forever preserved on film.”
But ultimately, the script was changed around, and that line was given to Ford. After that, Hamill said he kept pushing Ford until he agreed to read out his phone number,
“Finally, Harrison read my number and said, ‘Happy now, you big baby?’ Hamill continued. “And I laughed because I felt busted ’cause I’d been acting like a two-year-old.”
In the famous scene, in which Hans Solo is reading a serial number to C-3PO, he says the number, 326-3827. Hamill hasn’t confirmed if this was indeed his telephone number. But if it was, this will become just another amazing Easter egg for the Star Wars fandom.
